I ranted about this at length once, and realized it might be worth excising that particular section from my recaps and letting it stand on its own.
SO LET ME TELL YOU A THING.
“Not only does Banderas give one hell of a performance, clearly entranced by Louis and convinced his ruthlessness is an acceptable means to an end (and then Louis dumps him immediately and Banderas’ crushed look that WHOOPS OVERESTIMATED just destroyed me). It’s really genuine, maybe the movie’s best after Cruise and Dunst, and at least half his dialogue is lifted without change from the books. But all that gets overlooked, because he doesn’t look like a teenager. And there’s a certain fairness to that – Armand’s body adds a dimension to his interactions with others as much as Claudia’s does. But now let me give you a hot dose of context.
In 1994, it was still a pretty common argument to conflate homosexuality with pedophilia, particularly with gay men. THINK OF THE CHILDREN, Y’ALL. The movie already had to deal with the Claudia/Louis relationship, which only tenuously steps the worst landmines of creepiness, as we discussed, by avoiding physicality and giving mentally grown Claudia all the power. So, the filmmakers maybe didn’t want to stack, on top of that stack of gunpowder, a relationship with yet another underage character, particularly one that so played into existing stereotypes.
Then there’s the fact that, by virtue of the script, Louis’ feelings for Armand are a lot more explicitly tender and obvious than his relationship with Lestat. Back then, it was a big deal if you asked an actor to, gasp, play gay. Heavens forfend. But Banderas, in addition to being a handsome fellow and a marketable star, had also appeared in Philadelphia in 1993 (aka the movie where the Noble Gay dying nobly from AIDS is nice enough to teach A Straight to be a better person before he croaks). While their scenes were scrubbed of basically any intimacy, he was playing Tom Hanks’ lover, and apparently that was proximal enough to The Gay that he was an okay dude to ask. And then he fucking killed it with the material he was given it, in spite of the fact that the majority of his scenes were opposite the totally catatonic Pitt (who has made no bones about how much he haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaated being in this movie). He’s a champ, and a treasure, come at me.
The part of me that loves this movie as its own movie is so into Antonio, too. The reasons you stated are part of it, but as an aesthetic decision as well I really love him as this like Dark Exotic European Vampire. It works as a jarring contrast to the world Louis had lived in with Lestat, and even as a movie ploy it’s such a dynamic visual. And goddamnit his gold eyes flashing in the firelight. He’s just a real VAMPIREY VAMPIRE. It’s obviously a departure from the novel but it works so well on its own.
I also think it works because the movie was never a series. If we’d gotten into the other stories it would’ve started mangling Armand’s character too much, but we don’t get to know him very personally here so it’s fine.
The scenes with Armand are my favorite in the whole movie. They feel so magnetic to me, and I appreciate more than I can ever explain that they gave that much screen time to these conversations. It nails the tone of the novels so well and is so so so important to keep.
I’m gonna cry! Thank you @vraik, for articulating this so thoroughly and adding so much more to my dusty old #Defending Antonio tag. It was most likely a deliberate choice to diverge from canon on Armand’s appearance, but much of the character is still preserved and shines through Antonio’s performance.
And @monstersinthecosmos makes an excellent point about how great his scenes are and what Antonio does bring to the table physically. His Tall Dark Exotic European look is in direct contrast with Lestat, who looks like Blonde Ambition Barbie in comparison.
Can we all keep this in mind for the upcoming adaptations? Whoever is cast, please give them a chance to do their jobs, which is ACTING. Even if the character does not fit your headcanon remotely. Let’s be considerate and keep in mind that some things are possible to explore in fiction that cannot yet, if ever, be shown in film/TV.
((When I was 11, I wrote a terrible short fanfic from the POV of a vampire dog which Lestat had turned as an experiment. I don’t remember anything about it except that the dog was pretty happy as a vampire dog… it’s lost to time and space forever. Just thought that might amuse you!))
IDK about vampire animals in other media, I’m sure someone has done it, but IIRC, they’re not in VC canon at all. I don’t know if AR has considered it, with all the implications that follow. Could the world survive packs of vampire dogs and cats? Herds of vampire horses?
Vampire
Lions?
Vampire
Tigers?
Vampire
Bears? Oh my…. Could a vampire chimpanzee (or rat!) turn a human into a vampire? Would it matter if the animal was a herbivore or would it have to be an omnivore, like humans are? If the vampire lab in PL is still running, maybe they’re experimenting on animals. #FIC REQUEST.
In some religions, animals are considered not to have souls at all, or that they lack the same type of soul that humans have. in VC, the soul seems to be a crucial element in anchoring the vampiric spirit to its host body during Dark Gift transfer.
Also, just physiologically, not all infectious diseases are transmittable between animals and humans. For example, humans cannot get Feline AIDS and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) from cats [animalplanet.com].
Zoonotic diseases: diseases transmitted from animals to humans through media such as air (like influenza) or through bites and saliva (like rabies).
Recycling this from a previous answer; It’s funny you mention vampire animals bc the question was raised, when old age finally started to rear its ugly head for Mojo…
Lestat: What if we could heal him with-
Louis: NO Lestat. No.
Lestat: Just an experiment to-
Louis: We’re not making a vampire dog that’s a crime against nature we have to draw the line somewhere.
Lestat: *pouts*
Louis: *glares*
Lestat: *pouts harder*
Louis: *glares harder*
Lestat: Ok confession time: I already tried to give him a few drops of blood and he was not at all interested. Repulsed really.
Louis: *ragged sigh*
Lestat: It was worth a try!
Louis: Then why were you even asking me?
Lestat: I thought he might prefer yours–
Louis: *slaps Lestat hard across the face and storms out*
I remember hearing about (but not reading) Bunnicula, “a children’s book series written by James Howe, featuring a vampire rabbit that sucks the juice out of vegetables,” but I know that’s not quiiiiite what you were looking for, lol.
^Lookit the widdle fangs! Bunnicula even has the classic “widow’s peak” hairline in their fur like Dracula *u* and a “cape” in the fur?? I think it’s been adapted to an animated series, too.
Other quotes I found about animal-human disease transmission:
“While most feline infectious diseases affect only cats, and most human infectious diseases affect only humans, it is important to be aware that some of these diseases—called zoonotic diseases—can be transmitted between cats and people.” [X]
“The general rule is that viruses have a narrow range of suitable living conditions (ie body temperature, metabolism etc) and are not easily passed between species. There are some exceptions to this, but the common cold is not one of them and you will not pass it on to your cats, it cannot live in their higher body temperature.” [X]
Also relevant is zombie animals. In The Walking Dead, there are no zombie animals, and I found a forum where ppl were discussing it (walkingdeadforums.com), whether it’s true that the original comic artist set the canon for that bc he “does not enjoy drawing animals so much,” or whether there might be a scientific reason for it…. Zombie animals are as equally debatable as vampire animals!
Oh my gosh, well… I waited 6 hours, but there was no further message, so I’m just going to answer now.
“I don’t know how to feel about Anne…”
Respectfully, I’m not going to tell you how to feel about Anne Rice. I must regretfully decline.
I know how I feel about her: that she has given us a wonderful gift and that she has committed no actual crime for which she would deserve to be boycotted. We can poke fun at her, at her books, we can critique them, bc she has set herself and her works for public review. We can feel distrustful for her past behavior towards the fandom and distrustful of her handling of her own characters. Those are all within our rights as a critical public.
I always recommend that people read the books and draw their own conclusions about them on their own merits. It’s part of what makes fandom great, that we can agree on some things, disagree on others, and have lively discussions about it all.
What I will tell you is that you don’t have to like Anne Rice to read her stories. To my knowledge, she has not committed ANYREAL LIFE ACTUAL CRIMES. People boycott actual criminals bc we do not want to financially or morally support them. IMO, Anne Rice should NOT be lumped in with REAL LIFE ACTUAL CRIMINALS.
It is not a crime that she waged war on fanfic. It was incredibly painful and it shattered the fandom, and drove us all underground for years ;A; But she was within her legal rights. Keep in mind that fandom was not really socially acceptable or understood like it is today, authors understand now that fanworks are types of fan engagement with canon and each other. She seems to understand that now, or if not, she at least ignores fanfic.
It is not a crime that she waged war on reviewers. Also painful and oppressive at the time, AR used to be very offended by critical or negative reviews of her books, and would sic her People of the Page on reviewers. Again, she now seems to understand that people are within their rights to critique her work and she can ignore them.
What she writes is not an actual crime. She has problematic elements and explores taboo subjects in her writing, refuses any editor’s advice, refuses anyone’s idea of what she should write. That’s her prerogative as a ‘music maker,’ as a ‘dreamer of dreams’ (<– like Willy Wonka!). To argue that any of her writing is a crime is, to me, a form of censorship, and I do not believe in censorship of fiction.
^^^^None of these are Real Life actual crimes. Personally, I may not accept all of her writing as canon, and I may poke fun at it, too, that’s my prerogative as a reader.
The idea that all art should be entirely unproblematic all the time…kills art. Like, I really don’t think we as readers have some all-solemn duty to constantly make sure we’re only having the ~right~ kind of fun.
But that’s just my opinion. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions and decide whether you want to financially/morally support Anne Rice by buying/reading her books, or not.
Hello! This was a really tough ask, and very intellectually stimulating, and opening it further, I ended up considering the larger topic of What is an author’s obligation to their readers? What is an artist’s obligation to their viewers/audience? I don’t know.
In that line of consideration, I don’t recall AR ever bringing up these specific issues in (or out) of canon, or whether she’s been asked about it. I don’t think she’s ever said anything about avoiding depicting wlw relationships… these seem like questions you could ask her directly on FB, but my prediction is that she would be unwilling to address them. My impression of her is that she enjoys praise but does not feel obligated to write anything for anyone but herself, for better or worse.
To use the word “avoiding” implies she’s aware of it as a failure on her part, and I don’t think she is aware of it.
[^Fanart by @garama, mommy!Louis w/ his parenting guide,
this looks, like a good mom, he’s forcing the other two into some kind of parent-child bonding exercise!]
Re: Coding characters as male or female, that discussion is kind of confusing to me. I’ve seen fandom discourse refer to Louis as the “mommy” in the Lestat, Louis, and Claudia family in IWTV (a little more on that under the cut). Louis is only one example of a male character who may have been intentionally written as being more of the stereotypically female role than a male; he is more protective and nurturing to Claudia like a mother would be, and Lestat seems to “wear the pants” in that household. IDK if that is sufficient as “coding a male character as female.”
why her female characters are more peripheral to the story than her male characters,
why she seems to avoid depicting wlw relationships.
I don’t want to jump to labeling her as misogynistic, but it seems like her female characters are coded as female, while the males are just characters, if that makes sense.
It seems like the men are bi and the women straight.
^This is a lot to consider, any one of which could be a whole essay of response. Anyone who has opinions on this is welcome to reblog/comment, as this is not an area of expertise for me. And, IMO, it’s not an area of expertise for Anne Rice, either.
TL;DR: I don’t think AR intended to “avoid” the topics you bring up, I believe she was more focused on her own topics (I list some under the cut). AR had posted “On My Method of Writing:” as part of a message on her page, 8/20/2003, which I found informative. A few excerpts are under the cut.
[^May 10, 2016- X] AR has said many times that she writes the books she wants to see in the world, no other intentions.
What is an author’s obligation to their readers? What is an artist’s obligation to their viewers/audience? I don’t know. We are all entitled to our own answers to that question.
Hit the jump for more, cut for length and QOTD spoiler.
negative opinions/critical analysis, it is hard, if not impossible, to please everyone, even if that’s a blogger/author’s goal. I try to compromise when I can, but that’s my own prerogative. AR seems to provide a little fanservice now and then and will write more of X, Y, Z when the POTP ask her to write more of X, Y, Z, but that’s her own prerogative.
Perhaps the misogyny some people perceive in her books is real, perhaps it’s internalized for her. She might deserve that label. I don’t know how I feel about that.
From all that I’ve absorbed over the years, she wrote about what intrigued her. This is just the first few things that come to mind of things I’ve seen in canon, in different variations, things she may have discussed outside the novels, things she has always seemed to want to explore:
Her own retail and geographical interests/fetishes (classical painting, jewelry (cameos!!), high fashion (VELVET!), low fashion, literature, Shakespeare, music and culture of the 80′s (BLADE RUNNER & BON JOVI), SCIENCE and technology (iPHONES!), interior decorating, New Orleans, Miami, Ancient Rome, Paris, etc.);
Sexuality & power;
Religion and its role in terms of meting out punishment to those who deserve it and misapplied to innocent people, punishments as fitting a crime and punishments for no crime, varying forms of punishment;
Revenge and whether it is justified;
World peace and how to achieve it;
Whether there is a God who will embrace us when we die, whether we will meet our loved ones who died before/after us, whether there is an eternal heaven and hell, etc. Whether we will get the answers to all of life’s questions;
Religion and its setup as a social group and whether it requires genuine belief in order to be part of that group;
Very hot guys and what they do w/ their dicks;
Childlike, adorable women;
Precocious young adults/teens who are interested in sex before coming of legal age;
Consent, dubious consent, and lack of consent across many different categories;
etc.
^I feel like all of her writing can be summed up as speculation on these topics (and others), exploring them to find out “what would happen if…” and presenting results which she does NOT promote, results which she DOES promote, and results she offers up to the reader’s interpretations. Misogyny can be easily woven into many of those topics w/ or w/o intention on the author’s part.
As an example of a speculative situation, involving a possible misandrist character: in QOTD, radical feminist Akasha believed she could guarantee world peace by killing off 90% of the men. She starts doing it but is thwarted before making much progress. If she could have continued, would it have been a successful plan? I believe AR is suggesting that it would not, that as enticing as the idea was, radical feminism is too extreme and would have failed. And further, that the misandrist proponent of radical feminism may have been missing a few marbles even as a mortal, in addition to being out of touch with reality as a nearly omnipotent immortal.
So my answer is that I don’t think AR intended to “avoid” the topics you bring up, I believe she was more focused on her own topics.
Re: Coding characters as male or female, that discussion is kind of confusing to me. I’ve seen fandom discourse refer to Louis as the “mommy” in the Lestat, Louis, and Claudia family in IWTV. AR has said Louis was basically written as herself (she famously said, and I can’t find the source rn but I remember it distinctly: “I’m the only woman ever played by Brad Pitt in film!”), evidence that she did see that character as female? Possibly.
“I have been writing most of my adult life, of course, but very steadily since about 1970.”
^Idk if coding gender into characters was a thing then.
“My method of writing is to develop the novel sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph and page by page with heavy rewriting and reshaping and editing as I go along,… until I had the perfected page in order to proceed to the next page.”
^I seem to recall her saying that some of her novels are planned out w/ plot points first, others just flow in the order she writes them, w/o pre-planning.
“After the publication of the The Queen of the Damned, I requested of my editor that she not give me anymore comments. I resolved to hand in the manuscripts when they were finished. And asked that she accept them as they were. She was very reluctant, feeling that her input had value, but she agreed to my wishes. I asked this due to my highly critical relationship with my work and my intense evolutionary work on every sentence in the work, my feeling for the rhythm of the phrase and the unfolding of the plot and the character development. I felt that I could not bring to perfection what I saw unless I did it alone. In othe words, what I had to offer had to be offered in isolation. So all novels published after The Queen of the Damned were written by me in this pure fashion, my editor thereafter functioning as my mentor and guardian.”
^Her editor was demoted to copyeditor
mentor and guardian
.
“…
the writing you are reading is quite deliberate, that it is informed and it is conscious, as well as being the result of intuition. It is the result of all that I am – my education, my mystic sensibilities, and the student in me. It is poured out fearlessly, and then edited, and re-edited, and subjected to merciless scrutiny. It represents, and always has, my finest efforts.”
^Her writing is all intentional and her focus is intentional.
[part 3] I really like this blog, and I really like you as a spokesperson of sorts for the Tumblr side of her fanbase, but it’d be great if you could take a step back and consider how much you criticize the opinions of others. You put a lot of stuff below the cut, and maybe your’e just stressing a lot as of late because I’ve noticed it more now than before, but you often shut down people very quickly who have different ideas or thoughts on the series than you do.
(Was there a part 2? If there was, then Tumblr ate it.)
I deeply considered this message, it’s been over one whole day, so I’m not replying too quickly.
“…maybe your’e just stressing a lot as of late…”? Thank you for the concern, but no… in the past 2 weeks, we have a new VC book to read and there is turbulence in the fandom about the VC rights reverting back to Anne Rice… my reactions have been the normal amount of mixed emotions for this kind of information. Sometimes there’s exaggeration, which is normal for social media; to replace the emotions we don’t express vocally, w/ gestures, or w/ facial expressions.
I have to respectfully disagree with you. I’m going to reply to this as thoughtfully as I can, without a cut, but basically: make Tumblr a good place for you, and unfollow me if you need to do so.
1. As stated before, I do not hold myself out as “a really big voice,” any kind of official authority of, or spokesperson for, this fandom. I have accepted titles in a humorous way only, I do not consider my headcanons/opinions above anyone else’s.
In “As stated before,” linking to a post from 1 week ago, someone else told me that “as a monolith of the fandom,” I have an obligation to be MORE critical, share more critical opinions of VC than I do already, so you can see that I can’t please that person AND you at the same time. Since I consider meta-analysis and reviews to be a form of fanwork, and I encourage fanworks, I am going to continue to share them.
2. #Your Headcanon May Vary – I don’t always include this fandom law, as this is a fandom blog so it applies by default, but I’ve included it anyway, enough times that I thought it was understood implicitly by now. I am not going to add it as a disclaimer to every response, because I feel like it does not need to be stated. I don’t know if you are new to fandom, but here are a few more Fandom Laws, following them is about “beingcourteous in fandom. It makes the whole experience better for all of us.”
This is a social platform, and we all have our own opinions about these fictional characters, film/TV adaptations of canon, and the canon in general. We do not need to agree. We do not need to soften our opinions for anyone. Part of what is so great about a social platform like this is the exchange of ideas, it’s intellectually stimulating to consider other people’s interpretations and headcanons, even if they are stated in a harsh and/or strong manner. I consider every single one that is suggested to me, and I can decide if I want to accept it or not. It doesn’t matter where the ideas come from, even someone suggesting something who has only seen movie!QOTD might have a great idea I might accept!
My headcanon is a collection of my own and other people’s ideas from discussions, fanfics, fanart, meta-analysis posts, etc. which I have absorbed over the last 20+ years I’ve been in fandom. Most of my headcanon would not exist if I did not discuss ideas with other people, or engage in fandom through fanworks. I am grateful for all of the rich discussions and even heated arguments I’ve had about VC over the years!
There are many opinions out there that I disagree with, but I go by the Real Life rule of “Live and Let Live.” Here’s two examples:
A) People bash Antonio Banderas as Armand in IWTV, he is one of the fandom’s punching bags. I have stated my opinions about him in my #Defending Antonio tag, but I don’t mind that other people still don’t like him. If I am the only one who liked him as Armand in that movie, that’s totally fine by me!
B) Just as I do poke fun at movie!QOTD, I don’t mind if other people adore it. I know that some people find it nostalgic. Some people love the soundtrack. Some people love Aaliyah or Stuart Townsend, any number of reasons, or just, “I don’t know why, I just like it” are all fine!
^I am actually friendly with both (A) the people who despise Antonio!Armand, and (B) the people who love movie!QOTD, because we can Live and Let Live. Friendship is not dependent on agreement.
Being in the same fandom with people does not mean that they have to agree with you. I used to think that it did, and that it guaranteed friendship. It does neither of those things. If we all agreed on everything, would there even be anything left to discuss?
#IWANTMYIWTV RP
One of the examples you mentioned of my being harsh re: my headcanons was an Ask directed to Lestat, and I answered as Lestat, in character. Yes, he often responds harshly. I headcanon him as a friendly character but guarded, especially against anonymous strangers, even those that very respectfully suggest that he has a mental illness. Anyone can ask other Lestat RPers the same thing and see what they might say.
In that response, he begins with taking offense, but then winds down to pointing out that it’s unfortunate that medication/therapy carries an unfair stigma, that he does go to therapy, and considers that medical intervention may have helped Nicolas. So to write all that off as being harsh makes me feel like you didn’t read the answer fully. I put some of the response under the cut because cutting long posts is part of Tumblr etiquette.
I do not headcanon him as bipolar. Whether or not he is bipolar is up to every reader’s interpretation. Which brings me to my next point:
The real VC authority
It’s worth mentioning that on FB in another thread, in another topic, Anne Rice herself was asked about “But as a long time fan, I’ve ( and many other fans, I´m sure..) never understood the whole“Lestat and Louis- thing” and I think in a psychologically way it is also very interesting. Please, can you POFOUNDLY explain this whole relationship?”
^Is Anne Rice abdicating authority here? I’m not sure. It looks like she wants the asker to draw their own conclusions. But I have seen her questioned on FB, at booksignings, and spoken of on tumblr and elsewhere, in ways that lead me to believe that she is not considered the authority on VC to 100% of the fandom, and that she doesn’t mind that.
I love what she has given us, but she isn’t my authority. I don’t need her validation on my headcanons. If the creator of the series is not the authority, who is? Not me, I’m just one person.
You don’t need my validation. You don’t need anyone’s validation. You are your own VC authority, anon.
You can form your own headcanons and share them, convince people of them, or not. Make your fandom experience good for you, Live and Let Live, and unfollow me if you need to. I totally understand and wish you well.
That’s a valid opinion. But I don’t like the word “should” when it deals with fandom, even about negativity. The resistance to this book is completely understandable.
[^Louis read PLROA and this was his response to Lestat]
People judge things before they read them, people judge other people before they meet them, people judge anything that can be judged w/o experiencing them. So much judgment out there. I’m certainly not going to demand fair treatment for a book.
Just bc an author is excited about their work does not mean we can’t still judge it on its merits as a novel, and we all have our own ideas about what makes a great novel/story. Dr. Frankenstein was very excited about his creation, other people decided it was a monster.
People’s resistance to this book, specifically, is not coming out of nowhere. Those of us who have read the prior books, or have the slightest knowledge of the characters and stories, and every fan in between, there was something that drew us into VC, and from what I’m seeing, it’s nearly impossible to believe that this book is remotely part of what preceded it unless you had only read PL and/or seen movie!QOTD, in which case, I guess it must be all smooth sailing for ya.
“…The latest of the series, a follow up to 2014’s Prince Lestat, is making waves (pun intended) over the Atlantis story element (and all that goes along with that). Tying the story to characters in her third book, Queen of the Damned, Rice completely upends the myths and lore woven into the Chronicles (almost to the point of jumping the shark IMHO). The characters we love, like Lestat, Louis, Armand and others are still who they are, yet the surprises tucked into Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis feel like they cheapen the fabric of the series’ mythos.”
Upending the canon myths and lore, jumping the shark, cheapening the fabric of the series’ mythos? That all sounds like something that fans would put up some resistance about. Can you blame them if they feel betrayed? If they feel like their beloved characters have been thrown into a blender w/ aliens and the lost city of Atlantis? I can’t blame them.
I don’t blame them for reacting w/ the exaggerated Tumblrand Hyperbole™ either, bc some of that is probably real emotion. Some of it is for effect, the exaggeration tends to get more notes than rational analysis. But I think it’s both.
I can empathize with the negativity. I wish I could blindly support AR in every choice she makes, but I can’t do that, either. I try not to criticize her myself bc she has given us an incredible gift already in the earlier books. I hope we can trust her to faithfully adapt them to TV/film as how they were originally written, and not try to wedge in this more recent provocative material.
Yes, I obvs enjoy our faction of the VC fandom here too! We’re all excited/ nervous/other… some ppl have nope’d out entirely, it’s a big mix *hugs*
Casting Claudia will probably not be an issue if they start with TVL, bc Claudia’s only in IWTV, and just mentioned in later books. It seems like AR really loves movie!IWTV, so I doubt she would redo that book.
But… let’s cast an actress as Lestat’s little sister for TVL, the 8th de Lioncourt child, and then have her play Claudia, too! The resemblance would be so heartbreaking! ;A;
For funsies tho, I must inform you… awhile back, @hyperbeeb suggested Mia Talerico [X], who just turned 9 on 9/17, and I have to agree!
[^She’s the kid from the “confused baby” meme!]
Mia’s had a long career already (IMDB says she was eleven months old when she started filming Good Luck Charlie, so that’s 7 yrs of acting, being directed, being comfortable in front of the cameras, etc.). I Perusing through gifs of her (thank u @child-actor-gifs!), I think she’s got what it takes. Physically, who can deny that she’s super cute, w/ doll-like features as described in the books, fiercely intelligent, adorable smile, and naturally blonde already (so we can save a few $$ on hair dye!).
^Here she is a little older. She almost looks like she plotting here… Look what she’s doing with her hands, conscious acting choice? I think so. Imagine she’s crushing a (breakable prop) porcelain doll’s face into shards instead! Yissss…
^Perfect disingenuous apology, very Claudia.
^”I want more…” hugs? Sure you do.
^So yeah let’s hurl her at AR!
(ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧
I think we could also find a great child actress on Insta or YT, some fresh kid whose experience comes from making short vids under adult supervision so they are already accustomed to taking some direction bc kids are notoriously difficult to direct. I love Katie Ryan on Insta (@katieryan430) … It’s frickin’ BATS.
IIRC, there was alot of difficulty finding a 5 yo talented enough to play Claudia in movie!IWTV. Kirsten Dunst was the first they auditioned of one hundred actresses, varying in amount of experience, from around ages 5-12. The 5 yr olds struggled with the intensity that the part required… so I wouldn’t mind if they aged her up to 10 or 11. If they cast a 5 yo who looks perfect but can’t act like the frustrated adult inside, it won’t really work.
If Claudia’s in the new adaptations at all, I think it will be as a ghost (in later books, she sort of haunts the Rue Royale, Louis, and Lestat), which could also be animated and voice acted by an adult.
I’ve never heard of this Devin Oliver (sounds like Ricean name, doesn’t it?) before this very Ask, he is apparently the frontman in the band I See Stars, so already, big plus, a singer! (I haven’t heard their stuff but anyway I assume he can sing… I am pretty generous about singers).
TL;DR I would screen test him! Hurl him in AR’s direction!
The other thing I’d like about smne like Devin who is already a frontman w/ a band, is that it would be amazeballs to have REAL Lestat concerts, either pre-TV series release, or during (or both, both is good). ACTUAL TOUR DATES & MERCH CAN YOU EVEN??
I can’t watch any vids rn but I’m sure he has tons out there, I just went through some of his Insta… and… yes plz. These are all pics from there, w/ some commentary added… >;}
^Obligatory fashion shots, bc he looks gr9 in a suit and he does model-face well, too.
^Obligatory selfies bc you know Lestat takes tons of selfies. Very nice bedhead, bro what product(s) do u use??
^Has the exact build of my headcanon for Lestat, buff but not too muscular, also, man-bun ❤
^shot w/ a little side pec action and biceps hnngggg….
YES. WOW. A TV series could cover a lot more ground than one movie or a trilogy/series of movies, and lock in a cast for a long period of time, lots of benefits to that medium! The way TV series seem to invite fan engagement lately is also a factor, whether it’s a negative or a positive is up to how the showrunners handle that… fanservice can be good or bad.
(I got a ton of messages like this in the past few days, catching up on them is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant and I love it, the booksigning last night actually really helped settle my thoughts on it all.)
^I feel like I’m Lestat asking ppl to scooch over to I can rejoin you all in this madness *u*
So this is relatively old news even though it was only 5 days ago that the bomb dropped on us, we’re all reacting in our own way, I’ve seen some of the posts and will be sharing/reblogging them, from what I can tell so far there’s a lot of anticipation, anxiety, support, and also disappointment and what the heck happened w/ Josh Boone?!, the main questions seem to be:
Who is going to join the team now?! and,
Will this adaptation be faithful to the books?!
In answer to these, at the booksigning last night (11/30/16), AR had this to tell us about the new TV series:
It’s been 8 yrs that the adaptation has been in the works in Hollywood, but she didn’t elaborate on what kept it from progressing (AR and CR must know, they’ve probably learned a thing or two about what obstacles lie in their path on this, I feel like they can navigate these things better now than ever before).
Their official VC FB has gotten 2.8 million hits and thousands of shares so far!
AR and CR are writing the pilot episode and a treatment for the first 2 seasons. And it seems like they want to perfect their vision before inviting others onto the team.
Their agents are deluged w/ phone calls from producers and studios who want to talk with AR and CR whenever they’re ready 😀
AR thinks it’s gonna work out this time. She and Christopher recognize that TV and film are collaborative art forms, and there will be compromise, but they will be polite and firm that it’s not gonna happen if it’s not the way they want it to be. <– Appears to be their commitment to be faithful to canon.
This whole book tour is celebratory of them getting the rights back ❤
… Do I say that too much? YOU GUYS MAKE THIS WORTH DOING IT GIVES ME SO MUCH LIFE.
‘Coven Leader,’ well… I just do what I do. I won’t deny that I like titles in the abstract, but wouldn’t a Coven Leader also have authoritative responsibilities? And have to appoint ppl to their Dark Cabinet, and arrange Dark Events on their Dark Calendar? Wait, I do do that, to some extent (@vcsecretgiftssignups are still open till 12/2!)… maybe “coven leader” in all lower case letters fits better, less pressure. I’m more of a ‘coven cheerleader’ bc I am mired in this positivity loop and I love encouraging fanworks.
I want to address smtg regarding my place in the fandom, since we’re on the topic.
Someone* recently told me that as a monolith of the fandom I have an obligation to
acknowledge what’s troubling about canon, breed awareness of who controls the narrative of culture and who that harms. I feel that this kind of analysis is a different kind of fanwork, an engagement done with as much love as in the creation of fanart, fanfic, cosplay, etc. It’s valuable and worth our attention.
One major reason I haven’t made or promoted much of this kind of commentary is that I don’t want to offend AR and get this blog shut down for an opinion that I may not even agree with. In the not-so-distant past, she has been known to react negatively to any review of her works that had even the faintest whiff of criticism. So when I share these potentially provocative posts w/ you I may choose to do so as a link, rather than reblog the thread itself, so that it’s clear that it’s not an opinion born from this blog, and ppl can engage with it separately.
TL;DR: As a Coven Leader, I do believe that this kind of analysis/commentary is equally valuable as all other fanworks.
It’s valuable to offer differing opinions to you alongside my own.These posts will be tagged#Deep Cuts of VC Analysis.
*I used some of this person’s words blended in w/ mine here w/o tagging them bc idk if they want to be tagged, if they do, I’ll quote them properly, but since I agree with them, I feel like I can use their words. They are also not the first who have suggested this to me.
Re: “Coven Leader”: While I recognize that many ppl may want to give me a fandom title out of love and appreciation, even if they’re just being that kind of internet-effusive and not really serious, I’m putting up a lot of resistance bc I’ve seen ppl put on a pedestal here and then knocked down, bullied off the site entirely. Whether that was for good reason(s) or not, w/o knowing the truth we can only see from the outside that it appeared to be based on jealousy of that “internet fame.” That may have been the reason, maybe there were no good reasons. Some ppl just like to watch the world burn. So I don’t need to be singled out and given a title or fame when that’s the reaction it can produce. I wouldn’t want to have to turn off Anons.
I know that there are ppl out there who probably do despise me already bc of internet fame alone, and to them: I’m sorry that you have to see my blog all over the place, I’m sorry if it bothers you, please block me, make your tumblr a happy place for you!
I-want-my-IWTV 