<i>Interview with the Vampire</i> 20 Years Later: Where Are The Vampires Now?
Interview with the Vampire 20 Years Later: Where Are The Vampires Now?
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Brad Pitt: Before 1994, Pitt was a rising star thanks to A River Runs Through It and his brief role in Thelma & Louise. But it was the one-two punch of Interview, in which he played the broody Louis, and Legends of the Fall that cemented him as his generation’s leading man; his first People Sexiest Man Alive cover came two months after he starred in Interview.
He went on to superstardom of a not-very-interesting sort in movies like The Mexican and Troy, but rediscovered his edge after his romantic partnership with Angelina Jolie, and recently won an Oscar for helping bring 12 Years a Slave to the screen.Warner Bros.; Getty Images
Interview with the Vampire, which made household names of novelist Anne Rice and many of the subsequent film adaptation’s performers, was a florid, gaudy story that has only grown more delicious in the years leading up to its 20th anniversary.
The movie, an adaptation of Rice’s novel, tells the story of two vampires, Lestat and Louis, who turn a 12-year-old girl into an immortal and learn to live with their monstrous appetites. But today, the movie may be most notable for its meta-story: The two male leads, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, were the biggest stars on Earth, and that little girl they turned into a vampire, Kirsten Dunst, went on to a successful and provocative career.
A new generation of stars is likely to get a similar boost in a few years: Anne Rice’s novels will be turned into a film franchise. After the success of Interview with the Vampire and the sadly posthumous Aaliyah vehicle Queen of the Damned, the Vampire Chronicles series of novels had lain dormant. But no longer: Universal recently obtained the rights to Rice’s whole series of novels. “I love movies with my whole heart and I’m willing to take the chance,” Rice, who loves the first Interview, told TIME. It was a chance that paid off the first time for her and for many others.
Tom Cruise: Tom Cruise was on top of the world in 1994, coming off of box office hits like A Few Good Men and The Firm. And he only cemented his clout and critical acclaim in the years following: Two years after playing the all-powerful Lestat, he kicked off the Mission: Impossible franchise and got an Oscar nomination for Jerry Maguire.
In recent years, he’s received more attention for his personal life and religious beliefs than his films, which have lately tended to be fairly safe and similar action thrillers.Warner Bros.; Getty ImagesBrad Pitt: Before 1994, Pitt was a rising star thanks to A River Runs Through It and his brief role in Thelma & Louise. But it was the one-two punch of Interview, in which he played the broody Louis, and Legends of the Fall that cemented him as his generation’s leading man; his first People Sexiest Man Alive cover came two months after he starred in Interview.
He went on to superstardom of a not-very-interesting sort in movies like The Mexican and Troy, but rediscovered his edge after his romantic partnership with Angelina Jolie, and recently won an Oscar for helping bring 12 Years a Slave to the screen.Warner Bros.; Getty ImagesChristian Slater: Interview with the Vampire may have marked the height of Slater’s career (he played the interviewer!). The years that followed were challenging as he struggled to find big studio roles that suited him. There were some highs (the moderate hit Broken Arrow) and more lows (the historic bomb Hard Rain, the disastrously crass comedy Very Bad Things).
In recent years, Slater’s appeared in a succession of short-lived TV series, including My Own Worst Enemy, The Forgotten, Breaking In and Mind Games, and has been willing to take greater risks in film, as in the wildly ribald indie Nymphomaniac.Warner Bros.; Getty ImagesKirsten Dunst: Kirsten Dunst’s public profile hasn’t been incredibly consistent, but the actress is the rare child star who continues to work. Following her performance as pint-sized vamp Claudia, Dunst made TV appearances in the likes of ER and Touched by an Angel; she went on to appear in teen comedies (Get Over It), more sophisticated dramas (The Virgin Suicides) and, most notably, the Spider-Man franchise. Since her role as Mary Jane Watson ended in 2007, Dunst has been working in interesting, low-fi movies including the black comedy Bachelorette and the apocalyptic allegory Melancholia, for which she won the Best Actress prize at Cannes.
Warner Bros.; Getty ImagesAntonio Banderas: When he appeared in Interview as handsome Parisian vampire Armand, Banderas was best-known for his work in his native Spanish, including with director Pedro Almodóvar.
In the years following, though, Banderas worked primarily in English, appearing in movies ranging from great (Frida) to good (Evita) to… don’t worry about it (Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever).
He’s best known to a new generation, perhaps, as the voice of Shrek character Puss in Boots.Warner Bros.; Getty ImagesThandie Newton: Vampire victim Yvette was one of Thandie Newton’s first roles, but she capitalized on it, going on to play Sally Hemings the next year in Jefferson in Paris and then a lead role in Beloved. By the 2000s, Newton was involved in bigger-budget projects, including Mission: Impossible II and The Chronicles of Riddick; she was also a star of Oscar best picture winner Crash. More recently, Newton’s been announced as part of the cast of HBO’s sci-fi adaptation Westworld.Warner Bros.; Getty ImagesAnne Rice: Rice had published four of her Vampire Chronicles books when the film adaptation came out in 1994, but the film elevated her status as the go-to writer for gothic gore. She went on to publish seven more, with the most recent, Prince Lestat, coming out last month. That vampire novel was a surprise for some, as Rice had declared her 2003 Blood Canticle would be her last book about vampires, and that she was going to focus on books about Jesus. Her two Christ the Lord books, though, didn’t scratch the supernatural itch, and Rice returned to writing about the supernatural with two books about werewolves before her full-fledged return to vampire novels.Getty Images (2)
