Tag Archives: AR opinions

What do you think of the choice of Tom Cruise as Lestat? When the movie came out I read A.R. wasn’t happy and I was surprised, but then I read the books and I agreed with her. I love the movie and he acted very well, but I can’t see him fit as Lestat.

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You come into mY HOUSE-!

*siiiigh* Are we still talking about Tom Cruise’s casting? I recognize that I’ve been in this fandom since before the movie came out (so it’s been officially 21 years of hearing this question), and that there are new ppl to fandom every year with their own headcanon of the character. 

When anyone comes across AR’s very strong initial negative opinion of Mr. Cruise they may even agree with her at first. However! She published another opinion after seeing his performance (in the test reel even, thanx @annabellioncourt!) in which she praises him to high heaven even more strenuously! She still occasionally mentions him on her FB with affection, even now.

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So as I said. AR changed her opinion:

“ON TOM CRUISE: From the moment he appeared Tom was Lestat for me. He has the immense physical and moral presence; he was defiant and yet never without conscience; he was beautiful beyond description  yet compelled to do cruel things. The sheer beauty of Tom was dazzling, but the polish of his acting, his flawless plunge into the Lestat persona, his ability to speak rather boldly poetic lines, and speak them with seeming ease and conviction were exhilarating and uplifting. The guy is great.“

And I agree with her 110% *u*

You can find some other options for casting Lestat in my #VC casting tag, but what I think it all boils down to is that an actor’s job is to ACT. Since a fictional character exists in our imagination, there is no perfect physical casting for him EVER. Not even illustrated in graphic novels or animation. We can all agree that there are certain physical characteristics he should have, like having blond hair, but there are so many shades of blond. Even then, that one thing we can all agree is necessary for Lestat was TOTALLY DISCARDED in the Queen of the Damned movie sooo… *shrugs*

It’s up to the director to choose who they want to act out the story they want to tell. 

Bonus: Neil Jordan, #certified vampire therapist

Yep, the director alludes to it in the commentary; and then there’s an interview I read with her about the film; she said that she publicly refused to be attached to it when she heard the casting, but then saw the test reel and redacted everything she said. But she still thought the ending was, I forget her exact words, something along the lines of “a pulp horror ending” or something like that.

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I don’t remember anything about how she felt about movie!IWTV’s ending, but yeah, there was a whole thing about the Cruise casting, and she certainly changed her tune.

AR’s actual words re: Tom here: http://www.angelfire.com/ri/cerat/AnneOnTom.html

She went from:

“The Tom Criuse casting is just so bizarre, it’s almost impossible to imagine how it’s going to work, and it’s really almost impossible to imagine how Neil, David and Tom could have come up with it.  I have one question: Does Tom Criuse have any idea of what he’s getting into?  I’m not sure he does.  I’m not sure he’s read any of the books other than the first one, and his comments on TV that he wanted to do something scary and he loved “creature features” as a kid, well, that didn’t make me feel any better.  I do think Tom Cruise is a fine actor. [But] you have to know what you can do and what you can’t do.“
– an interview  with Martha Frankel, published in Movieline (Jan/Feb 1994)

To:

“ON TOM CRUISE: From the moment he appeared Tom was Lestat for me. He has the immense physical and moral presence; he was defiant and yet never without conscience; he was beautiful beyond description  yet compelled to do cruel things. The sheer beauty of Tom was dazzling, but the polish of his acting, his flawless plunge into the Lestat persona, his ability to speak rather boldly poetic lines, and speak them with seeming ease and conviction were exhilarating and uplifting. The guy is great.