• Anne Rice’s books (including this 1973 novel) were hot property which is why this 1994 project is a collection of some of the most promising talents in the world of film in the early 1990s. Neil Jordan (which means we get Stephen Rea, too) was very hot off his 1992 surprise hit The Crying Game. Brad Pitt was the next “It” actor and up and comer (Legends of the Fall is also 1994 and by the end of the year he is a full-blown star). Speaking of stars, Tom Cruise is about as big as it gets at the time (both The Firm and A Few Good Men finished as top ten box office performing films in 1993) and if that was not enough, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater (this role originally intended for River Phoenix before his tragic passing) are here as well. It certainly seems like there was overt attempt to gather some of the biggest male heartthrobs at the time.
  • The great Sandy Powell (Orlando, The Favourite, Carol, Far from Heaven, The Aviator) does the period costume work. Dante Ferretti (Salo, The Age of Innocence) does the production design. Ferretti’s work was nominated for an Oscar- as was the score from Elliot Goldenthal (Heat).
  • Pitt plays Louis and he tells the story (the narrative’s voiceover) of his centuries-spanning long life as a vampire to Slater’s character.
  • Large scale production: steamboats, ships, and extras.
  • One of the best scenes is the stage show in Paris put on by Armand (Banderas) and his crew of vampires putting on a horrific display of their carnivore act. Jordan goes to an overhead angle in an inspired shot choice.
  • An admirable work in makeup: each actor portraying a vampire was forced to hang upside down and then the makeup team would highlight the blood vessels to create the vampire look.
  • An early film role for Kirsten Dunst (just twelve years old in 1994) as Claudia- a sort of living vampire doll with curls.
  • Cruise may have the role with the most fun (even if he is not the lead, you can see why he wanted to play Lestat). The film ends with Cruise’s marvelous “I’m going to give you the choice I never had” line which is a callback to same dramatic line used earlier. “Sympathy for the Devil” is sublime curation as the song (from Guns N’ Roses instead of The Rolling Stones) carries the film to the closing credits.
  • Recommend but not in the top 10 of 1994 which is a little disappointing with the abilities of the cast and crew involved