[Caption: A realistic digital painting of Rihanna. Portrait is from the waist up. Rihanna has long dark hair, and she’s dressed in a pale gold satin gown, off the shoulders, with a cape gathered around her arms. She’s wearing a diamond necklace and diamond earrings. The background is a gradient from deep warm red to pale lavender overlaid with a lotus design.]
A fanart of Jesse from the Vampire Chronicles. We drew it something like 15 years ago… This pic is taken with a camera from the original, sorry for the bad resolution. ^^
Just kidding, just kidding. Just wanted an excuse to use that gif hehehe…
You’re asking face claims, but I’m going to treat this like a VC casting post. Face claims are truly “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and I consider ppl for these characters more for their acting than their faces. An RPer might prefer to choose a face w/o the character that comes with someone who is well-known. So if you’re looking for a face claim for RP purposes, you might want to look at model sites, or instagram accounts, etc., and try to find a face that we’re not already so familiar with.
Casting-wise, it would be great if we could get an ethnically accurate actress, but I would be satisfied with person of color, since I don’t know what ppl from that area looked like back then.
Canonically, she needs to have that little girl beauty AR loves so much, but she also needs to be intensely frightening without trying very hard. I headcanon her dark eyes being hypnotic, seductive, but also terrifying, like a shark’s. Someone who is accustomed to being worshiped and expects it ;]
In no particular order:
Sophia Jawad– I approve of @wicked-felina‘s suggestion of Sophia Jawad [X] who might be the most ethnically accurate, to quote her, “Akasha was from Uruk, which is roughly modern-day Iraq.”
[Xtbh there are not enough pics of Sophia out there, but this was the most Akasha-like pose I could find quickly, I’m sure she can look a lot more fierce]
Rihanna – she’s a fandom fave of sorts. She is extremely regal and childlike at the same time. It would be really hard to demand she wear dark contact lenses tho! Her eyes are so gorgeous! Maybe we can sacrifice that bit of canon.
Tyra Banks – bc she’s a supermodel, she knows how to manipulate her features very subtly, she can smile like a CoverGirl while murdering thousands of men.
Aaliyah – was great, imo the best part of that movie. Idk whose idea it was for her to move the way she did, but it was compelling, like she existed at a different frame-rate than everyone around her, flexing and curling her body, she was more snake than human.
I bet they’d used too much of the budget to re-film her scenes, but really, she was one of the only things they got right (well, maybe not “right” but close enough). I really like that she was a vampire of color who kept her color, despite being described as white (not Caucasian but light-skinned) in canon. I don’t know if ancient Egyptians were in fact light or dark skinned but in a series of alot of white ppl, it was good to see some diversity.
Crew morale was probably very low after she died, they might not have wanted to even try to replace her 😦
Okay, so firstly: I loved Aaliyah as Akasha. Sure, she wasn’t canon!Akasha, but practically none of the characters were themselves in this weird and loose adaptation. I wish she had completed filming fully and would have loved her backstory to be shown.
That said, I really, really want the next adaptation to do Akasha properly. She shouldn’t be black, but she sure as hell shouldn’t be white.
Akasha was from Uruk, which is roughly modern-day Iraq. Just imagine her role going to an Iraqi actress, and the implications of the most powerful vampire, the first vampire, the queen, being from a region whose people are treated like crap to this day and who face terrible persecution.
I imagine her to be like Sophia Jawad; the striking dark eyes Lestat mentions, the prettiness which underplays her regalness, etc. I would love to see Akasha brought to life as the infuriatingly brilliant debater cursed by her prettiness and her short temper.
I bet they’d used too much of the budget to re-film her scenes, but really, she was one of the only things they got right (well, maybe not “right” but close enough). I really like that she was a vampire of color who kept her color, despite being described as white (not Caucasian but light-skinned) in canon. I don’t know if ancient Egyptians were in fact light or dark skinned but in a series of alot of white ppl, it was good to see some diversity.
Crew morale was probably very low after she died, they might not have wanted to even try to replace her 😦
I really dislike that movie as a whole, but I know many ppl enjoy it for what it is and/or find it nostalgic, so I try to keep my negative opinions about it to myself.
(by textsfromthevampire ^This meme actually works in reference to Lestat and Stuart Townsend AS Lestat.)
The long answer is:
I didn’t hate Townsend. I don’t like to throw hate on actors for their acting. I’d say ST did the best he could with what he was given. His failure as Lestat was a group effort (makeup, costume, script writer, dialogue coach, director, editor, sfx, etc. all had a hand in what we got on the screen) much as Cruise’s success was a group effort (wherein all those things previously mentioned came together so perfectly).
The actor is one part of the machine in creating that character. The failure or success of the character can ultimately be placed on the director since s/he’s the one who coordinates and makes all the aesthetic choices for the entire film.
But again, some ppl really enjoyed him as Lestat, maybe for the same reasons I /disliked/ his performance! Everyone has their own taste, ppl frequently disagree with the Academy Awards (why hasn’t Tom Cruise gotten one yet???!!), it’s all very subjective.
I-want-my-IWTV 