Lestat and Louis from the Interview with the vampire

Cruise should've made more movies like this and not rejoined the clams

Brad Pitt was beautiful in those days, but the film itself was boring.

Considering Louis didn't intervene in Claudia's attempt to kill Lestat ............ I'm going to say No

Thank God Ann cleared that up. It was always so vague. (Insert eye roll here.)

it's awesome that this type of "gay vague" relationship, which is all over the place in literature and cinema is now dead. No more requiring audiences to read between the lines or debate every glance and word to determine if the author, screenwriter, director, or actors intended to suggest a gay relationship.

Strange that this 1994 film and its approach has more of a connection to cinematic works from the 1930's than it does to media content in 2016.

Team Brad or Team Tom ?

They had great parenting skills!

The actor in Queen of the Damned was a better Lestat.

The first half of the film was fine, the second half boring. Brad Pitt was ethereal and Cruise had a nice ass.

The Vampire Chronicles shaped my adolescent sexual awakening. Funny enough, it was my high school girlfriend at the time who knew that I loved the film the Interview with "the" Vampire, so she bought me the novel The Vampire Lestat. It was amazing. I was enthralled by the closeness of Lestat with Nicholas de Lenfent and his hedonistic take on life. They slept in the same bed XD The rest of the vamp chronicles are just as sexually interesting...the image of Marius "sucking" the young beautiful Armand always excited me too lol

Brad Pitt was dreamy. (Sigh)

I loved the first books as well.

Didn't the book say that Lestat fell fatally in love with Louis?? Or was it Nicholas?

So, duh! They lived together, they even adopted a daughter.

I always got a thrill at that scene at the end of Damned when Louis kisses Lestat on the cheek and Lestat lets him. They were in a church, I believe.

The books were terrific through Body Thief, but then it all went to hell.

[quote]Team Brad or Team Tom ?

I'll go with Team Brad. Tom is nutso Scienologlist.

" Did you know Tom Cruise had no idea he was in that vampire movie till two years later? "

I like Magnus, which book was that ?

[quote]Thank God Ann cleared that up. It was always so vague. (Insert eye roll here.)

In the most recent book, Lestat tells Louis, "I love you," to which Louis replies, "My heart is yours." I guess that was for the slow people who were still unsure.

R16, Magnus was the vamp who stole blood from a vamp elder, then later turned Lestat in "The Vampire Lestat", but them immolated himself. Lestat has always held a grudge because Magnus taught him nothing.

R8 Queen Of The Damned was a mess compared to IWTV and the only good thing about it was the music

It's too bad they couldn't have played it as a couple. People loved "Brokeback Mountain", so it might have worked for this film, although they were made eleven years apart.

The first two books make the relationship between the two more apparent, particularly in the later portion of THE VAMPIRE LESTAT when Lestat and Louis are reunited. Based on IWTV, Louis had a love/hate relationship with Lestat, particularly regarding the "turning" of Claudia. I never got beyond TALE OF THE BODY THIEF, but after IWTV, Louis is mostly a peripheral character.

The film has homoerotic elements, but plays down that aspect of Lestat-Louis as I'm sure the producers were leery of the film being "too gay" to attract an audience big enough to make the film profitable, and I don't imagine Cruise (and perhaps Pitt) wanted to play up that aspect of their relationship.

I think Cruise fancied Brad.

Talk at the time was Tammy made a play for Brad and was rejected. The spurned petite closet case then made Brad's and everybody else life miserable on set. Of course for the the PR tour Tammy went out of his way to proclaim that he was not portraying a "gay" vampire. Brad went out of his way to contradict his closeted costar by describing the relationship between the characters of Louis and Lestat as "all about sex.. it's always about sex." I went to the premiere in Westwood Pitt was sporting his waist blond Louis hair and was troppo bello . Tammy looked like midget Lady Gaga with an enormous sunburned conk.

How do you define "a good couple," OP? Make an effort to answer now.

R24, I don't imagine the answer is on those second-rate shoes.

In the movie version - I always loved the brief Banderas/Pitt scenes. Banderas was so sexually enthralled with Pitt - the scenes were much steamier and (laugh) more "tragic" that the lust never reached fruition.. The heat between the two straight actors was undeniable t me anyway. Antonio was never that much better an actor than Brad (who is awful) - but like a great porno scene it = HEAT. Cruise was fine but seemed so disconnected - I never felt a thing. That said, the movie is very watchable - not great by any means, but as with other guilty pleasures I have seen it at least a dozen times.

It was clear they were a couple. In vampire terms. That series continues, though whether one finds the quality continuing is another question. But in the most recent installment of the Vampire Chronicles, LeStat and Louis basically get a Happily Ever After ending.

R26. Agree . Jordan was able to come up with one sexy scene in a otherwise dreary mess.

Bump, cuz I just rewatched the movie last night.

Remember the guy who kept a young hopeful fresh-off-the-bus Brad as a poolboy? (in the thread linked) He said he once lent Brad a copy of IWTC to read, when his young lodger asked for a scary horror novel. He claimed Brad didn't like the book, thought it was lame and boring, and handed it back unfinished. Talk about serendipity, life is so weird that way.

[quote] Tammy went out of his way to proclaim that he was not portraying a "gay" vampire. Brad went out of his way to contradict his closeted costar by describing the relationship between the characters of Louis and Lestat as "all about sex.. it's always about sex."

This is such a ridiculous statement, knowing the story and the characters, and worse still coming from the men who played them. If anything, vampires are jaded by sex as we understand it, and eventually come to find pleasures of the flesh an empty experience. The vampires in the story are seeking both transcendence (i.e. release from their immortality), and security in the form of something meaningful to tie them to earthly existence and make it bearable (i.e. a family and a purpose). The gay question barely comes into it, not to mention that such trivial ideas as sexual mores would barely occur to ancient immortals who have seen and done everything.

R22 I've heard the rumours about Tammy making a play for Brad for decades, but I find it really difficult to picture. Tammy seems so asexual and so repressed to me, and I can't imagine him getting the confidence to seduce the strapping handsome and confident Pitt in his prime.

[quote] I always loved the brief Banderas/Pitt scenes. Banderas was so sexually enthralled with Pitt - the scenes were much steamier and (laugh) more "tragic" that the lust never reached fruition..

These scenes were also my favourite in the film, possibly because their conversations are less domestic squabbling and melodramatic fits as with Lestat and more a measured discussion about the nature of life & death. There is also a more codified sense of respect and restraint built into the dynamic; Louis is cautious to show deference to the much-older and higher-status Armand, while in his turn Brad is careful to give the more established Antonio room to work. Armand's line, "I know nothing of God, or the Devil; I have never seen a vision nor learned a secret that will damn or save my soul...." thrills me every time I hear it. It's a pity there weren't more scenes with the two characters, as in the book they have a long, deep, and relatively happy romantic relationship for a time.

The YouTube algorithm just threw me this video PSA from 2008, featuring Anne urging us not to drink.

She says she was a permadrunk all through her twenties & thirties, even asking for a beer directly after delivering her son. She wrote IWTV when she pretty much day-drinking daily. I had no idea, and never would have guessed - she seems like the type to have been teetotal all her life, and who writes about hedonistic or debauched things as a way to experience them vicariously. It's curious that she writes about vampires constantly getting intoxicated, but she herself is even staunchly against drinking wine with dinner or at celebrations; she must have had a raging issue.

Reading Interview with the Vampire in my early 20s was a magical experience. None of the later Vampire Chronicle books managed that but I've still mostly enjoyed them. However I haven't been able to finish the Realms of Atlantis, and I hadn't even realized she'd written another novel after that. I'll read them at some point, though, since there's something extremely fascinating about that whole world.

The movie dynamic between Cruise's Lestat & Pitt's Louis is an interesting bit of meta, knowing what we know about them now as actors and characters decades later. This is particularly evident in the second act scenes, where Lestat is trying to get Louis to embrace hedonism and the lifestyle of feeding from innocent mortals and cutting himself off from normal human experience to live it up as an immortal. There is the sense that, at the same time and in the same text, Cruise is courting Pitt to join him on the side of the movie stars, by more fully accepting and diving into the world of celebrity elitism and exploiting civilians without compunction. During one evening at dinner Lestat offers a resistant and angst-wracked Louis a crystal goblet of blood with an inviting posture, almost like trying to seduce him to dance, I read the exchange equally as one between both actors and characters. Pitt has never quite fully subscribed to the heartlessness of the business despite flirting with it; Cruise meanwhile has plunged headfirst into the darkest underbelly without a flicker of self-awareness or embarrassment.

There's also the meta-matter of Lestat's slow wasting away after his family in Louis & Claudia chase him off. He cuts himself off from other beings, and essentially goes into a weird paranoid superstitious hermitage of crazycakes for years, after which time he emerges to our shock looking older and frail. The world just passes him by, and he ends up not comprehending any of it. He ends up the one entity wallowing in loneliness and bitter recrimination, yearning for what he cannot have, where once he was the one coveted and sought after in any room he walked into. Prophetic?

[quote] LESTAT: No-one could refuse me. LOUIS: I tried. LESTAT: You tried. Yes, you tried. And the more you tried...the more I wanted you.

I liked Jordan's other vampire movie, "Byzantium".

Johnny Lee Miller & Sam Riley

The film doesn’t go into enough clear detail about Lestat & Louis’s relationship, so for viewers who’ve never read the books or seen the play it is easy to assume that Louis is Lestat’s only love.

In the ill-starred musical from 2006, it is made clear that Lestat makes both Louis & Claudia into vampires in a last desperate attempt to assuage his loneliness, picking them out of fleeting sense of attraction combined with a stronger opportunism. He doesn’t seem specifically to love either in a one true love’ sense, though he has a powerful attachment to both and is crushed when they betray then abandon him (though some of his disappointment stems from ego). In fact, the play and the novels suggest that Lestat’s true passionate loves in life and death were back in Auvergne - his best friend of youth Nicolas ‘Nicki’ de Lenfent, and his mother Gabrielle de Lioncourt. Lestat turns both into vampires with mixed results - Gabrielle while on her deathbed and to great success, Nicki in his most suicidal depression and resulting in his derangement - and he wanders the world with them for decades. Lestat mentions both Nicki & Gabrielle several times in each book, even in the ones in which they do not appear or to which they are irrelevant characters, and all through the play. In the novels, Lestat even outright says that he falls for Louis because he is so like Nicki.

[quote] From the first VC book, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: ‘Shortly after reaching the colony, I fell fatally in love with Louis, a young dark-haired bourgeois planter, graceful of speech and fastidious of manner, who seemed in his cynicism and self destructiveness the very twin of Nicolas. He had Nicki's grim intensity, his rebelliousness, his tortured capacity to believe and not to believe, and finally to despair.’

[quote] From the second VC book, THE VAMPIRE LESTAT: ‘"Ah, you are a dreamer!" he said, but he was delighted. He was beyond handsome when he smiled. "And I'll know people like you," I went on. "People who have thoughts in their heads and quick tongues with which to voice them, and we'll sit in cafes and we'll drink together and we'll clash with each other violently in words, and we'll talk for the rest of our lives in divine excitement." He reached out and put his arm around my neck and kissed me....

[quote] ‘....words began to pour out of me as they had out of him, and soon we were talking about a thousand things we had felt in our hearts, varieties of secret loneliness, and the words seemed to be essential words the way they did on those rare occasions with my mother. And as we came to describe our longings and dissatisfactions, we were saying things to each other with great exuberance, like "Yes, yes," and "Exactly," and "I know completely what you mean," and "And yes, of course, you felt that you could not bear it," etc. Another bottle, and a new fire. And I begged Nicolas to play his violin for me. He rushed home immediately to get it. It was now late afternoon. The sun was slanting through the window and the fire was very hot. We were very drunk. We had never ordered supper. And I think I was happier than I had ever been.’

[quote] ‘...there had been the eternity of growing up and growing old before us, and so much joy even in misery, even in the misery - the real eternity, the real forever - the mortal mystery of that. But the moment faded in the shimmering expression on his face. "Come to me, Nicki," I whispered. I lifted both hands to beckon. "If you want it, you must come..."

[quote] From the fourth VC book, TALE OF THE BODY THIEF: ‘I remembered being in the loft of the barn on my land in France, and drinking cognac just like that, and even making that grimace, and my mortal friend and lover, Nicki, snatching the bottle greedily from my hand.’

Lestat also comes to have a great affection for the ancient guru vampire Marius, feeling for him like a student does a beloved teacher.

[quote] Cruise was fine but seemed so disconnected - I never felt a thing.

See, I liked his Lestat for the very reason of his airy effete detachment. To me, that attitude felt like the appropriate choice for a two-hundred year old vampire struggling to find meaning in anything or anyone. Even in life, Lestat was more interested in art and philosophy than in more grounded or connected pursuits. It made sense to me, and I am the last person to want to give Cruise any credit for anything (I find him a creepy celebrity, and I can’t stand his acting in any other movie). What ruins his Lestat for me today is that as a blond with blue eyes he looks too much like Taylor Swift.

[quote] in the most recent installment of the Vampire Chronicles, LeStat and Louis basically get a Happily Ever After ending.

Hmmm, not sure that was the best route for Rice to take their arc conclusion. They went through a lot together and fans are probably invested in them being a couple, sure, but I don’t know that happily ending a gory, angsty and philosophical vampire tale that Anne wrote when she was drunk and miserably divorcing is good payoff in-keeping with the best parts of the genre. Feels like a bit of a cop out. It is nice she didn’t Kill The Gays, though.

[quote]Anne wrote when she was drunk and miserably divorcing

Divorcing? She and her husband Stan were married for 40+ years; he died in 2002.

R37 oh, sorry, perhaps I have that wrong. I have a distinct memory of reading interviews where Anne said her marriage was on the rocks in the late-70s/early 80s, but there’s every chance I’m misremembering that. The world of heteros and marrieds is very strange to me, stranger than that of vampires.

Rice claims that Lestat is based on Stan and Louis on Anne, which is hilarious to me as the boozy “woo HOO!” vampire really should have been Anne’s avatar.

Ah 1976! Most of you never saw 1976.

So Strange, I just had to look up Louis' name. There are a couple of guys who cast on Chaturbate, one is blonde the other brown hair and I told them they reminded me of Lestat & Louis. Their chat name is "enjohnny" if you want to check them out, they are adorable...still not sure of the nature of their relationship.

Whatever works for them. That movie was a rare example of a film failing by being overly faithful to the book, which is effective in its original form but didn't make for very effective cinema. Cruise was grossly miscast and didn't know what the fuck he was doing--that high camp act was just embarrassing. Banderas and the vampire theater scene were the best things about that movie.

I hate people who use "meta."

Louis (come to life on the screen by Brad Pitt) is truly beautiful, but his constant whining and displeasure with [italic]everything[/italic] is just so fucking annoying.

R43 you don't know my struggle, mortal!

The book is a really good read. They left a lot of stuff out of the movie. As the above poster said the first four books in the series (Interview With the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned and Tale Of the Body Thief) are all very entertaining. Above-average stuff for the genre. Then it all kind of went nutty with the later books.

I remember when Lestat turned Nicholas into a vampire, Nicholas had a raging hard-on while Lestat was sucking his blood and came all over Lestat in the process (they were both naked at the time).

For the film, did Cruise & Pitt grow their hair and nails naturally? If not, the extensions look extremely realistic.

Took me until now to realise that in some shots of the movie, veins are picked out in dark blue & grey on the vamps' faces. It's a cool, very subtle detail that you easily miss watching it in poor resolution, bad light or a small screen. Why would a vampire's veins show though their skin, though? To imply that there is no blood in them? Or just to suggest translucent skin?

Tom and Brad both grew their hair out.

I always got the feeling that they hated each other but were too afraid to be apart, and that they both had incredibly hot sex in the past and still fucked now and again. But still got on each other’s nerves.

Louis in particular was a whiny bitch.

Vampires do not have sexual relations.

Louis always be like

I can tell who is stupid here because they reference the movies, not the books.

Went to the premiere in Westwood. Recall Pitts long blond surfer hair. He was radiant. Tommy not so much. His conk was huge sunburned and peeling. Sorta a Dustin Hoffman vibe. Industry buzz was Cruise was miscast. Pitt and Banderas had chemistry. Remember audience yelled out "kiss him" when they put their heads together. Well it could have been worse remember the sequel Queen of the Damned.

I think there should be a reboot that's more faithful to the novel, with all the gay stuff included. Maybe HBO Max. Offhand, I can't imagine who could be suited to play Lestat and Louis though.

In the novel, Louis was on a self-destructive downward slide of drunken, reckless behavior over the death of his brother. Of course for the movie it was changed to his wife and kid dying.

From the Vampire wiki:

[quote]His brother Paul started seeing visions of the Virgin Mary and St. Dominic, telling him to sell the indigo plantations and move to France to work as a missionary. However, Louis didn't believe him and dismissed the thought. Louis allowed his brother to worship and had encouraged him but refused to believe that he had real visions sent by God.

[quote]One day his brother and he discussed because of Paul's 'mission'. After the discussion, Paul left Louis and fell off the entrance's stairs. The slaves who saw him fall "said that he had looked up as if he had just seen something in the air. Then his entire body moved forward as if being swept by a wind", one of them said that he looked as if he was about to say something before he fell.

It's implied that Lestat killed Louis' brother in order for Lestat to have Louis to himself and turn him into a vampire.

R53 j'adore cette photo! They would have made such a hot gorgeous couple. In Antonio's hands Armand became a European lothario who before you could say ”ay mi morena de mi corazon” would have you on your knees gasping for his touch. Raven long hair, a cane, looks to thrill and a strong latino accent....wow.

Cruise has mad charisma (and I mean 'mad' in both senses of the word) as his witty arrogant demented and jovial take on Lestat, but he isn't objectively good-looking at all - almost rodentine, in fact. Given the choice I would date and hang out with Lestat over the other two, though, just because he's a good time. Interesting to note, Cruise & Pitt got a joint Razzie for their character performances, which I think is a little harsh -- Tammy overshot his marks but he was a firecracker clearly having the time of his life beyond the usual smirking heros he is pigeonholed into playing, while Brad showed he had range enough to commit to playing an unlikeable wet blanket.

R51 and R53 forget how ridiculous, juvenile, and poorly-written the shittastic books are. Don't get me wrong, the steamy lurid plot is very enjoyable and there are some intriguing ideas and interesting characterisations buried in the purple fanfic-esque prose, but there's no getting around the fact that on the whole the novels are clunky and shoddy books written as cheap thrills. They are the kind of literature that is designed to engender screwy loose adaptations left and right. This isn't Tolkien; more like V.C.Andrews books. I totally agree though that the next crack at the world of Vampire Chronicles needs to include plenty of explicit gay content.

The movie adaptation of INTERVIEW isn't as bad as all that--it knows it's trash, but it tries to be more. It's self-indulgent deep-dive into moody Baroque frolicking, which is alluring enough that I want to do the work to suspend my disbelief and ignore the overacting. The script is deliciously quotable, the original score is lovely (Eliot Rosenthal's finest, alongside TITUS), the costumes and sets by Dante Ferretti are sumptuous, the effects by Stan Winston are subtle and seamless (ageing very well), and the atmosphere is pregnant. It's an immersive experience to watch IWTC, in the same way reading the book is. Even the clattering 'Sympathy For The Devil' cover by Guns N'Roses that plays out the final scene and credits seems to fit, somehow.

Neil Jordan wanted to take on the sequel novel too (THE VAMPIRE LESTAT), but the first project had so many ups and downs and setbacks that everybody rushed him out when the rights reverted to Rice to bring forth the steaming pile of MTV excrement that is QUEEN OF THE DAMNED. More recently, Robert Downey Jr was attached to a shelved take on THE TALE OF THE BODY THIEF. Now we all nervously await the Christopher Rice series....

R54 I completely forgot about the religious-nut brother. That's quite homoromantic in itself, perhaps it was a bridge too far for the movie and harder for general hetero nuclear moviegoers to relate to. One thing Rice never really got the grips with in her own books was how to deal with the notion of a monotheistic Christian creator God squaring away with vampires.

Another point in praise of the first film: the cinematography frequently references classic films, in particular Jean Cousteau's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (a film beloved by Louis of the novels). Just look at the billowing romantic scene in Louis' bedroom, where Lestat draws Louis from his bed with a tender stroking touch to his jaw and cheek...

[quote] Don't get me wrong, the steamy lurid plot is very enjoyable and there are some intriguing ideas and interesting characterisations buried in the purple fanfic-esque prose, but there's no getting around the fact that on the whole the novels are clunky and shoddy books written as cheap thrills. They are the kind of literature that is designed to engender screwy loose adaptations left and right. This isn't Tolkien; more like V.C.Andrews books.

I disagree. Anne Rice is a good writer and above VC Andrews-type pulp fiction. There are lots of beautiful imagery and history in her books and I wouldn't call them cheap at all.

The Vampire Lestat was WAY too gay and screwy to get a feature film adaptation in the 90s. No way would a story like that be greenlighted back then. Today it would, though. The first four books really need to be done for a modern audience, today it wouldn't be an issue like it was back then.

It's been awhile since I read the book, but I seem to remember Louis having an incestuous attachment to his brother. He was in love with him.

R59 really? Guess I blocked that out, and so did Louis later on as it doesn't come up enough for it to be memorable. That makes Louis and Lestat a perfect pair, given Lestat was probably in love with his mother.

R43 in the film Lestat's humour and Claudia's rage provide a much-needed contrast making it way easier to sympathise with Louis' moping, whereas in the books the whining is interminable. When we're in Louis' POV in the novels, all he ever says is "Lestat was being stupid, so I just thought some really sad and boring thoughts. I am so lame. I hate this life..."....for some 300 pages.

If they reboot, they have to go to real Paris and not a Paris made in Hollywood studios. It frustrated me. And once in Paris Louis must speak French since he is French. But finding this gorgeous trio of actors (Piit, Cruise Banderas), these days is impossible. Such beauties and talented it is too rare these days.

^Pitt

Nowadays the Milleniums think Chalamet is hot, so let's wait till a new generation comes with better tastes in men.

It's hard for me to think of any currently popular actors in the mid-20s/early 30s age range who could play Louis, Lestat and Armand.

Chalamet is four feet tall and looks like a rodent. I don't get it at all.

With a bit of auburn hair tint and a curling iron treatment, Dylan Sprouse would make an interesting Armand.

I just read back through this thread, including my own reply from years ago. I can’t believe no one mentioned the word “preternatural” lol.

R66, I would love to see Dylan Sprouse get caressed and tasted by the mighty Marius in 17th century Venice before the coven attacked, and then see his bitterness as the head of that same coven centuries later.

R66 Hmmm... He doesn't look like a French or a Spanish guy. Armand was living in Paris. Banderas is Spanish.

Armand is Slavic though, R68. He grew up in Kiev.

But at least long hair suits him very well

R69 Yeah, I just changed my mind with that picture above

Ok but who can play a Louis and a Lestat ?

You just can't take actors with ordinary looks after Pitt and Cruise.

[quote] Hmmm... He doesn't look like a French or a Spanish guy. Armand was living in Paris. Banderas is Spanish.

Banderas was miscast, at least in relation to the actual character. Armand is a skinny, redheaded teen boy.

Stop acting like hatchet faced Cruise is good looking.

R73 Ooooh... I didn't know about that, I haven't read the book I must confess

Cruise was good looking. He's an idiot but he's far from being average or ugly. Plus, he was very good as Lestat.

Tom Cruise is good-looking he's just fake and crazy which takes away from his attractiveness.

Even Ann Rice has publicly apologized to Tom Cruise. Because she did not believe at all in his talents as an actor. He was excellent as Lestat.

I’m so sick of these authors revealing things that aren’t in the book. It’s not canon if it’s not in the book.

Anne Rice is consistent unlike JK Rowling.

It's in the book all right.

Jamie Dorman as Louis, maybe? He's hot as fuck. But no long hair.

R63 Zoomers think Timothee is hot not Millennials who are over the age of 25 now.

The Young Di Caprio would have been perfect as Louis.

We need post-Body Thief Dylan Sprouse as Armand fucking David Tablot in his new Indian twink body.

Isn't there a TV adaptation of the Vampire Chronicles underway with Anne and her son Christopher in charge of production?

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt had the benefit of being very attractive and being able to act as well. They would have to go beyond traditional Hollywood casting for a reboot and try to find someone who is both beautiful and has talent as well.

R87 Exactly

I wasn't familiar with Dylan Sprouse but after looking him up I see he's a basic Disney assembly line personality. Not up to playing any of the Vampire roles.

The Sprouse Twins are the male version of the Olsens. Except they delved into darker roles like that Asia Argento film when they were kids and of course Cole on Riverdale but still have either of them proven to actually be able to act.

R82 I'd say as Armand. Not that hard to find him a good wig, especially in Hollywood.

Please, let's not go down the list of twink Disney and CW teen show actors. They would all be totally inappropriate for these roles. I think they'd have to look for some actors who are well-trained, gorgeous and not really all that well-known.

R92 Agreed. We need talented, versatile and intelligent actors who happen to be beautiful in these roles. Not manufactured corporate teen idols.

Matthew Bomer as Lestat

The best part of the original movie was Kirsten Dunst as Claudia.

The story was that Cruise was jealous of Pitt and the so called fabulous ass Cruise had in the movie was sculpted with his first foray into liposuction because Cruise was certainly a chunky monkey when he made Rainman with Dustin Hoffman. He was not getting favorable comparisons to Pitt when the move was announced.

I think Cruise was way too paranoid to hit on Pitt, but who knows?

Meanwhile, Banderas and Pitt got along VERY well.

Bomer is way too old.

I didn’t like Banderas as Armand.

First of all I could hardly understand Banderas. He was still new to Hollywood and his accent was thick.

Claudia was supposed to be a smaller child, it would be impossible. I guess.

This pandemic has probably set the project back even further.

I never liked Gabrielle. She was a selfish bitch who didn’t give a damn about Lestat or the rest of her family. Nicholas was crazy and was glad when he died.

An ex of mine was living in New Orleans when this was being filmed in '93/'94. Nobody saw Tom Cruise, ever. He must've been holed up in his hotel or wherever they put him the whole time. Brad Pitt was often out and about in the French Quarter and he was very cool and friendly with everyone. He wasn't a big star yet, he was mostly known for his small role in Thelma and Louise several years earlier. My ex said the residents of the French Quarter were pissed at all the mud the film crew put in the streets to make it authentic to the period.

Banderas was perfect as Armand and yes people outside the US when they speak english have an accent. Welcome to the real world!

Michelle Peiffer is a natural Gabrielle, clearly the origin of Lestat’s beauty. Put her in some riding boots and a safari hat, and it’s ovah!

Yes r51, you’re right. Interview with a Vampire IS part of the western canon. You’re so smart!

Jesus Christ. I’m so embarrassed for your post. I truly am.

I always pictured Faye Dunaway as Gabrielle.

Cold, unfeeling bitch of a mother.

[quote] because Cruise was certainly a chunky monkey when he made Rainman with Dustin Hoffman.

Rainman was 1988. This movie was shot 5 years later. Cruise had just done Far & Away and The Firm. He was most certainly not a “chunky monkey” in 1993-94

R101 never read a book in their life.

If you want to troll an Anne Rice group, suggest Cody Fern as Lestat and watch everyone go at each other.

How about Brit & Irish actors for the main roles? Brits tend to have better training, or at least more groundedness and more subtlety in their work, and their looks better suit historical fiction and gothic drama.

Looking at the under-forty age pool, here are my suggestions....

For Lestat - Jeremy Irvine? Ben Lamb? Tom Sturridge? Harry Lloyd? William Moseley? Jonno Davies? Charley Palmer Rothwell? Daniel Portman? Dan Stevens? Jim Sturgess? David Witts? Karl Hughes? Joel MacCormack? Finn or Joe Cole? Eugene Simon? Will Payne? Jack Lowden? Douglas Booth? Jamie Campbell-Bower? (look at those cheekbones, it's obviously the correct casting) or Simon Woods? (gorgeous and actually gay/married to a man irl)

For Louis - Robbie Kay? Sean Teale? Laurie Kynaston? Jack O'Connell? Max Lloyd Jones? Andrew Knott? Fion Whitehead? Barry Keoghan? Sam Claflin? Tom Brittney? Richard Fleeshman? Bobby Lockwood? Matt Kane? Tommy Knight? Colin Morgan? Matthew Goode? Tom Hughes? Bradley Hall? Michael Socha? Max Irons? Sam Strike? Oliver Jackson Cohen? Matthew McNulty? Tom Riley? Joe Alwyn? (my personal favourite choice) James Henri-Thomas? (already half-french, and looks perfect for the part)

For Nicolas - Thomas Brodie-Sangster? Will Merrick? George Webster? Angus Imrie? Alex Boxall? Skandar Keynes? Gregg Lowe? Edd Osmond? Charlie Rowe? George MacKay? Luke Newberry? Jonas Armstrong? Jamie Blackley? Bill Milner? Craig Roberts? Matthew Beard? Jake Davies? Sam Gittins? Hugh Mitchell? Elliott Tittensor? Laurence Belcher? Thomas Law? Andrew Simpson? John Bell? Olly Alexander? Thomas Howes? (the last two would be handy as they're already musicians) George Blagden? (my bias choice)

For Armand - William Melling? Callum Booth-Ford? Charlie Heaton? Rhys Matthew Bond? Noah Jupe? Louis Hynes? Nathan Mack? Frank Dillane? Samuel Joslin? Josh Bolt? Alex Lawther? Hero Fiennes Tiffin? Preston Nyman? Kit Connor? Felix Jamieson? Teo Briones? Daniel Huttlestone? Tyger Drew-Honey? Eros Vlahos? (not a made up name, seriously) Louis Greatorex? (again, totally real name) Ilirian Bushi? (idek what to say) Hester Odgers? (if she crossdressed)

For Marius - Dean Smith? Rafi Gavron? Harry Eden? Arthur Darvill? Jack McMullen? Tom Payne? Joe Dempsie? Alex Roe? Mitch Hewer? Max Pirkis? Harry McEntire? Christian Bassington? Jack Huston? Sebastian Armesto? Tommy Bastow? Warren Brown? Sam Wilkinson? Jamie Bell? Augustus Prew? (actually gay irl) Mathew Horne (ooh, so dark) David Oakes? (love this, he projects strength)

For Gabrielle - Amy Beth Hayes? Antonia Clarke? Freya Mavor? Romola Garai? Joanna Vanderham? Michelle Dockery? Georgia May King? Jessica Brown-Findlay? Alexandra Roach? Catherine Steadman? Ruta Gedmintas? Jemima Rooper? Rosamund Pike? Tamzin Merchant? Eleanor Tomlinson? Charlotte Spencer? Anna Maxwell Martin? Emily Beecham? Ruth Wilson? Vanessa Kirby? Andrea Riseborough? Katherine Kelly? Elaine Cassidy? Aimee Ffion-Edwards? Olivia Hallinan? (please make one of those last three happen for the sake of my lesbian heart)

Unfortunately I can't suggest a long list for Claudia, as I don't know of many decent Brit actresses currently below age fifteen - not that there aren't tons, just that I don't know of them. Isabelle Allen, Honor Davis-Pye, Lila Prideaux, and Florence Keen are the only ones I can think of who'd suit age-wise and have the right look. A young Holliday Grainger would have been fitting, c. the early 2000s; ditto a younger Jessica Barden, Izzy Meikle-Small, or Rachel Clare Hurd-Wood.

If they do QUEEN OF THE DAMNED over again, I'd insist on Lenora Crichlow locked in for Akasha, and that's that.

Streisandesque

Don't get how audiences didn't realise they were a couple. Lestat literally child-trapped Louis, they were My Two Dads.

Tom was perfect for the role, because as we know he's kind of a soulless inhuman asshole in real life, and you can feel that oozing through in his performance - the superior glee that comes of goading lessers, the emptiness of his dazzling mischievous smiles, the way he manipulates people with over-the-top charm and histrionics then uses and discards them for his selfish ends. Nothing in life matters to Lestat or to Tom, because they both think of themselves as demigods and think of life itself as a kind of joke or a carnival ride.

There's a lot to prefer about the deeper, more thoughtful, more sincere Lestat of the books; it's just that Tom was good for the sketchier role in the first movie because they're both pieces of work in very similar ways, and so paradoxically the part allowed Tom to relax and bring more energy and indeed more of himself to it. Remember how he even went off on Oprah (pre-couch) because she walked out of the IWTV premiere early with a bunch of audience members and started holding a prayer circle on the sidewalk outside the theater? That's commitment. The devil works hard, but Tammy's lip gloss works harder

In this new age of humorless mumbling sterile vampire movies for kids & dullards, the general non-Horror Hound public are really forgetting about Lestat - the cheeky chaotic Parisian foppish bastard man of the Enlightenment who showed us vampires could be extroverts, artists & performers, wits, philosophers, and even family men as well as mere killers and erotic ciphers. Plus fact that Louis was apparently lying and exaggerating about much of Lestat's extra behaviour makes the presentation of the latter in IWTV even funnier.

[quote] "My philosopher! My martyr! 'Never take a human life.' Oh, yes! This calls for a celebration!" [Sings the opening aria of THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO]

[quote] Oprah (pre-couch) because she walked out of the IWTV premiere early with a bunch of audience members and started holding a prayer circle on the sidewalk outside the theater?

The fuck?

I never heard this. It's just a movie, Oprah!

R106 I find this way of wanting British / Irish actors a little too nationalistic. The story takes place after the American War of Independence, so why would the actors be predominantly British? Anne Rice was born in Louisiana (just like Louis), which was a French states at the time.

"Brits tend to have better training, or at least more groundedness and more subtlety in their work, and their looks better suit historical fiction and gothic drama." I don't know where this certainty comes from, but it is ridiculous. However, your suggestions for the cast is good for some but not for all. And they are not particularly handsome. In any case not as handsomes as Pitt, Cruise and Banderas were at that time. The cast should be based on the best actors who best represent the characters in the book and are no less good or less handsome than the movie. Not especially British. But, if there are British actors in it, that's fine by me too.

^suggestions are good

r110 most young American actors these days are basically underwear models. They don't have the training and education that British actors have. And they're dumb as dogshit.

Lestat De Lioncourt is also from Louisiana and he also have a French name like Louis De La Pointe Du Lac.

Lestat is from France.

I don't think in any point in history, actors were ever expected to be intellectuals. It was always a working class profession likened to prostitution. Now that said, many American actors aren't trained and hired for their looks because Hollywood is a business and profit-driven. Good looking people are more marketable. You won't find that on Broadway or theatre productions because they prioritize raw talent. Also there are many English, Irish, Canadian and Australian actors who are just pretty faces and the casting couch exists everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the British, English, Irish or Canadian actors are less beautiful than the American actors, but that in the list above, there are no actors as beautiful as in the film. Sorry to say that, but the beauty of Vampires is essential. This is how they can attract their prey.

Maybe they can cast locally from the New Orleans theatre scene. Get authentic Creole and Yat accents

Jonathan Rhys Meyer would have been a perfect British cast as a Vampire if he wasn't fucked up. He's talented and hot

R95... why would cruise be "jealous" of pitt? cruise was the reigning king of hollywood, got first billing on screen and the movie poster and pit was just a "newly hot commodity" of potential at the time...

by the way, i still think that the movie poster for "interview" is still so great....

R117 Very good idea

There was no chemistry between Cruise and Pitt. I think Tom did a good job in the role.

Stfu lard ass frau at r104. How many times did you have to google western canon after misspelling it 20 times.

Now go get your next airport book and accuse everyone else of being illiterate after updating your blog on the oevre of Stephanie Meyer.

R118 And he already has vampire eyes naturally, no need for fake eyes

I read that it is River Phoenix who was originally mentionned to play Christian Slater role? Did Phoenix turn it down during the casting?

River died before the film was finished.

R125 How sad :( I'm sure he would have been just great

R118/R123 JRM has already played Count Dracula recently, in the excellent but short-lived 2013 series on NBC/Sky.

But I'm not mad at the idea of him taking another crack at a vamp. In fact, I think he'd make a fine Marius, or even Marcus.

R127 OMG!!! Where can I watch this please?

I saw him in The Tudors and i was just amazed and captivated. This guy performance was breathtaking. R127

R110 are you blind, my love? Or just aesthetically-challenged?

You can't have seen me before, either way. Come closer, let's have a look at your jugular..

I can't think of any popular American actors in their 20s/early 30s who could play decadent 18th century aristocratic vampires.

R124 yes, River sadly died a month before shooting began. Christian stepped in at the last minute, and because River was his casual friend and peer he donated his entire salary for IWTV to charity.

One has to feel a bit sorry for Christian, as while IWTV is a cool movie full of gorgeous people, the Daniel Molloy part is tiny, underwritten, boring, and borderline irrelevant/pointless (Daniel has a larger, more juicy role in later instalments of the Chronicles). Christian had only a week to prepare for the movie (and dealing with Tammy) then get to set ready for action while grieving his dead pal and trying to cope with his own sobriety. He looks hungover, tired, sad and frankly a little confused or exasperated in his few scenes.

Pitt was a pissy bitch through the whole shoot and wanted to leave, too - he tried to buy his way out of his contract, because he hated not only Cruise but the the lack of sunlight in London and the elaborate hair/makeup/costume situation - and this no doubt made poor Christian's job even more unpleasant.

The Vampire Chronicles could be a great streaming series where they can deal plainly with the pansexuality of the characters. For obvious reasons, Cruise didn't want to touch that aspect of the story. It was a dreadful movie. I never understood why Cruise wanted to be involved.

R133 some say we attract what we are and what we truly desire, more often than we believe. Could it have been a subconscious choice or acknowledgment, on Tom's part?

As far as I've heard tell, Pitt, Slater, and Rea are all bisexual men in real life. Helps the credibility of the picture, somewhat.

I really don't think Brad Pitt is bisexual. Christian Slater apparently gets drunk and hits on guys.

R133 At that time Cruise's success annoyed movie critics in Hollywood. They found him formatted, always in the role of the cartoonish American hero who saves the world and never in the role of the villain. Cruise had had enough and took the opportunity to give the performance that would shut down slanderous mouths towards him. Anne Rice when she found out Cruise was cast was not happy. She said it publicly on the Letterman show. But when the movie was released, she was blown away by Cruise's performence and apologized publicly.

[quote]Pitt was a pissy bitch through the whole shoot and wanted to leave, too - he tried to buy his way out of his contract, because he hated not only Cruise but the the lack of sunlight in London and the elaborate hair/makeup/costume situation - and this no doubt made poor Christian's job even more unpleasant.

What did Pitt think was going to happen? He must've been aware of shooting conditions before he signed on.

The delicate flower Winfrey walked out of the movie when Lestat grabs a rat running in the dining room and bites it and puts the rats blood in a beautiful glass.

She is a ridiculous bitch, hate her.

Cruise he's an asshole in real life but he definitely can act when he really wants to. (Rain Man, IWTV, Vanilla Sky, Magnolia,The Firm)

^And I forgot to mention" Eyes Wide Shut", the film was weird but interesting and Tom Cruise was very good in it

Idk if Brad Pitt is bisexual but he used to be very ambigious early in his career...Do your researchs

R137 no clue what Brad was expecting, especially given he'd read the damn book years prior. He seems dumb.

The only heroic lightsided thing Geffen has ever done was telling IWTV Brad to shut up and do his fucking job without whining.

R141 Sucking a dick for a film role doesn't really indicate one's real sexual orientation other than that they're really ambitious for a Hollywood career.

R143

R143 He's bisexual

R143 Hmmm....Well.....

I think at this point if Brad Pitt is bisexual. He shouldn't care whether or not it's out to the public and I doubt people who are the public would care about Brad Pitt's sexuality as he's old now. He never really struck me as someone who cares unlike Tom Cruise or Robert Downey Jr.

R143

R147 Totally agree with you

R143 Don't forget you're on Datalounge......

Went to New Orleans just after principle photography had wrapped. We met some of the crew at Cafe Lafitte and they took us on a tour of the charred but still standing waterfront set on the levy by the Mississippi. The steel hull bark was still there and they were re-filming the scene (stunt doubles) where Cruise drops Pitt in the river. They still had a ton of dirt covering the square in front of New Orleans Cathedral. The Daughters of the Confederacy were furious that the Spanish moss had not been removed from the trees at Oak Alley Plantation which was still distressed from the shooting.Ann Rice was the doyenne of the Garden district. Missed going to her party at the Columns as my BF had to leave on business. I've always had fond memories of the "Big Easy" my ex boyfriend that is.

R151 I love stories like the one you tell here so much. Thank you for this fresh and interesting story. how refreshing! More stories like this please.

BTW: As I recall the crew who befriended us said Pitt was a great guy. Cruise was all right but not as approachable. Neil Jordan was difficult. Very complicated shoot. Sorry that's all I remember from 27 years ago.

R153 This is already a lot more than we could have hoped for. Thank you from the bottom of my heart

Tammy was great in born on the fourth of july. He was nominated for an Oscar for it but daniel day lewis won for my left foot.

R122 's pussy stinks.

R148 A indeniiable "testimony"

Here's the homoerotic clip they made together at that time

Tom Cruise really surprised me in this. I thought he would be a disaster as Lestat, but he was actually pretty good. Pitt was wonderful, imho.

Oop's I taged the wrong person. This was for R146

R155 Exactly!

To move away from the boring inconclusive OT question of Brad Pitt’s sexuality for a minute...

Since some have bitched about it, the Lestat & Louis of the musical were technically a more faithful version of the book characters, though the musical itself was a flop - Hugh Panaro’s Lestat a strapping and philosophising hedonist, and Jim Stanek’s Louis a nervous and passive consort.

They share a duet with pleasingly gay lyrics, that make it sound subtextually like Louis is afraid to have sex with a man for the first time. Lestat has to exhort Louis much harder on stage than in the film or the book, presumably to sustain dramatic immediacy. Interesting that the part of Louis can be sung baritone...

[quote] LOUIS: I must question my existance and deal with your persistence/That somehow and some way you set me free./ And I don't think that I can take another night of these instincts that I fight./This overwhelming dread of feeling damned inside.....LESTAT: Oh God, help us; just look at you!/Shrinking away from my point of view./Showering me with your pious blame./The gift that I gave is exempt from shame! Embrace it, embrace it./It makes no sense without the strength to push your grief aside./This pleasure you'll deny?...I don't think that I could take another night of your craving for the light/This wilted flower act that questions wrong from right...

[quote] LESTAT: Oh merciful and majestic boy, the gift that I bestowed is to be enjoyed! So embrace it....LOUIS: What should I do with the likes of you? Your wild and reckless ways, your cunning to persuade? LESTAT: Embrace it, embrace it.

OP Lestat doesn’t seem capable of reciprocal, non-narcissistic partnered ‘love’ as we understand it. He has a great deal of care, affection and desire for several, but ultimately can’t get past his ego.

In Lestat’s own words, taken from the book MEMNOCH THE DEVIL:

[quote] “I don’t like myself, you know. I love myself, of course, I’m committed to myself till my dying day. But I don’t like myself.“

Lestat cast for Tale of the Election Thief.

R156 has a distended fund from swallowing shit all day.

Fuck off Guntzilla.

Distended GUNT.

You’re Still a guntzilla, r156

Lestat de Lioncourt is one of those rare devilishly-enjoyable characters who is always freely expressing what you secretly think or want to say, but are too afraid. Even Louis is just like, "Mon Dieu, here we go again" every-time Lestat walks into a room.

In the Lestat character of both the novels and the movie we see curiously mortal qualities and burdens; all the loneliness, the fear, the unwillingness to let his guard down, and a dark, demented family. Rice poured her own life, angst, and misery into a tale of supernatural alienated souls, who even with all their heightened powers and endless knowledge and well of experiences still have the odd human longing to stay together although rhyme and reason say they should part ways.

In this respect, Lestat's relationship with Louis says something quite powerful about the human drive for companionship and understanding. Louis and Lestat had sympatico, in that the were both depressed drama queens on opposite sides of the spectrum, but it was more than that. Both were introduced as young men to a new dark dangerous world in which they had no guidance; Rice tells us that many vampires kill themselves and can't stand to become an outsider and a static point in the otherwise ever-changing mortal world. Constant adaptation and masking as well as literally living in the dark must be lonely enough to compel even the most reluctant vampires to throw humanity away and kill mercilessly. If you are the walking dead, what's to live for ? To die for? To be with and to be happy about? To look forward to, or make something out of? Lestat grapples with these questions via his relationships, especially with Louis who pushes back on his conclusions and challenges them.

In the books, Lestat himself admits his own lack of control and his wistfulness for his lost humanity, and that intrigues me; that perhaps Lestat's strength is not controlling of emotions so much but accepting himself the way he is in the present, something Louis never manages to do as he is always looking back to his human life or forward to 'a new Age' of vampires. In fact, Lestat is stronger than Louis and stronger than Louis cared to admit, altogether; remember that Lestat fed from the first dam of vampirism Akasha in addition to being sired by a pre-Medieval ancient vampire, which granted him powers Louis never possessed such as mind reading and levitation and invulnerability to most damage (and possibly other powers of which Louis is never made aware). It's a tough challenge to make such an overpowered character seem likeable or approachable to an audience, and Rice certainly managed it (though perhaps only through such a dreary foil, in Louis...)

As a young vampire Louis shows a distance from impulsive changes and displays of emotion, but still expresses profound sadness. He retains beauty and power, evolves with the time, making him the target of envy and lust for all other vampires who lack this quality (hence, Lestat's manipulations and control issues). The very nature of the ‘interview' in the first book and film seems to stress that Louis has a rare combination of vampiric self-awareness and human wonder and curiosity, allowing him to evolve even into modern times. Both he & Lestat have a mortal desire to leave a legacy behind. but Louis wants to share his story rather than his power, and he wants to let the entire world living and dead share in it rather than just his family.

Between the two characters, there's plenty of interesting things to unpack.

As for Cruise's interpretation, with ratty dye-job and a dodgy accent - well, he came, he chewed the lines and the scenery and probably Brad's earlobes, and he made you fall in love with Lestat, while still allowing you to despise his bullying of poor Claudia and his rather desperately co-dependent antics, and he stood confidently through it all. Can't say fairer than that.

R164 , Insults don't count if you spell them wrong, then have to correct them.

Your pussy still stinks.

Watching Nick Hoult in The Great convinced me that he'd be a fine Lestat. He has the height, the eyes, and the bone structure. Make him blond, and you're there.

I know he's hated here, but I do think Chalamet would be an interesting Louis.

So many things have been rebooted lately, I'm surprised nobody has come up with a Vampire Chronicles series. It's a natural fit for one of the major streaming channels.

Watching Nick Hoult in The Great convinced me that he'd be a fine Lestat. He has the height, the eyes, and the bone structure. Make him blond, and you're there.

I know he's hated here, but I do think Chalamet would be an interesting Louis.

So many things have been rebooted lately, I'm surprised nobody has come up with a Vampire Chronicles series. It's a natural fit for one of the major streaming channels.

[quote]I know he's hated here, but I do think Chalamet would be an interesting Louis.

He's a dwarf and ugly AF. No way.

Ten years ago I could've seen Chris Pine as Louis but he's too old now.

[quote] So many things have been rebooted lately, I'm surprised nobody has come up with a Vampire Chronicles series. It's a natural fit for one of the major streaming channels.

The series has been in early development for years. Bryan Fuller was a show runner for a short while until he left or was fired. Anne Rice and her son are heavily involved in the production, and the show has jumped from a network to network a few times. "In May 2020, its was announced that AMC had acquired the rights to The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches for developing film and television projects."

I thought Cruise was great in this. It's the one performance that is most unlike his others.

Tom Cruise is one of the worst actors ever and in this film he was excretable. His worst work ever.

R173 if that hack Christoper is involved the shows will be shit.

This might sound a bit odd, but it did occur to me while watching the Hobbit films that Lee Pace vs. Richard Armitage came very close to suggesting the Lestat/Louis relationship. Pace is far colder and more openly malevolent and Armitage more defiant, but toned down (or up, if you will) they could have played Rice's scenario fairly effortlessly. It helps that they were both at the height of their looks, of course.

R173 one has to wonder if the original author(s) breathing down the necks of any director/producer/network makes adaptation difficult. Usually writers or source creators aren’t as involved and don’t have as much financial freedom, public away (their fa base is enormous), or veto power as those two. While I am all for creator freedom and for writer-directors, there are some instances where it is an impediment and actually hampers creative freedom and expansion of a story (this is especially true of tales where there is ‘lore’).

YMMV, but I feel the reason the first film turned out a reasonable success is that Neil Jordan & Stephen Woodley had Geffen money and clout to do whatever they wanted without permission, and to buy Anne’s silence or cooperation if necessary (as in the case of Cruise!Lestat). Also, Rice didn’t have near as much respect or profile back then, therefore no room for complaint - she was already getting a big budget Hollywood adaptation of her trashy 70s book, she basically won the lottery.

Bryan Fuller would make an ideal showrunner for the Vampire Chronicles in theory, but he seems to have a hard time sticking with projects. If he could be guaranteed to stay for an entire five-season run, you couldn't ask for better.

The Vampire Chronicles would make an excellent streaming series.

BTW, Anne Rice wrote a stand-alone Vampire novel called Pandora that's very entertaining and could make a great movie.

R174 I agree. Cruise was the wildcard choice, and his interpretation was a loose-fitting for the character as his physique, but these caveats didn't matter because he sunk his teeth in (so to speak) and refused to let go until he shook out everything on the screen.

This has to be true, because prior to seeing him play Lestat? I was the biggest TC anti alive. I fucking hated the man's smug personality, his overhyped acting ability (which is either non-existent, humble, or rather strong but just not earth-shattering, ymmv), as well as the damage he did to Kidman & Holmes' careers and also to his own daughter in her formative years with all of that clammy fuckery. All of that is still unforgiven, and I refuse to watch any other Cruise movies on that principle to this day. But, if in the face of all that even I can't deny how good and how eminently watchable and magnetic his turn as Lestat was, then you know it was indeed excellent.

It's the one thing about Tom that I actually find interesting enough to want to hear him speak about. I'd love to sit down with him in private and discuss his process for making this movie, and how he sees Lestat and approached playing him.

Lestat shows the far more interesting actor Cruise could have been if it weren't for Scientology and his own seething ambition to be the biggest movie star in the world.

In my gay brain, Lestat is essentially the androgynous, immortal, and hypercompetent version of Albert Goldman.

Much of their dialogue can be switched, and sound perfectly natural.

[quote] "Indifference is the most awful thing in the world, Armand."

My pet theory about Tom's acting, is that he does his best (or, only decent) work when he perceives there is pushback or that he is being counted out. It's like he craves obstacles or criticism to overcome, because he may have the indulgence of basking in praise and taking the high ground.

However, Tom's ego stands in the way of him undertaking the kind of difficult risky parts and doing the kind of vulnerable humiliating inner work necessary to succeed in a way that surprises naysayers, like he did in INTERVIEW. He's scared of his shadow, scared of himself, scared of levelling up and gambling on something neither he nor his director nor the audience is absolutely certain he can pull off.

He's scared of Lestat, at heart, which is why he was ther perfect actor to play him. What is fear, but a great universal emotion? And what is acting, but the conveyance of great universal emotion?

It's not enough for Cruise to meet expectations. He wants to exceed them, but he is now so entrenched in his echo chamber and comfort zone that he can't do that, so he grasps for power that will allow him to rig the game. It's a sad waste.

Yes, R119. It's one of my favourite movie posters.

Toxic couple, yes. However, the two most erotic scenes in the film - 1. When Lestat turns Louis. That bite is "orgasmic". 2. Louis acting like he is going to kiss Armand before saying goodbye. IWTV is light years ahead of the Twilight dreck.

R186 And when Lestat seduced a young gay man. That caress he gives him is just enough to make any helpless impotent person to cum. But the Louis and Armand scene was also a gem.

R187 where was that scene in the movie? I do not remember that part.

R188, the "fop" who murdered that older lady's husband for her. They were at a party and Louis drank her poodles and Lestat snapped her neck when she screamed.

R188 :

Thank you R190.

Wow, that and the biting of Louis must be the closest thing to explicitly gay scenes that Tammy has ever done.T(OP GUN was unintentional, so it doesn't count).

We need a "Job Interview With the Vampire" thread.

"Where do you see your self in 500 years?"