You are preaching to the choir re: Tom Cruise ;D I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

^This is one of my favorite production stills of him. He’s just perfect. Menacing, charming, at the edge of reason and also in total control of the scene… but this is largely in his acting and ppl who disliked him may not have given him a chance like AR did (you know, she initially railed against his casting, and after seeing a screening of the film, completely changed her mind and sang his praises). 

Ppl argue that he doesn’t look like Lestat, and that’s true, he’s a little vertically challenged and he doesn’t have *~iridescent grey-blue eyes~*, he doesn’t have *~a gorgeous mop of pampered yellow hair.~* The hair and makeup they did for him work with his natural coloring, and they tried going brighter blond, didn’t really mesh well. Ppl also argue about his personal life, and Scientology, all that mess… but I don’t factor that into his performance as Lestat, personally.

But he more than makes up for all that in his acting, imo. He did his homework for the role and put a massive amount of effort into it, you can tell that he loves the character. Tom Cruise re: Lestat:

“I used the books as a reference for me and, y’know, you have to read them, especially Interview with the Vampire, because it’s from Louis’s point of view, you have to read it very carefully to find the clues to who Lestat is, and y’know… his loneliness, and his, his personal… struggle. He recognizes that Louis’ a unique… being, and if he wanted… y’know it’s that whole thing, and Lestat gives him the choice – very clearly – even in the book Lestat gives Louis the choice, uh, and that’s something I felt very strongly about… and when Lestat asks Louis, “Do you still want death? Or have you tasted it enough?” He’s really asking Louis:

“Do you still wanna die? I mean, now you know, you’ve come close to death, is this what you want?”

Re: Baby Jenks – Yeah I liked her alot, too! The way her narrative was written was refreshing, unlike any canon before it. Concisely stated but rich and believable backstory. She deserved to have more screentime. More fanart of her would be gr9!

Baby Jenks, like Nicolas, and a few other characters w/ less “screentime” in VC… it was surprising to me when ppl started digging them up and loving them, but I’ve come to realize that these are characters that:

A) still have some blank slate left, so fans can draw their own headcanons on them; and,

B) (part 1) seem to be characters that this generation relate to more. Nicolas practically has a canon mental illness, and he suffers for it. Ppl saw themselves in him and the representation felt good, that and author recognized their existence, even though he didn’t get a happy ending, and we love characters like that.

B) (part 2) Baby Jenks didn’t get a treasure chest of money and jewels or a frickin’ castle when she was turned; she had a biker gang and was so much richer bc she wasn’t alone! Her backstory was briefly sketched, but it was in powerful strokes; she was a BAMF in her own way, refusing to go quietly into that good night. And that’s inspiring, and we love characters like that.