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Interview with the Vampire (film)

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This article is about the film. For the novel, see Interview with the Vampire.
Interview with the Vampire
Theatrical poster
Directed byNeil Jordan
Screenplay byAnne Rice
Produced byDavid Geffen
Stephen Woolley
StarringTom Cruise
Brad Pitt
Antonio Banderas
Stephen Rea
Christian Slater
Kirsten Dunst
CinematographyPhilippe Rousselot
Edited byMick Audsley
Music byElliot Goldenthal
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • November 11, 1994 (1994-11-11)
Running time
122 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[2]
Box office$223.7 million[2]

Interview with the Vampire is a 1994 American drama horror film directed by Neil Jordan, based on the 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, and starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The film focuses on Lestat (Cruise) and Louis (Pitt), beginning with Louis's 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 supporting cast features Christian Slater, Kirsten Dunst, and Antonio Banderas.

The film was released in November 1994 to generally positive reviews,[3] and received Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Original Score.[4] Kirsten Dunst was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film.

Plot

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 sought to die following the deaths of his dear 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. 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.

Wandering the streets of New Orleans, amid an outbreak of plague, Louis finds an ill little girl in a house with her dead, decomposing mother who still sits in her rocking chair. He bites the girl, Claudia, whom Lestat later transforms into a vampire "daughter." Lestat hopes that Claudia's transformation will discourage Louis from leaving. As thirty years pass, Claudia matures psychologically but still remains a little girl in appearance. She has become a sadistic killer who closely bonds with Louis and Lestat. But, when she finally realizes she will never grow up and have an adult body of her own, thus being trapped in the form of a child forever, she is furious with Lestat and finds herself deeply hating him for making her a vampire. She finally attempts to trick him into drinking the blood of twin boys she killed by overdosing them with laudanum, knowing that blood from a corpse is fatal to vampires. This weakens him, and she slits his throat. Claudia and Louis dump Lestat's body in a swamp; but he returns, having drained the blood of swamp creatures to survive. Lestat attacks them, but Louis sets him on fire and is able to flee to Paris with Claudia.

In 1870, Louis and Claudia live in harmony in Paris, but Louis encounters vampires Santiago and Armand; Armand invites Louis and Claudia to his coven, the Théâtre des Vampires, where they witness Armand and his coven dispatching a terrified human woman before an unsuspecting human audience.

Claudia rightly accuses Louis of wanting to abandon her for Armand. She demands he turn a human woman, Madeleine, to be her new protector and companion, and he reluctantly complies. As punishment for Lestat's murder, the Parisian vampires abduct all three; they imprison Louis in a metal coffin. When freed by Armand the next night, he learns Claudia and Madeleine have been exposed to sunlight against their will and turned to ash. He returns to the Theater and avenges Claudia and Madeleine by burning the vampires as they sleep and bisecting Santiago with a scythe. Armand arrives in time to help Louis escape and once again offers him a place by his side. Louis refuses, knowing that Armand choreographed Claudia and Madeline's demise to have Louis all to himself, and he leaves Armand for good.

As decades pass, Louis explores the world alone, still grieving for Claudia, before returning to the United States. In 1988, he returns to New Orleans and finds Lestat, a mere shadow of his former self. Lestat asks Louis to rejoin him, but Louis rejects him and leaves.

At this point, Louis concludes the interview, claiming that his experiences have resulted in his becoming the "very spirit of preternatural flesh; detached, unchangeable, empty." Molloy is shocked by this statement and openly declares his desire to have had Louis's experiences as a vampire. He asks Louis to transform him. Louis is immediately outraged by Molloy's complete disregard for the pervasive suffering caused by vampirism outlined in the interview. Louis bodily lifts Molloy up and pins him against the ceiling. In the next instant, Louis vanishes. Molloy hurriedly runs to his car and drives away, feeling happy with his interview as he plays it through the cassette player. Just then, Lestat appears and attacks him, taking control of the car. Revived by Molloy's blood, they drive off into the San Francisco night, taking out the cassette and turning on the radio, which is playing a Guns N' Roses cover of "Sympathy for the Devil" by the The Rolling Stones. And Lestat prepares to make the same offer to Malloy he once did to Louis.

Cast

Production

Author Anne Rice adapted her 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire into a screenplay with French actor Alain Delon in mind for the role of Louis.[6] Later on, when the film was made, British actor Julian Sands was considered to play the role of Lestat by Rice,[citation needed] 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"[6] 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."

Due to Rice's perception of Hollywood's homophobia, at one point she rewrote the part of Louis, changing his sex to female, in order to specifically heterosexualize the character's relationship with Lestat.[7] At the time, Rice felt it was the only way to get the film made, and singer-actress Cher was considered for the part.[7] A song titled "Lovers Forever", which Cher wrote along with Shirley Eikhard for the film's soundtrack, got rejected as Pitt was ultimately cast for the role, though a dance-pop version of the song was released on Cher's 2013 album, Closer to the Truth.[8]

Originally, River Phoenix was cast for the role of Daniel Molloy (as Anne Rice liked the idea), but he died four weeks before he was due to begin filming. When Christian Slater was cast in his place as Molloy, he donated his entire salary to Phoenix's favorite charitable organizations.[9] The film has a dedication to Phoenix after the end credits. Eleven-year-old actress Kirsten Dunst was spotted by talent scouts and was the first girl tested for the role of woman/child Claudia.[6]

Release

Box office

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles opened on November 11, 1994. Opening weekend grosses amounted to $36.4m, placing it in the number one position at the US box office.[10] In subsequent weeks it struggled against Star Trek Generations and The Santa Clause. Total gross in the United States was $105 million, while the total including international gross was $224 million, with an estimated budget of $60 million.[11]

Critical reception and awards

The film received positive reviews among film critics. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports the film as holding an overall 61% "Fresh" approval rating based on 51 reviews, with a rating average of 5.9 out of 10. The sites consensus reads: "Despite lacking some of the book's subtler shadings, and suffering from some clumsy casting, Interview with a Vampire benefits from Neil Jordan's atmospheric direction and a surfeit of gothic thrills."[12] Praise from The New York Times's Elvis Mitchell and the Chicago Sun-Times's Roger Ebert was tempered by poor reviews in The Washington Post and Time magazine.[13][14][15][16]

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards—for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo) and for Best Original Score, but lost to The Madness of King George and The Lion King, respectively.[4] This film won a Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple for Pitt and Cruise, tied with Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone in The Specialist.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on June 6, 2000[17] and on Blu-ray Disc on October 7, 2008.[18]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was written by Elliot Goldenthal and received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. "Sympathy for the Devil" was performed by Guns N' Roses.

Sequel

Almost a decade after this film, an adaptation for the third book in the series, The Queen of the Damned, was produced and distributed once again by Warner Bros. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt did not reprise their roles as Lestat and Louis. Many characters and important plotlines were written out of the film, which actually combined elements of The Vampire Lestat with The Queen of the Damned. The film was negatively received by critics, and Rice dismissed it completely as she felt the filmmakers had "mutilated" her work. During pre-production, Rice had pleaded with the studio not to produce a film of the book just yet as she believed her readers wanted a film based on the second book in the series, The Vampire Lestat. Rice was refused the cooperation of the studio.[citation needed]

In February 2012, the fourth book in The Vampire Chronicles, The Tale of the Body Thief, entered a stage of development with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's film production company, Imagine Entertainment. It was reported that screenwriter Lee Patterson was going to pen the screenplay. However, Rice's son, Christopher, apparently had drafted a screenplay based on the novel that was met with praise from those involved in the developmental stage. Rice later confirmed that creative differences that were beyond those involved resulted in the dismissal of the project in April 2013.[19]

In August 2014 Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the entire Vampire Chronicles. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have been named as producers and the deal includes the aforementioned screenplay for The Tale of the Body Thief, written by Christopher.[20][21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 1994-11-16. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
  2. ^ a b Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles at Box Office Mojo Retrieved May 30, 2013
  3. ^ "Interview with the Vampire". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
  4. ^ a b "The 67th Academy Awards (1995) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-05.
  5. ^ "Marcel Iures - Biography - Movies & TV". NYTimes.com. 1951-08-02. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  6. ^ a b c Katherine Ramsland (22 December 2010). Anne Rice Reader. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 170–. ISBN 978-0-307-77563-4.
  7. ^ a b Benshoff, Harry M. (1997). "Monsters in the closet: homosexuality and the horror film". Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4473-1.
  8. ^ Cher On 'Closer to the Truth': I Took Some Chances on This Album. Billboard.com, June 19, 2013. By Phil Gallo.
  9. ^ Alan W. Petrucelli (29 September 2009). Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous. Penguin Publishing Group. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-1-101-14049-9.
  10. ^ Natale, Richard (1994-11-14). "Love at First Bite: 'Vampire' Tears Into Box Office : Movies: Warners film looks to be the fourth largest debut ever. 'Santa Clause' sleighs into the No. 2 spot with a solid take". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  11. ^ "Interview with the Vampire (1994)". Box Office Mojo.
  12. ^ "Interview with the Vampire (1994)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
  13. ^ Mitchell, Elvis (2002-02-22). "FILM REVIEW; A Vampire Searches for Meaning to a Rock Beat". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-24.
  14. ^ Corliss, Richard (1994-11-21). "CINEMA: Toothless: Interview with the Vampire falls flat, despite Tom Cruise". Time. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  15. ^ "Interview with the Vampire". Washington Post. 1994-11-14. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  16. ^ "Interview with the Vampire". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  17. ^ "Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)". Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  18. ^ "Interview with the Vampire [Blu-ray]". Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  19. ^ Kit, Borys. "Anne Rice's 'Tale of the Body Thief' In Development With Imagine, Kurtzman/Orci". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. ^ McNary, Dave (August 7, 2014). "Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles Takes Flight at Universal". Variety. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  21. ^ Iman Amrani. "Universal buys rights to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles book series". The Guardian.
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