In movie!IWTV, Armand’s origins aren’t explicitly stated, just that he’s an Old World vampire. He could very well be Spanish, that’s Banderas’ actual ethnicity. So we don’t know. Just bc Louis and Claudia meet him in Paris doesn’t mean he’s French; he tells them he’s 400 yrs old, he’s probably lived elsewhere.
On my recent post about Antonio!Armand, @slow-read shared this opinion: “I would like to add that Antonio’s accent also gives one a sense of age, otherness and it sounds (or sounded) exotic to the audience? It was perfect for Armand-the-oldest-living-vampire-in-the-world. *-*” The
ppl behind movie!IWTV might have chosen Banderas and made the character this way rather than a more canon-compliant actor bc they wanted him to be more convincing as
Armand-the-oldest-living-vampire-in-the-world to audiences who had not read the books. Filmmakers then (and now) want a movie to appeal to wide audiences. I was a kid then, but it seems to me that fandom (and specifically, trying to please the fanbase as a primary objective) wasn’t as much of a consideration at that time.
In the books, Armand comes from a place called Kiev, which according to AR is in Russia and according to the google is in the Ukraine, but idk. Then he spent years in Italy which is where he got most of his mortal education, so he may have picked up some of that accent from his teachers and friends… and then he lived in Paris for many years so he might have consciously tried to pick up some of that accent in order to blend in.
Anyone is welcome to answer this with what you think Armand’s accent is like!
I reckon Armand didn’t spend long enough in Italy to pick up a lasting accent, it will have faded by now. It’s been such a long time since he lived in Eastern Europe that I’m not sure he would have that in his accent, either. Maybe he does have a trace of it left, since it was the first place he lived in. He spends so much time around Frenchmen to this day, I reckon he has a lot of French in his accent. Although let’s not forget he’s also spent a lot of time in America by now, too.
Hard to know, when we don’t have a real life model for someone who’s lived for so long in so many places! I’m gonna go with a cocktail, predominately French with a hint of Eastern Europe and American. The filmmakers with Banderas were probably like, “Eh, European is good enough, no one will know the difference as long as it’s foreign sounding.”
In movie!IWTV, Armand’s origins aren’t explicitly stated, just that he’s an Old World vampire. He could very well be Spanish, that’s Banderas’ actual ethnicity. So we don’t know. Just bc Louis and Claudia meet him in Paris doesn’t mean he’s French; he tells them he’s 400 yrs old, he’s probably lived elsewhere.
On my recent post about Antonio!Armand, @slow-read shared this opinion: “I would like to add that Antonio’s accent also gives one a sense of age, otherness and it sounds (or sounded) exotic to the audience? It was perfect for Armand-the-oldest-living-vampire-in-the-world. *-*” The
ppl behind movie!IWTV might have chosen Banderas and made the character this way rather than a more canon-compliant actor bc they wanted him to be more convincing as
Armand-the-oldest-living-vampire-in-the-world to audiences who had not read the books. Filmmakers then (and now) want a movie to appeal to wide audiences. I was a kid then, but it seems to me that fandom (and specifically, trying to please the fanbase as a primary objective) wasn’t as much of a consideration at that time.
In the books, Armand comes from a place called Kiev, which according to AR is in Russia and according to the google is in the Ukraine, but idk. Then he spent years in Italy which is where he got most of his mortal education, so he may have picked up some of that accent from his teachers and friends… and then he lived in Paris for many years so he might have consciously tried to pick up some of that accent in order to blend in.
Anyone is welcome to answer this with what you think Armand’s accent is like!
Well, anon, lemme just take a look in my coat here…
The museum podLestat pissily refers to Armand building for Louis in PL (while OBVIOUSLY not getting him, unlike Podstat, who bought Louis what he definitely loves: clothes) was a really last ditch effort, maybe just before going to America. It contains every piece of art Louis expressed even the vaguest interest in during their decades together, whether bought, bargained, or stolen (there are some very convincing fakes out there now)
Louis’ initial feelings for Armand were entirely real – Armand only mentally interfered when trying to keep Louis from doing something that could then be rationalized as “for his own good.” Even still, Louis has kept Armand locked out of his head since the day he learned how
When Armand realized he couldn’t rouse joy in Louis, he settled for pain, emotional and physical. The physical was technically consented to but Louis was so nigh-catatonic it didn’t count for much. Playing the Lestat card was partly because they came to a line even Armand didn’t consider himself monstrous enough to cross
They’ve never talked about Armand’s feelings for Lestat, nor Daniel’s feelings for Louis. They really, really should
Benji was the only reason Louis initially agreed to stay at Trinity Gate, seeing him as an opportunity to atone for his treatment of Claudia
Armand sees himself in Sybelle’s “madness” (read: she seems to be autistic and predominantly nonverbal, ANNE YOU’RE WRITING IN A WORLD THAT IN-UNIVERSE NOW HAS A MORE NUANCED UNDERSTANDING OF MENTAL ILLNESS NOW, COME ON) He’s never actually sought modern diagnoses for himself, and fuck knows her parents never did that for her, but like recognizes like
Louis’ never really forgiven Armand for what he did, and Armand doesn’t expect him to. Rather, the fondness just trumps the resentment after a full century
They fell into “parenting” very easily, and didn’t think about their feelings beyond their roles for the first few years
Louis actually made the first move. Armand was doing his best to give Louis space after all those years of doing the opposite. The French Library was Armand’s gift, so Louis would have a place to be alone, and he never goes there
Armand still feels very lost in the wake of everything (his attempted suicide and the revelation that the being who drove him to it was just an elaborate con), but buckles down talking about it because ROLES. ROLES ARE HOW YOU SURVIVE AND KEEP GOING. But…Louis actually asked about it
They repaint the ceilings in the mansion together every few months based on skies around the world
That’s a great combo bc Savage Garden got their name from VC!
Two of the members, Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes, split off from their original band, Red Edge. Their new duo together was called Crush, and then “was renamed Savage Garden after a phrase from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, “Beauty was a Savage Garden”.” [X]
Lestat loves Savage Garden. Definitely. Idk what he thinks about Lestat the Musical but I would guess that he would be pissed that they didn’t just hire him to act as himself. Not that he would audition. Or that they would know how to reach him. But still!
such delish *u* altho Lestat was pretty much comatose… and it did end in Armand getting…
Ohh yes I do hope for more A/L stuff in PL since that last we saw if them two together was heartbreakingly sweet and tbh I wanna see more of how their relationship has built. You know i was talking with monsieur-le-rockstar
over the phone a week ago about how Armand, having never been properly taught by Marius or the Children of Darkness how to approach the scene in Palais Royale, really had no clue Lestat would reject his gesture of ‘vampire romance’ —for lack of a better word. That and Lestat himself had NO clue how that kind of thing happened because he still was confused about how to vampire and like—that whole scene would have gone entirely different I think if they had communicated more (also if Armand stopped with that glamouring). But ye…I could ramble about the palais royale scene bc it is just—another part of tvl that really set up and defined Lestat and Armand’s relationship….)
ABSOLUTELY AGREED. The first time I read that scene I was all “Ooooh Armand you lil monster! Beating earned.” But yeah, after all the subsequent VC information, I see that scene very differently now, more like: “Lestat you dumbass, he wasn’t attacking, that was leurve/making-out vampire style omg”
Well it may have been some of both but still.
I came across this old thread digging for smtg else, and there’s a good point here. Armand had some mixed feelings about fledgling!Lestat, both wanting to crush him into submission, but also, he might have been attracted to him.
@faceofabotticelliangel makes a good suggestion that Armand might have been trying to seduce Lestat in the vampiry way, which he hadn’t really been taught, and Lestat was a fresh vampire and didn’t know that’s what it was, so of course, when Lestat rejected him, of course Armand’s going to react badly:
And as he struggled, as he sought to resurrect himself with a burst of force, he shot his declaration at me that he would kill me because he had my strength now. He’d drunk it out of me and coupled with his own strength it would make him impossible to defeat.
^I don’t know whether Armand really believed what he was saying but it must have really hurt to be rejected. Whether or not Armand really was trying to seduce, @faceofabotticelliangel makes a good point, “that whole scene would have gone entirely different I think if they had communicated more (also if Armand stopped with that glamouring)… another part of tvl that really set up and defined Lestat and Armand’s relationship….)”
Let’s be real here, AR probably forgot how she had described it or hadn’t decided on how it should be, bc IIRC it’s only those two instances in all of canon that it’s described as straight, and those were in books 1 and 3, while she might still have been developing him as a character.
IIRC, Armand’s hair is described as curly when he was mortal and when he was a fledgling, so I think that’s the natural state of it. I don’t recall him ever mentioning straightening it, but when it’s mentioned in IWTV, it’s the 1970′s, and in QOTD, it’s the 1980′s, so he had access to straightening products if he felt like straightening his hair.
^X@amadeo-child-of-the-renaissance found this, another Botticelli angel Armand 😉 AR bases Armand off these Botticelli angels and they have varying straight and curly hair.
I watched it on VHS** for the first time, now I have it on DVD, but I don’t have any other formats. The real crime is that I’ve never seen it in a theatre ;A; I was under 17 when it came out!
Lestat has mixed feelings about watching IWTV, bc he enjoys a lot of it, and he loves to tease Louis about the rats and the poodles, it is visually appealing, the kills are pretty accurate and he does love to revisit his seduction of Louis and the times when they were happy <3. But he also feels like the movie overall paints him in an excessively negative light. There are also many scenes that are painful for him (and Louis) to watch, like, y’know, Louis defensively setting Lestat on fire… and when Louis finds Claudia’s ashes. They’ve been through so much ;A;
I would think it would be hard to watch a movie of a time period in my own life, with other people playing me and my family, loved ones, and the people who antagonized me (intentionally or not). To have some enormously famous actor playing me would be flattering but that I’m portrayed as the antagonist in my lover’s life? That would probably hurt. I DO antagonize ppl and ppl antagonize me. We’re all the protagonists in our own stories, and none of us are perfect cinnamon rolls – except Mojo – we’re all works in progress, and I think Lestat watches IWTV with that in mind. He’s grown a lot since then, through a lot of effort and a lot more obstacle-conquering, he’s proven that he has a place in this world, even if he’s mostly serving as a cautionary tale (basically: ”Don’t do this thing that I did!”)
Asterisked stuff and my own movie!IWTV-watching preferences
under the cut, cut for length.
Re: Which do you prefer? I haven’t bought the Blu-ray bc I don’t have a Blu-ray player; I have a small DVD collection but I didn’t want to have to rebuy them all. I agree, the picture quality is in fact better in the Blu-ray,* bc I’ve seen it, so I should probably bite the bullet and get the Blu-ray *pouts* For now, I’m okay w/ missing out on a few of the actor’s eyelashes and skin pores, lol.
I have to listen to music in order to be productive, and I hum or sing along with it. I love listening to the TV or movies when I’m working on my memes or other artistic things, I make jewelry as a hobby, too. But I can’t listen to TV/movies when doing video edits, bc then the audio clashes. Knowing so many of the lines in IWTV, it’s a good one to listen to and say the lines along with it. My voice sounds like a 12 year old’s, I should dub myself in for some of Lestat’s lines and post vids, you’ll think it’s Claudia making fun of him, pfffft.
So yes, I’ll listen to IWTV sometimes for background noise, but when I want to actually watch it on its own or w/ ppl, the DVD is fine, or the Blu-ray, if I’m visiting someone and they have that format at their place.
**There’s something nostalgic for me about the VHS tape format, which I don’t have anymore. It was a big hunk of plastic w/ a thick protective plastic box in my little tween hands when I was 11, and it seemed more substantial, more worthy of carrying a whole tragic & beautiful movie than these fragile little circles in their skinny little cases that we have now. My copy was well-used, and I took good care of it, I never noticed a decrease in the picture quality even after countless replays even tho I’ve heard ppl say that VHS tapes would get worn.
*Re: Picture quality: At first glance, on a laptop or smaller device screen (and at this teensy size like ugh) these two shots of Louis look identical (it’s not exactly the same frame but it’s as close as I could get w/o going crazay):
But when you see it on a bigger screen, there’s more resolution on the
I-want-my-IWTV 