In 1998, director Michael Rymer met with executives from Warner Bros. Pictures and mentioned that he would be very keen to direct the next book in [he Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. "When I first read the Chronicles I was very much immersed in the world that she created," Rymer says, "and very struck by her imaginative connection with what it would be like to be a vampire. I would read passages and think, If there are vampires, I bet you these are the problems that they deal with. By chance, the studio had an option on that very book and offered it to Rymer on the spot.
Both Rymer and producer Jorge Saralegui share a special affection for the horror genre; a published author, Saralegui's first novel was centered on vampires, and Rymer has been a fan of horror movies from a very early age. "I was obsessed with Dracula and vampire films," Rymer reveals, "with a particular interest in the fantasy and supernatural elements. I always identified with the monster as the outsider, spurned and misunderstood. Those were the characters that most appealed to me.
For producer Jorge Saralegui, the process of adapting Queen of the Damned from novel to screenplay was a fairly daunting task. "It really did take us quite a while," he recalls, "because there was just so much happening in the novel. Our task was to find the core story on which to center the movie. We wanted to show Lestat's origins as a vampire, and in order to do that we had to borrow heavily from The Vampire Lestat. It's very much inspired by, and in the spirit of, Anne Rice's work."
The acclaimed author of many of the most celebrated written works in the horror genre, Anne Rice believes that the filmmakers have hit their mark. "Queen of the Damned is an energetic and innovative rendition of the Vampire Chronicles" she says, "featuring fine performances, and a magnificent look. Well directed, elegant and intriguing, the film is surely destined to take its place among notable modern interpretations of vampire mythology.
After screening Stuart Townsend's 1998 film Resurrection Man, in which the actor plays notorious murderer Victor Kelly, producer Saralegui felt that they had found their Lestat. "In the opening shot of the movie, Stuart's character walks out of his parents' house, stands in the front yard, stares at the camera and just smiles. And we saw that and said, that's Lestat! — he had that sexiness and dangerousness that the character has, and the right kind of wicked attitude."
"Stuart surpassed all our expectations," adds Rymer. "We had to find an actor who could play a rock star as well as a vampire because that's what Lestat reinvents himself as. So we needed someone who could really pull off that magnetism, as well as give us Lestat's very dark, brooding qualifies. Stuart did all of that and more."
"Vampires are such a part of the mythology of our culture," comments Townsend. "I always thought it would be very interesting to play a vampire and to immerse myself in that very primal, very sexual world. And Lestat is an interesting character; there are times when he's truly a monster, but at other times he shows a real human side. He's very complex and I enjoyed that."
Movie Database
In Theaters
