‘Interview With the Vampire’: Here Are the Iconic Movies Late Author Anne Rice Was Famous for Inspiring
Interview With The Vampire author Anne Rice died yesterday, December 11, 2021. But her fantastic works of fiction will likely live on for centuries to come. She was the rare author who is famous enough to know by name. And many of her books were adapted into major feature films. One horror movie, in particular, was a massive and memorable success. Here are the movies you might have seen that were inspired by the work of the versatile and prolific writer.
Anne Rice is best known for ‘Interview With the Vampire’
Among her many works (there are at least 42), Anne Rice is responsible for at least 42. She’s perhaps best known for her vampire series of books. In other words, she made vampires cool long before Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series did.
The 1976 bestselling novel Interview With The Vampire was a pop culture sensation. She published the dark story about an 18th century Lord named Louis and set in Louisiana and New Orleans. Louis de Pointe du Lac becomes a vampire and lives centuries into modern times. Recounting his story during a present-day interview becomes the premise of Interview With The Vampire.
“I really got into the character,” she said in The New York Times back in 1988. “For the first time, I was able to describe my reality, the dark, gothic influence on my childhood. It’s not fantasy for me. My childhood came to life for me.”
Rice certainly had an uncanny knack for the dark and atmospheric. Moreover, Hollywood thought so, too. By 1994, the book was a gothic horror movie starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and then-young Kirsten Dunst. Pitt played the lead role of Louis.
It was a thumping success in every way. In fact, a sequel, The Queen of the Damned, hit theaters in 2002. That movie starred the late Aaliyah.
Anne Rice’s novels also found success as TV movies
Aside from her novel’s big-screen adaptations, Anne Rice’s work also found success on the small-screen. She was instrumental in adapting the stories for Rag and Bone (1998), The Feast of All Saints (2001), and Earth Angel (2001), all as television movies.
The author additionally lived to see The Young Messiah (2016) adapted to a major feature film, as well as short film Lestat and 1994’s Exit to Eden starring Rosie O’Donnell and Dan Aykroyd.
Even in death, the influential work of Anne Rice continues to march forward. AMC announced in August of 2021 that her Lives of Mayfair Witches is currently in development as a television series. Moreover, according to The Hollywood Reporter, AMC acquired the rights to The Vampire Chronicles as part of the deal. That, too, is in development as a series.
The famous author didn’t want Tom Cruise to be in ‘Interview With The Vampire’
Anne Rice’s fame in the movies wasn’t without controversy. She famously slammed producers’ decision to cast Tom Cruise in the role of Lestat, the vampire who initially recruits Louis to vampirism.
However, she came around and admitted that Cruise was suitable for the role in the end. A 1994 Los Angeles Times article quotes producer David Geffen, saying that she eventually called Cruise to apologize for her vocal opposition.
“She even phoned (Tom) up and told him she was wrong,” Geffen told the LA Times. “It’s a great thing when someone who had been critical of a movie saw it, loved it and admitted she was wrong . . . a very classy thing to do.”
