Before climbing up the outside of the world’s tallest building and clinging to flying airplanes, Tom Cruise had a prolific film career in all kinds of genres. Back in the early 90s, the actor decided to take a role in one of the titles that would become one of the few horror entries in his filmography: The 1994 goth cult classic Interview With the Vampire. The movie has a lasting legacy, and you will be able to check it out (or rewatch it) this October.
In the story, Cruise plays Lestat de Lioncourt, a 200-year-old vampire whose life is changed after he turns Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) into a vampire too. Initially willing to become immortal, Louis starts to realize that becoming a vampire is more of a burden than an advantage. He then decides to narrate his life’s story to a reporter. The movie also stars Christian Slater (Blink Twice), Antonio Banderas (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Stephen Rea (V for Vendetta), and a very young Kirsten Dunst (Civil War).
Interview With the Vampire was pretty well received by audiences. In theaters, it made over $220 million at the box office, making it one of the most successful movies from Cruise and Pitt’s careers at the time. Among critics, however, the supernatural story was not that enticing — it has a 63% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics like Roger Ebert agreed that there were notable qualities to it, especially the way it depicts vampirism as a curse. However, Variety’s Todd McCarthy pointed out that it lacks “a strong sense of emotional exchange.”
The ’90s ‘Interview With the Vampire’ Adaptation Was Complicated
The movie was directed by Neil Jordan (Marlowe), and the screenplay was written by Anne Rice herself. The author originally published the novel of the same name in 1976 and was the best person to condense her own story into a two-hour movie. The idea was to start a vampire franchise, but the plans were derailed as time passed. A belated sequel came almost a decade later, with none of the original cast members attached. The Queen of the Damned, also based on the Anne Rice novel, failed to make a splash at the box office and pretty much buried the franchise for the following decade.
The legacy of Interview with the Vampire was resurrected with the 2022 atmospheric series of the same name that kicked off the Anne Rice Immortal Universe at AMC. The hit show is already on track for Season 3, while its sister series Mayfair Witches is about to start its second season. Meanwhile, AMC also announced that a new spin-off series set in the same universe and titled The Talamasca is in production.