Cast This: The Vampire Lestat

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Tis the season for vampires! Ready for blood suckers of the non-sparkly variety? Looks like it’s time to put your casting knowledge to good use as we find the perfect fit for the Vampire Lestat.

Back at the beginning of this month it was announced that Universal picked up the rights to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles which is spread out across ten books. Most of you will be familiar with the first of Rice’s novels to hit the big screen—1994s INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE—which fronted two major movie starts at the time. The one and only Tom Cruise was the first to take on the role of the Brat Prince. Then 2002 brought the adaptation of QUEEN OF THE DAMNED with Stuart Townsend in the leading role.

Upon hearing about the casting of Cruise, Rice thought of placing the actor in the role as “bizarre” especially after Cruise made remarks of always wanting to be part of a “creature feature”. Rice wanted someone more like Jeremy Irons or John Malkovich. When the movie came out, Rice changed her tune saying that he did a wonderful job channeling her most beloved character. So who does the author have her eyes on now? As a long time fan of Rice, I follow her on both Twitter and Facebook. From time to time she will drop ideas of which actors remind her of Lestat. Recent suggestions have centered on two of Rice’s favorite shows at the moment—HELL ON WHEELS’ Anson Mount and ARROW’s Stephen Amell. The wildcard here? Chris Hemsworth. Ever since she mentioned Mount, I can’t get that choice out of my head. Between the previous two portrayals of Lestat, Cruise wins for me, hands down. I think this was a side of him that audiences hadn’t experienced, and in my opinion, is one of his best roles to date.

Whomever we choose will have to carry the franchise over the foreseeable future. I’m wondering if you guys have any good, out of left field ideas for Lestat. The role will be a good one for any actor to play, but I think this is one that you have to be careful with. Actually, you have to be careful with this entire franchise. Rice’s novels reach outside of the bounds of what we previously know of television and movie vampires. There’s a mature spin that if one isn’t careful could easily slip into QUEEN OF THE DAMNED territory. The novels are beautifully written and deserve good treatment on everything from the script right down to the location setting.

However, finding that perfect fit for Lestat is key. So who is it going to be, schmoes?

RESULTS FROM PREVIOUS ‘CAST THIS’: Indiana Jones:

You guys are sweet rallying behind Harrison Ford like that. I’m sure he deeply appreciates it. He’s the man. He’s the legend. Harrison Ford is Indy, just like he’s Han Solo. However, casting “no one” is not the name of the game here, or in Hollyweird. If we could send young Ford back here and get him to take on new Indy adventures, I’d be all f*cking for it. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. So if it does have to happen, for those of you who didn’t answer “no one”—Chris Pratt takes it all. Next up is James Marsden and at a very distant third is Timothy Olyphant.