Posted on Nov 11, 2017
4
4
0
On this day in 1994, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, the big-screen adaptation of Anne Rice’s best-selling 1976 novel, opens in theaters around the United States.
Directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, The End of the Affair) from a screenplay written by Rice, the film starred Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas and Kirsten Dunst. Rice was initially critical of the decision to cast Cruise in the role of the worldly anti-hero Lestat; she stated that the actor was “no more my Vampire Lestat than Edward G. Robinson is Rhett Butler.” However, the author was reportedly pleased with the finished film. Interview with the Vampire, which had been highly anticipated by Rice’s legions of fans, proved to be a big box-office success.
Interview with the Vampire proved to be a breakout film for the 12-year-old Kirsten Dunst, who played Claudia, a child vampire who kisses Brad Pitt’s character Louis. Dunst later went on to star in such films as The Virgin Suicides (1999), which marked Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut; Bring It On (2000), Crazy/Beautiful (2001) and The Cat’s Meow (2001), in which she portrayed actress Marion Davies, the companion of famed media mogul William Randolph Hearst. By then one of Hollywood’s leading young female stars, Dunst won the role of Mary Jane, the object of Peter Parker’s affections in the blockbuster movie Spider-Man (2002) and its equally profitable sequels, Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). Among Dunst’s other film credits are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Wimbledon (2004), Elizabethtown (2005) and Marie Antoinette (2006).
The other main cast members of Interview with the Vampire–Pitt, Banderas and Cruise–had all established their acting careers at the time of the film’s release. Pitt had appeared in such films as Thelma & Louise (1991), A River Runs Through It (1992) and Kalifornia (1993), while Banderas’ credits included The Mambo Kings (1992) and Philadelphia (1993). Cruise was the biggest star of the three, having already made such critical and commercial box-office hits as Top Gun (1986), Rain Man (1988) and A Few Good Men (1992).
In 2002, Queen of the Damned, a second movie based on Rice’s vampire books, was released. The film featured a different cast and director from Interview with the Vampire and was a box-office disappointment. In 2006, a musical titled Lestat, featuring music by Elton John and based on Rice’s writings, had a brief run on Broadway.
Directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, The End of the Affair) from a screenplay written by Rice, the film starred Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas and Kirsten Dunst. Rice was initially critical of the decision to cast Cruise in the role of the worldly anti-hero Lestat; she stated that the actor was “no more my Vampire Lestat than Edward G. Robinson is Rhett Butler.” However, the author was reportedly pleased with the finished film. Interview with the Vampire, which had been highly anticipated by Rice’s legions of fans, proved to be a big box-office success.
Interview with the Vampire proved to be a breakout film for the 12-year-old Kirsten Dunst, who played Claudia, a child vampire who kisses Brad Pitt’s character Louis. Dunst later went on to star in such films as The Virgin Suicides (1999), which marked Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut; Bring It On (2000), Crazy/Beautiful (2001) and The Cat’s Meow (2001), in which she portrayed actress Marion Davies, the companion of famed media mogul William Randolph Hearst. By then one of Hollywood’s leading young female stars, Dunst won the role of Mary Jane, the object of Peter Parker’s affections in the blockbuster movie Spider-Man (2002) and its equally profitable sequels, Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). Among Dunst’s other film credits are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Wimbledon (2004), Elizabethtown (2005) and Marie Antoinette (2006).
The other main cast members of Interview with the Vampire–Pitt, Banderas and Cruise–had all established their acting careers at the time of the film’s release. Pitt had appeared in such films as Thelma & Louise (1991), A River Runs Through It (1992) and Kalifornia (1993), while Banderas’ credits included The Mambo Kings (1992) and Philadelphia (1993). Cruise was the biggest star of the three, having already made such critical and commercial box-office hits as Top Gun (1986), Rain Man (1988) and A Few Good Men (1992).
In 2002, Queen of the Damned, a second movie based on Rice’s vampire books, was released. The film featured a different cast and director from Interview with the Vampire and was a box-office disappointment. In 2006, a musical titled Lestat, featuring music by Elton John and based on Rice’s writings, had a brief run on Broadway.
Interview with the Vampire debuts - Nov 11, 1994 - HISTORY.com
Posted from history.com
Hollywood
Film
Entertainment
Movies
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 2
1
1
0
0
0
0
I was attached to COMNAVAIRRESFOR, which was then located in New Orleans on Dauphin Street next to the Inter-coastal canal. One early morning I went out on a run and decided to do the levee on the other side of the Inter-coastal canal... The Levee is a very high one, keeping the Mississippi River at bay and runs south past a La Natl Guard Facility and Jail... Everything was routine... backyards on the left, river traffic on the right... and then a slight rise...and as I went over it I stopped...froze in my tracks... where yesterday was just a long, lonely levee was now a city street built up on each side of the levee...only it was out of the 1700's. A security guard told me to go ahead and run through it but to be careful, as they are still working on it... He said it was a set piece for a new movie...Interview with a Vampire... It was cool looking at the prop wooden sidewalks, hotel fronts, stores... but looking through any window you're looking straight through it...it was just the facades. The next few days they blocked it off completely. A few days later I ran the same route and thought I'd check it out and as I cleared the rise, saw nothing. Everything was gone...not a scrap left.
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google