Tom Cruise sank his on-screen vampire teeth into the role of Lestat de Lioncourt back in 1994, but the late Anne Rice had her reservations about the Hollywood heavyweight playing the character. In the end, though, Cruise did a masterful job of embodying Lestat, who originally appeared in Rice’s 1976 novel, Interview with the Vampire.
And as the film celebrates its 30th anniversary, it’s obvious Cruise proved Rice and the rest of his doubters wrong when he sported the vampire’s long, blonde locks to seamlessly transform into the Brat Prince. The movie’s director, Neil Jordan, said of his film’s star in a new interview with Variety:
“I just saw that I liked him as an actor, it’s as simple as that. I mean, Lestat is described as tall, rangy, and blonde haired and all that sort of stuff. Tom was none of those things. But he had a conviction and a kind of a chilling centrality to him, that I thought he’d be great in this role.
It struck me that a huge Hollywood star was forced into a life not unlike the life that Lestat led. They have to avoid publicity, avoid crowds, keep their legend intact, keep a certain unknowability about them. And I thought those things were part and parcel of Tom’s life, and maybe they would make him a great Lestat. And it turned out to be the case.”
Brad Pitt, who portrayed Louis de Pointe du Lac, was already attached to the project when it came time to cast Lestat, but Daniel Day-Lewis passed on the role. Rice favored actors Jeremy Irons and Rutger Hauer to play the French vampire, but in the end, Cruise’s unquestionable star power won everyone over. Prior to her death in 2021, Rice said of Cruise’s casting and portrayal of Louis and Claudia’s (Kirsten Dunst) dark master:
“I think Tom did a wonderful job… I really do. I, too, was shocked in the beginning, and I was very much against it [Cruise’s casting]. But Tom Cruise really did read the books, I think. And he got the essence of Lestat. He got Lestat’s power and his charisma and his charm.”
‘It Was Like the Entire of the United States Was Out for Me’
Today, everyone is talking about Tom Cruise because of the buzz created by the first teaser trailer for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, which hits theaters in May 2025. But back in the early 1990s, all the talk about the movie star centered around him being the wrong fit to portray Lestat de Lioncourt in Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire. Jordan reflected on the intense scrutiny both he and the production were under thanks to Cruise’s casting:
“It was like the entire of the United States was out for me, really. It created a little paranoid world for us, basically. We were shooting large scenes in San Francisco, New Orleans, London and Paris. And in each case, we had to shield ourselves off from paparazzi, from any glimpses of what we were doing.
It was like we were making the movie like vampires, in a strange way. It helped me in the process, it concentrated the mind. I’m not sure how it helped the actors, but it made the production rather special.”
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Interview With the Vampire Director Reveals Why His Sequel Never Got Made
On its 30th anniversary, the director explains why we never got the adaptation of The Vampire Lestat that we deserved.
Interview with the Vampire (1994) is currently available to buy or rent on most VOD platforms, including Fandango at Home. And for those who haven’t watched the must-see AMC series yet, check out the special “Long Face” song footage for Season 3, which features Sam Reid’s Lestat de Lioncourt taking on his rock star persona from Rice’s follow-up novel to Interview with the Vampire titled The Vampire Lestat (1985).
Interview with the Vampire