Description
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles is a 1994 film directed by Neil Jordan based on the 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. The film focuses on Lestat and Louis, beginning with Louis’ transformation into a vampire by Lestat in 1791. The film chronicles their time together, and their turning of a twelve-year-old girl, Claudia, into a vampire. The narrative is framed by a present day interview, in which Louis tells his story to a San Francisco reporter. The film stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst with Antonio Banderas and Stephen Rea co-starring. In modern-day San Francisco, reporter Daniel Molloy interviews Louis de Pointe du Lac, who claims to be a vampire. Louis begins by describing his transformation into a vampire in Spanish Louisiana in 1791, at age 24, by the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt. Louis suffered from a death wish following the deaths of his wife and child; Lestat offered Louis the death he craved, but Louis asks to live instead. Lestat turns Louis and teaches him how to live as a vampire. As part of his education, Lestat informs Louis that some vampires, as an extension of the ‘Dark Gift’ of vampirism, can develop the capacity to read the thoughts of others. At first, Louis rebels against hurting humans, drinking animal blood instead. He finally succumbs and kills his faithful house slave Yvette. Guilt ridden, he tries to kill himself by setting fire to his house; but Lestat rescues him and they flee. When the film was made British actor Julian Sands was considered to play the role of Lestat by Rice herself; but, because Sands was not a well-known name at the time, being only famed for his performance in A Room with a View, he was rejected and the role was given to Tom Cruise. This was initially criticized by Anne Rice, who said that Cruise was “no more my vampire Lestat than Edward G. Robinson is Rhett Butler” and the casting was “so bizarre; it’s almost impossible to imagine how it’s going to work”. Nevertheless, she was satisfied with Cruise’s performance after seeing the completed film, saying that “from the moment he appeared, Tom was Lestat for me” and “that Tom did make Lestat work was something I could not see in a crystal ball”. In fact, after she saw the premiere of the movie, she wrote a letter of apology to Tom Cruise and commended his performance.
Near mint condition.