Yeah, I would have wanted that, too… ;A; young David Bowie as Lestat, or older David Bowie could have been Lestat’s father, the Marquis!
Physically, even as a younger man, I think Bowie was a little too masculine for my headcanon of Lestat, but I truly believe he could have pulled a Tom Cruise and convinced us all that he was worthy to play Lestat bc of his acting!
This gifset is worth seeing in motion but still, this is SO Lestatuesque:
Fortunately for us all, David Bowie DID play a vampire in The Hunger (which also stars Catherine Deneuve as a vampire, she’s a fandom fave for Gabrielle!), check out @hyperbeeb‘s review of it [X].
This movie is fucking great. It’s got vampires, lesbians and David Bowie. It’s atmospheric and creepy and overall fucking brilliant. The last scene is a bit disappointing because there’s a lame bit of sequel bait but I can live with that because the film overall is so damn quality. Go watch it.
I’ve reviewed a lot of queer female vampire seduces innocent female mortal movies in this series. What makes The Hunger better than all the rest? David fucking Bowie.
If you only care about the queer lady aspects of these reviews, please skip this paragraph because I need to talk about the immortal space traveling lizard person that is David Bowie. David Bowie is great in this. He plays Catherine Deneuve’s mortal lover who is kept young through her blood but his time runs out and he starts rapidly aging in the first act. I’m really impressed with his performance here. Bowie really made me feel this sort of panic of not only his sudden lack of desirability to the woman who he loves who also sustains him but increasingly his sense of impending doom. I give him major props because playing a man confronting aging is a reach for David Bowie who doesn’t age as us mere mortal earthlings do. Bowie gave a really affecting, chilling and emotional performance that’s the best I’ve seen from him. I’m also impressed how he managed to tone down his whole Bowie-ness and not steal the show from Deneuve too much or clash with the tone of the movie.
So after Bowie starts to age, he visits Dr. Susan Sarandon who’s a dermatologist who he hopes can help him. She cannot and Bowie eventually ages so much that he becomes little more than a skeleton though still conscious. One of the creepiest scenes in the movie comes when Catherine Deneuve places him in a coffin in a room full of all her other lovers who have had the same fate. That’s a great addition to the vampire myth and really scary. The idea of being conscious but unable to move or speak is terrifying and it’s made worse by the fact that you’re also stuck in a coffin. For the lovers of Catherine Deneuve’s character Miriam, the last memory they have of her is betrayal.
Once David Bowie’s become not a valid prospect, Miriam sets her sights on Susan Sarandon and uses her vampire seduction powers to enthral her. This plot line is pretty similar to every other queer vampire movie I’ve reviewed. The difference is the ending. Unless most of the innocent mortals, Susan Sarandon does not turn to the dark side of immortality, blood drinking and scissoring but instead fights back against Miriam and what she represents. Ultimately though, the victory belongs to David Bowie skeleton who leads Miriam’s other past lovers in a skele-uprising and ultimately kills Miriam.
This movie is fucking great. It’s got vampires, lesbians and David Bowie. It’s atmospheric and creepy and overall fucking brilliant. The last scene is a bit disappointing because there’s a lame bit of sequel bait but I can live with that because the film overall is so damn quality. Go watch it.
I think AR’s comment could be a little misleading there; she says Gabrielle is “cold and selfish and essentially a bad human being” and then, separately, that Gabrielle is “a bad vampire.“
^Reason enough for AR to dislike Gabrielle. Gabrielle defended him against his father and brothers, helped him run away to Paris, stayed with him for a good decade exploring the world, and then wanted to go off on her own. Idk if I agree that she treated him SO badly, though she could have shown kid!Lestat a little more affection, he was starved for it.
I don’t think AR means that coldness and selfishness = bad vampire. One would think that those are "good” vampire qualities.
(^Catherine Deneuve bc of reasons)
What’s MOST likely is that AR modeled Gabrielle after someone AR is not particularly fond of, thus our dear Gabs was doomed to never be able to bask in the glow of AR’s love ;A;
So who’s an example of a “good” vampire in AR’s eyes? Marius, Lestat, Louis. Vampires who still strive to be part of the fabric of civilization to some degree:
Marius still finds pleasure in painting, socializing w/ the coven members, he studies history, he’s a people-watcher.
Lestat is a sensualist; he wants to crash parties, sample all types of victims, acquire all kinds of toys, be Good at Being Bad, share affection with his covenanyone.
Louis does not in fact want to be left completely alone. Even though he’s a huge bookworm, he also has a deep appreciation for art, and does relish frequent *ahem* cuddles with Lestat, bc who doesn’t?
… Oh right, Gabrielle doesn’t. Gabrielle would rather not be around any vampires or people at all. For legitimate reasons, for sure, but she seems to have little interest in making any connections with civilization, no interest in art or fashion, only a tenuous commitment to her coven,… she wants freedom. Perhaps that’s too lonely and empty an existence for AR to contemplate.
But mostly it’s bc Gabrielle “treated Lestat badly,” and that she doesn’t need or want to be a regular part of Lestat’s family in the way he would love her to be, and since Lestat is AR’s precious bb, Gabrielle’s rejection of Lestat is a rejection of AR herself (which is slightly amusing considering that AR’s commitment to writing Gabrielle in character prevents her from modifying Gabrielle into someone she finds more likable!)(#PROFESSIONAL AUTHOR PROBLEMS)
I-want-my-IWTV 