Given Hollywood’s mania for reboots these days and the continuing popularity of all things vampire, it’s sort of surprising that no one has yet come up with a concrete plan to bring Anne Rice‘s original beautiful, brooding bloodsuckers back to the screen. But on the off-chance there’s a producer looking to do just that, Rice already has her eye on a few leading men to play the original emo vamps Louis and Lestat, the same ones portrayed in Neil Jordan‘s visually sumptuous 1994 adaptation of “Interview with the Vampire” by Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise respectively.
Nowadays, Rice says in a lengthy interview with the Vulture blog that Richard Armitage or Matt Bomer would be perfect for Louis — and Robert Downey Jr. for his seductive blond counterpart. “That would be wonderful,” Rice said of the idea of Downey portraying the role. “He is a great actor. He would bring the gravitas and the wit and humor and all of that to the part, and I don’t think he’s too old. I think if he had a blond wig and makeup, he would be a wonderful Lestat.”
Considering the original firestorm around Cruise’s casting in the role — a move Rice initially objected to but then supported — it’s a bit amusing to hear the author nominate an out-of-the-box choice like Downey, who’s certainly a talented actor but one who possesses very few of Lestat’s physical traits (and is a good deal older than the character as written in Rice’s series of novels which began 1976′s “Interview”). Then again, Stuart Townsend played Lestat in 2002′s “Queen of the Damned,” and though he was much closer in appearance to the character, that movie failed to gain traction with vampire fans or, really, anyone — it grossed roughly $30 million at the box office.
Since it’s always fun to speculate on a Friday afternoon, who would you like to see reprise the role? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
– Gina McIntyre
FONTE
