One of my favourite films, Anne Rice famously denounced the casting of Tom Cruise, but changed her mind after seeing his showstopping turn as cravat-wearing, bourgeois bloodsucker Lestat. This was Cruise's first villianous role (and even so, Lestat is every bit the engaging anti-hero to Brad Pitt's "good" vampire Louis).
Irish director Neil Jordan assembles a great cast including Stephen Rea, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst and Christian Slater (a role he took on after original cast member and Slater's good friend River Pheonix died, Christian Slater donated his fee for this film to some of River's favourite charities, which was a nice gesture on his part).
This movie's cinematography is a mesmerising achivement, and the fact that some of it was filmed in parts of New Orleans (which no longer exist) only adds to the poignancy. There have been thousands of vampire movies made over the years, but nothing even vaguely similar to 'IWTV'.
Posted by Muffy Tepperman (Member # 1551) on :
Very true..........you had to love Brad Pitt in this one too though. Kirsten Dunst was a wee little one and got alot of rave for her role too.
anything else Neil Jordan is known for??? So I can compare Vampire??? lol
(off Muffy goes to the IWTV IMDB page) Posted by MotleyRulz (Member # 3598) on :
Great movie and a great cast. I wish River would have lived to play his role instead of Christian Slater....
Posted by raggedyman (Member # 4065) on :
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE was a great film - the first Cruise movie I saw at the cinema (and I've been a fan of his ever since);- but y'know what makes me laugh? when this, and BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA were released, I noticed that there were a lot of 'real' vampires popping up on daytime / chat / talk shows; sad, Goth-Dressed folk who claimed to live on only blood and were 'allergic' to sunlight. These guys and gals were just there to cash in on the popularity of these films in which Vampires were portrayed as beautiful and tragic characters. Funny, I never saw 'em when FROM DUSK TILL DAWN or BLADE came out.... maybe 'cos the blood-suckers were just cannon-fodder in these films?
Posted by Stitch (Member # 2895) on :
I love a Interview with the vampire. I'm a definate non-fan of Tom Cruise, but this is by far the best work he has ever done. He is magnificent as Lestat. I'd even go so far as to say that he should have recieved an Oscar nod, along with Kirten Dunst. I've mentioned before that even though it's kinda creepy, 12 year old Kirsten in this film was one of the most beautiful and sensual women I've ever seen in film. For a 12 year old to portray the desires and needs of a eternally youthfull 100 year old vampire was an astonishing job.
After I saw the film, I got into the books. Interview with the Vampire is the first book in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and was followed by "The Vampire Lestat", "Queen of the damned", "Tale of the body snatcher" and "Memnoch the devil".
There was also another book "The Vampire Armand" which was based on Antonio Banderas character. I didn't really enjoy that book unfortunately.
The Vampire Chronicles really made being a vampire so romantic. I often thought that if it was really like that, I would gladly become a vampire. Of course, I realise it's not like that. Besides, I look better with a tan.
Posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess (Member # 1877) on :
I liked the movie, but when I remember seeing it for the first time I didn't feel like I was watching a Tom Cruise movie. In fact I think that Brad Pitt was more of the lead in the film. This isn't a film that I would watch over and over again! I think that Kirsten Dunst was awesome in it. I do remember thinking that girl is gonna be a star!
Posted by Stitch (Member # 2895) on :
Interview with the vampire really was the story of Louis (Brad Pitt), so technically he was the lead. There is barely a scene in the entire film that doesn't feature Louis.
The Vampire Chronicles began to focus more on Lestat afterwards, from "The Vampire Lestat" onwards. Interestingly, the final two books ("Tale of the body thief" and "Memnoch the devil") had nothing to do with Lestat being a vampire. They were about events that happened to Lestat, and he just happened to be a vampire.
Posted by cindymancini (Member # 679) on :
Hey Motley, I couldn't agree with your sentiment more. I only found out recently that River was supposed to be in this film. How great would that have been? As much as he had an innocent quality to him, there was also this underlying dark aspect. God knows what he could have gone on to do and what movies he could have been a part of. At least Joaquin is doing well. I really hope he gets the Oscar for Walk The Line. River must be proud, wherever he may be...
Posted by MotleyRulz (Member # 3598) on :
Yes Cindy I hope Joaquin gets the Oscar too. I think River would have been doing big things had he lived longer...
Posted by AnyaKay27 (Member # 4675) on :
This was the first vampire film I had seen since Once Bitten...lol...Got to see this in the theatres and totally loved the special effects! Every time I catch it on TV, I just have to watch it again.
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