Antonio Banderas is one of the fandom’s punching bags re: being cast as Armand in that movie, when that character is in fact described as being around 15-16 yrs old, w/ auburn hair, who looks more like a Botticelli angel than a real person. Alot of Armand fans are more than hopeful that the actor cast as Armand in the new adaptation will be more accurate to canon.
I initially felt the same way about movie!IWTV’s Banderas!Armand, that he was so very wrong. But then I considered it further and came up w/ a lot of reasons (#Defending Antonio) to justify that casting, so you can give my reasons a chance or not if you’d rather join in the fun of beating this dead horse bc I know I have my own dead horses to beat, so have at it!
I’m not sure if you’re referring to Antonio!Armand specifically but u probably are, and I know, I know… he is the fandom’s punching bag, I KNOW.
But consider perusing my #defending Antonio tag, where you will find my theories as to why they cast smne who isn’t remotely trying to be physically similar to the character described in the book (except for his wardrobe maybe?). His acting was still very true to the character so give him some credit for that. Very seductive of Louis. But yeah, Denis (played by
Louis Xavier Lewis-Smith) looks more like Armand should have looked:
The biggest reason for Antonio!Armand being that I think AR merged Santino and Armand for that movie bc of reasons. So treat him like Santino and that should lessen the pain *hugs*
If they’re causing a pointless mind-fuck, I think it’s unintentional. They leak these pics and talk about the project now and then bc we’re all so frickin’ thirsty for it! I doubt they’re aiming to provoke any negativity towards an enormous and complex project that’s in its fetal stages.
[I’m not sure if you saw my thoughts on this very issue recently, if so, sorry to repeat myself, but this is what I wrote before re: the title, and I added a little extra]
First though, it’s possible that Josh Boone & Co. don’t want people to confuse this project with the musical!TVL. And IWTV is the more recognizable title to sell it on. They intend to make a trilogy and spinoff series, and in order to do that, they need to at least include some of the first book.
Just bc the cover of the script had “Interview with the Vampire” as the title for this project, that doesn’t mean he’s redoing that movie exactly.
I think we’ll be getting the Interview with the Vampire Lestat, this time around. What a twist!
Boone has to incorporate at least some of Louis’ story, and then get the ending of it back on canon track, bc movie!IWTV ended w/ Lestat and Daniel driving off into the sunrise*. Lestat was basically giving Daniel the choice to join him.
Keep an eye on my #VC News tag, that’s where I keep updates on this.
*If that ship (Lestat/Daniel) were to sail, then alot of canon after that would have to be reworked.
Also, as a side note, I’ve been seeing a lot of ppl commenting on these posts about the original movie!IWTV casting for Armand, hopeful that he’ll be more accurate to canon in this new installment.
I initially felt the same way about movie!IWTV’s Banderas!Armand, that he was so very wrong. But then I considered it further and came up w/ a lot of reasons (#Defending Antonio) to justify that casting, the biggest one being that I think AR merged Santino and Armand for that movie, for a number of reasons, to make the film more palatable to mainstream audiences in the 90’s. Keep in mind that this was a time when even discussing the AIDS crisis was a very controversial topic, and portraying “taboo” things like homosexuality had to be done carefully. Topics like that still require special handling, but they’re at least more prevalent in the media 20 yrs later.
Back to Banderas!Armand (or rather, Banderas!Santino) Another major reason might have been that if they had a teenage redhead seduce Louis, it could make Louis come across as a pedophile. Another taboo topic and even less acceptable to portray in the 90’s. In the book, Louis is seduced into leaving his beloved, who looked like a child, for another underage-looking character, despite his actual age being over 90 yrs old, and these two “love-interests” actual ages being around 65 and 400 yrs old, respectively. Claudia is his daughter in a way, and more than that, in a way… one instance was sort of passable but a second relationship like that in one film (the 100 yr sail of the Louis/Armand ship) might just be too much for mainstream audiences outside the fandom.
Hopefully, in the new movie, Boone & Co. can find a way to keep Armand canon-accurate, and not need to merge him w/ another character for mainstream audience acceptance.
So really, in movie!IWTV, it’s Santino you’re seeing there, with Armand’s name and job title ;]
I have come up with a list of things I would like to see in the new Vampire Chronicles film. Any comments and thoughts are welcome! Putting most of the post under a read-more for the sake of length:
The film to be based on The Vampire Lestat with a healthy amount of flashbacks back to Interview with the Vampire, that way the unfamiliar audience understands the context in which the second book was written aren’t left too much in the dark. Completely erasing the first book out of the storyline doesn’t make much sense to me.
Possibly starting the film with bits from Daniel and Louis’ interview and fast-forwarding to Lestat resurfacing in the 80′s (once he is first mentioned)?
I willdefend Antonio 5ever and argue his case as more of a Santino/Armandmashup than intentionally Armand. The QOTD!Armand was so horrendous that I don’t even want to know that actor’s name, apologies to him, it’s not entirely his fault.
Aside from that, there are some excellent points here, check out @firelight-fading‘s ideas, and share w/ your own *u*
I-want-my-IWTV 