This very famous vampire tale features a lush production design, a couple of really good performances, a brand new style and aesthetic for vampires and a overall a really good time. 

Based on the 1976 book by Anne Rice the film is a reimagining of vampire lore. It tells the story of a modern day San Francisco journalist named Daniel, played by Christian Slater, who finds himself interviewing a vampire named Louis, played by a very distant and disengaged Brad Pitt, who tells Daniel the story of his very long life. 

After losing his wife and child in 1791, Louis is despondent and wanders the streets of New Orleans. He is attacked by the vampire Lestat, played surprisingly well by Tom Cruise delivering a deliciously sadistic performance. Lestat gives Louis the choice to be a vampire or not and Louis accepts. He doesn’t realize what he has done however and soon hates his new life as an undead monster. Lestat tries to convince Louis to revel in the murdering of people and the driving of blood. However, Louis is disgusted and decides to subsist on the blood of animals. (If you’re wondering where the “vegetarian” vampires of Twilight came from, it’s this story.)

This is my least favorite section of the film. Brad Pitt is mostly just sullen and mopey. I saw this years ago, and I liked it but didn’t love it. I think part of my cool reaction is this early section of the film. We spend about thirty minutes of Brad Pitt’s Louis just hating every minute of his time as a vampire, yet he continues to hang out with Lestat. He just sort of half heartedly refuses to go along with the drinking of human blood. It’s not a true antagonistic conflict of ideas. Maybe the problem is how strong and powerful Lestat is. The fight is just so unbalanced. Lestat is exciting and a true force of nature. While Louis is just a mope. Tom Cruise brings his typical intensity to the role. He apparently spent months preparing for the role, wearing vampire teeth all day to get used to speaking with them. He studied gothic architecture and the spent time in New Orleans and Paris to become familiar with the cities his character would know. Pitt seemed to just show up in comparison. 

This isn’t an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. This is a train verses a truck. It’s like when you accidentally walk through a spider web and it just clings to you while you keep walking.

However the movie shifts into high gear once Louis and Lestat turn a young girl named Claudia, played by a stellar Kirsten Dunst, into a vampire. Her presence lights a fire under the movie and gets things moving in a really fun way. Once she shows up, Louis is giving something to care for and fight for. Lestat is given someone who is as alive and forceful as he is. She is the immovable object that this unstoppable force needs to meet to create good drama. 

As they spend the century together, she ages, but never grows. She is perpetually 11 years old in appearance. And the performance by the 11 year old Dunst was absolutely stunning. She portrays the wisdom of age and the frustration of never aging beautifully. I love her more macabre moments like when she kills a beautiful woman and stores her body amongst her doll collection because she doesn’t understand the difference and wanted to keep this beautiful example of a body she’ll never get to have. 

Eventually Louis goes in search of more vampires and finds Armand, played by a devilishly good Antonio Banderas. He is in charge of group of vampires in Paris and tries to lure Louis into his collective. This is where the homosexual undertones of the film become overtones. There was a hint of it in the relationship with Lestat, but it’s a lot more than a hint here with Armand. They do everything but kiss. This serves the drama of the story really well and raises the stakes. Banderas is such a unique and fascinating actor. He is constantly making interesting choices and delivering performances that surprise and delight. 

I really enjoyed the final scenes of this movie. There are very quiet and small moments that feel quite poignant. Louis discovering the joy of cinema and seeing sunrises in movies. He enjoys a return to New Orleans and feeling like he’s home. He has a great scene with Lestat that really works wonderfully for me. 

When we get back to the titular interview I wanted both more and less from the scene. I wish they had pushed it further, or excised it entirely. The very final moments of the movie feel like a sequel setup that is entirely unnecessary. 

In the end is it a perfect movie? No, but the production design is sumptuous. The costumes are immaculate and completely beautiful. The sets they inhabit feel real and lived in yet stylized in the best way possible. Everyones make up and hairstyling is perfection. How they got everyones hair to land just so in every shot is an art unto itself. 

I loved Tom Cruise’s performance. I loved Kirsten Dunst’s performance not just because of her age but because of the qualities she brings to the character. I loved Antonio Banderas. I thought Brad Pitt was pretty good. He didn’t detract. I think the bigger problem than his performance is how passive his character is. Louis for the most part is not an active protagonist. He is reactive. He is responding to Lestat, Claudia, and Armand. He is not driving things forward. That is a tough role to play, and I think he handles it admirably if not flawlessly. 

Did I like it? Yes. I liked it a lot more this time than last time I saw it. I rewatched it because of the excellent podcast What Went Wrong. They did an episode breaking the production of this film. I also had several conversations with a friend of mine about the movie that made me really want to revisit it. SO thanks to both of them. This was a great time. 

It is my cup of tea. B+