Chronicling the Vampire Chronicles

 

I am back with my second instalment. Slightly later than planned, but hopefully worth the wait.

I'm going to be looking at two adaptations of the book: Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice. The first book of the series named the Vampire Chronicles, Interview with the Vampire is a gothic story that follows Louis, a man who's recently suffered the loss of his brother. He stumbles across an enticing man named Lestat in New Orleans, 1791. Lestat, who happens to be a vampire, senses Louis' yearn for answers and transforms him into a vampire. The book chronicles the life of Louis as a vampire, with the narration given as an interview with a reporter in the present time. Published in 1976, the book went on to have two adaptations; one a film that has become a cult classic and another a TV series, that is proving to be popular. I am going to take a look at them both to compare and contrast. Spoilers are obviously ahead...

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

We will start with the film, considering this was the first adaptation to be made of the popular gothic novel. Brad Pitt was cast as Louis with Tom Cruise (much to the dismay of the author) being cast as Lestat. The film closely follows the book's narration, with a few differences, one being that the character of Claudia being 12 years old, rather than 5 years old as she is in the book. Louis starts his story by tracking down reporter Daniel (played by Christian Slater). In this version, Louis has recently suffered the loss of his wife and child, and is desperately depressed, awaiting death. A vampire answers his call and transforms the man into a vampire. To Lestat's dismay, however, Louis proves to be a difficult vampire, someone who does not enjoy eating humans and would rather dine on rats. As Louis continues to try to find answers, he stumbles upon a girl whose mother had just died from the plague and feeds upon her, giving into temptation. Lestat discovers them and decides to transform the girl into a vampire. Thus, the girl Claudia (played by Kirsten Dunst) becomes the vampires' child in a way and the film follows their navigation in the human world. Of course, soon problems arise as making a 12 year old child into a vampire is not as easy-going as the pair imagined. Claudia grows older, yet remains on the outside the same age as she was when made into a vampire. This causes tension between the two, and after apparently killing Lestat, Louis and Claudia set about an adventure of their own.

I remember the first time I watched this film. My sister had turned to me and asked if I knew who the actor was who played Lestat. I told her I did not, and my sister replied it was Tom Cruise. I was shocked as all I knew of that time of Cruise was him being in action films, looking remarkably different to how he appears here. I'm not usually a fan of Cruise, if you have see one Mission Impossible film, you've pretty much seen them all; however, I have got to admit that this has been his best performance throughout his career. He is so unrecognisable as the character of Lestat, transforming himself and losing himself to the character. As mentioned above, Anne Rice was adamantly opposed to the casting of Cruise as her beloved character, and was not shy of stating so. After the film was released, Rice published a letter of apology in an American publication. Another great actor in this film is Kirsten Dunst, starring as the tortured Claudia. When the 12 year old kid that's featured in the movie manages to out-perform the two stars, you know it's going to be an interesting time. Dunst is phenomenal, making the audience believe that she is an adult trapped in a child's body. Every time I think of this film, the one scene that stands out is the scene in which Claudia discovers she can't change her appearance or get older, and is stuck as an immortal child forever. The audience can feel the horror of such a scenario due to Dunst's performance. All at the age of 12. I would say the one let-down of this campy classic is the presence of Brad Pitt. Reportedly, Pitt did not want to do the film and this is very much apparent. His wooden acting drags the film down and you can sense that the actor does not want to be part of the fun. I used to think that was perfect for Louis, the reluctant vampire, but now it is quite painful to watch the laziness of his performance. 

All in all, the film was a good adaptation of the book, with a few slight changes. Cruise and Dunst were fantastic, with supporting roles provided by Antonio Banderas and Stephen Rea. The sequel that came many years later, Queen of the Damned (2002), could not match success of the first film, leaving fans of the book series disappointed. Until the TV version arrived in 2022.

Interview with the Vampire (2022-)

In 2020, it was announced that there was going to be a TV series adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. With slightly more changes compared to the film, the series starts in Dubai where Louis now resides. He has contacted Daniel, who's now a middle-aged reporter, who had previously attempted an interview with this mysterious vampire back in 1973, resulting in disastrous results. Set in the modern times, Louis sets up the interview again, hoping for a more successful attempt this time round. The series follows Louis' story, this time now originating in the early 1910s, rather than the previous 18th century. Louis (played by Jacob Anderson) is a successful brothel owner, who after the suicide of his brother, meets a mysterious man named Lestat (Sam Reid). Louis is entranced and at the same time, frustrated by this new person in his life. Lestat has taken a liking to Louis and shows off in front of him, giving him a glimpse of the being he truly is. After the death of his brother, and the subsequent blaming from his mother, Louis flees to church and encounters Lestat, who promises him answers as he turns him into a vampire. The series includes the introduction to Claudia, now a 14 year old girl, whom Louis saves from a fire. Lestat transforms her into a vampire after Louis bites her, and the unconventional family go on their adventures around New Orleans while trying to avoid Louis' human family. Eventually, the resentment between Lestat and Louis grows, with Lestat committing a betrayal to his vampire companion. Louis and Claudia decide the only way to escape their maker, is to kill him. Season 1 ends with Daniel, frustrated by Louis' selective narration, trying to get the full truth out of the vampire.

Ah what a refreshing series. I was so eager to watch this when it was first announced, and especially after hearing all of the rave reviews it was getting. Unlike the film adaptation, Louis played by Anderson, is a more nuanced character with a lot more dimension than Pitt could ever bring. The stand-out of the show is Sam Reid's Lestat, managing to portray the villainous vampire with an edge of sympathy. Anderson and Reid have amazing chemistry, with the show daring to go where the film wouldn't and show the two vampires as a dysfunctional couple. While Bailey Bass' depiction of Claudia isn't as powerful as Dunst's, due to the actor and character being older, she still does a great job in capturing the complexities of the character. There is a great twist at the end that I did not see coming, which has me eagerly anticipating season 2 of the series. Even though there were many changes between the book and the film with this series, it really managed to work here, by bringing a modern twist to the classic novel. One of my favourite current TV shows, I cannot wait to see where they go with season 2, which may include the adaptation of the follow-up novel, The Vampire Lestat.

Overall, the two adaptations are fairly faithful to the original book series, with the TV series winning the race for me. 

Photo by Loren Cutler on Unsplash