monstersinthecosmos:

vraik:

HEY. HEY. YOU KNOW WHO I LOVE? 

Antonio Banderas Armand. 

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.