25 Things You Didn’t Know About Interview With The Vampire
7. Anne Rice Doesn’t Suffer Fools Gladly
Anne Rice famously doesn't mince words. On a Dallas book tour in 1993, she commented about her time in Hollywood, "They're making these movies that have a huge impact on America, and they're idiots. They're stumblebums.
Rice was furious that Tom Cruise was cast to play Lestat, insisting that the casting was "so bizarre; it's almost impossible to imagine how it's going to work" and frothing that she was "particularly stunned by the casting of Cruise, who is no more my vampire Lestat than Edward G. Robinson is Rhett Butler".
Rice suggested swapping the leads to fix the problem: having already decided that Brad Pitt could play Lestat, she condescended to agree that,”yes, [Cruise] could do Louis, he could do that part, the brooding, dark, guilt-ridden, passive, reflective, reactive thing."
She wouldn’t stop, either: "it's almost impossible to imagine how it's going to work, and it's really almost impossible to imagine how Neil and David and Tom could have come up with it. I have one question: Does Tom Cruise have any idea of what he's getting into?"
Well, now he does, Anne.
Rice recused herself from the production and had no further involvement until she watched a VHS copy of the finished film… and was forced to eat a little crow when she saw just how good Cruise was in the role. In fairness, she was delighted to do so, personally apologising to him and taking out two-page ads in Vanity Fair and the New York Times hailing the movie as a masterpiece.