Well, dear, you are preaching to the choir, and we did actually just have this discussion 😉
Clearly Tom would agree with us both that he was the better Lestat, he had a great time doing it! He seems to look back fondly on the character, even casual encounters like this recent Jack Reacher publicity thing when asked about Lestat, admits “that was a fun character.”
I don’t know what the QotD director was going for, but he seemed to want a 90’s feel, from the fashion of everyone in the movie, and the music. Korn was one of the badass bands in the 90s. Maybe the director couldn’t get Manson and wanted him.
The whole of QotD was such a trainwreck that I don’t think even Tom could have saved it. Plus he was too old by the time that was made in 2002, he was 40. Not that he looked his age then, but he definitely didn’t look around 21, which is how old Lestat supposed to be.
I’ll add though that as successful as IWTV was, it unleashed a storm of teh ghey rumors on Tom and I think he wanted to avoid encouraging those rumors by reprising that role in particular. Or taking any roles that seemed gay. I can’t think of any other characters he’s played post-IWTV that are clearly bisexual, even.
I-want-my-IWTV 