Like many I think this adaptation is one of the best, and most of the actors are well cast but an exception to this rule is surely Jack Shepard's Renfield. He delivers his lines in such a bland and unremarkable manner that he turns this interesting character into a boring and dull one.
shareI think his restrained delivery was a good idea.
It would have been a mistake for him to have tried to duplicate the over-the-top mannerisms that Dwight Frye brought to the role. Restrained and subtle always works better when dealing with fantasy material. Look at the broad and excessive performances in Bram Stoker's Dracula. They weren't bland...but they weren't any good either.
Dwight Frye was the best Renfield I think, but I don't expect other actors playing the role to mimic him, Shepard wasn't just restrained his performance was lifeless, he seemed bored with it. I'm not that keen on Bram Stoker's Dracula but Tom Waits is at least a better Renfield than Jack Shepard.
shareIt would have been cliched for him to have gone around with a maniacal laugh like Dwight Frye, or just chewing up the scenery, like everyone in Coppola's opus did.
Shepard underplayed it so you could feel that whatever madness he had was lurking under the surface. As well, it made moments where he really acted crazy -his attacking Bowles, for instance, more shocking.
Sheperd's performance was great. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I think the OP is way off the mark.
shareIn My Mind, Jack Shepard Personified Renfeild From The Novel
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Jack Shepard was excellent. His only problem (as that of every Renfield) was that he was too young. Read the novel, to see what I'm talking about.
"I am bound to this earth. I make it my domain".
Dracula
In the Italian mini series adaptation of Dracula starring Patrick Bergin, an actor called Brett Forest portrayed Renfield, he's an exception to the rule as he's the right age and fits the book version very well, although the character was slightly renamed and called Roenfield. Even though Count Dracula is certainly the better adaptation of the novel, he made a much better Renfield than Shepard.
shareShepherd is an excellent Renfield - apart from being a believable lunatic, he's a universe away from the pathetic mugging of Dwight Frye or John Waits, or the lower-class henchman of Tony Haygarth. I don't buy Renfield as a scuttling loony, but I DO buy the idea of him being a man with periods of apparent lucidity broken up by episodes of dementia. He's supposed to be a tragic character - his consumption of flies etc is an intellectual conceit, not simply base behaviour.
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I completely agree with your comments regarding Jack Shepherd as Renfield. I'll even go as far as to note that he played the role, as the doomed tortured soul, perfectly. In my opinion, he is one of the most memorable characters in this amazing adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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I missed that one. That's the one called "Dracula's Curse", isn't it? Is it any good.
"I am bound to this earth. I make it my domain".
Dracula
Yes that's the one, it's got a pretty low rating here on the imdb, but I think it's pretty good. It's been updated to modern times but still manages to stay quite faithful to the original story. It exists in 2 forms, the two part mini series and the edited movie version which isn't as good.
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