Nicolas Cage Had His Teeth Shaved Down for Dracula Role, 'Renfield' Makeup Artist Says
"We shaved Nic's teeth down and the dentures were fitted so as not to impede on Nic's speech and allow full freedom," said makeup artist Christien Tinsely
Nicolas Cage went through extensive measures to get his vampire teeth ready for the big screen.
In Renfield, the Oscar winner, 59, plays Dracula, and the movie's makeup artist Christien Tinsely told Variety that they shaved his teeth and used 3D-printed dentures to create his sharp fangs for the film.
"We shaved Nic's teeth down and the dentures were fitted so as not to impede on Nic's speech and allow full freedom," he explained. "Nic wanted to emote and annunciate properly, so it was important the veneers were thin."
Tinsely, who earned an Oscar nomination for his makeup work on 2004's The Passion of the Christ, added, "This was the first film that I know of where we used 3D printing to do all the dentures. We jumped in headfirst with 3D printing. We would scan Nic's teeth and digitally sculpt them."
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The high-tech method "allowed us more freedom to create different designs very quickly," he explained. "That allowed us to make them as thin as possible because if they broke, we could have another set ready to go."
Cage's Dracula has several different looks throughout the film. For one appearance in particular, the actor required over three hours of makeup application. Said Tinsely, "It was a full head of prosthetics, dentures, full body, torso, arms, hands and nails. Those take time."
Renfield director Chris McKay told Insider last month that Cage would stay in character as Dracula at all times while making the movie, but the actor told The Hollywood Reporter that he broke character plenty of times between takes.
"I just don't have that recollection, I don't know why Chris said that. I had a lot of laughs in between takes with both Chris McKay and [costar] Nick Hoult, so maybe that was his experience, maybe because I still had the fangs in my mouth that made me speak a certain way, but that wasn't my experience," said Cage.
He added of his take on the iconic role, "With this Dracula, I was trying to fuse that which is scary and humorous even at the same time in the line delivery. It was just how can you be creepy and funny at the same time, that was the challenge."
Renfield is in theaters April 14.
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