If you take the life out of Interview With A Vampire it all boils down to an epic tale, told in narration form about two male vampires and the love they shared. That is, if you were to boil the book down. As a movie, Interview With A Vampire is lacking much of the homoeroticism that was present in Anne Rice’s original tale – however, since Rice herself was responsible for the screenplay of which the movie is based off of, that lack should not be held against the film.

Interview With A Vampire is an interesting movie, if not as an example of a movie bringing together two up-and-coming (at that time) Hollywood legends, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, but also a film that introduced 12 year old Kristen Dunst to the big screen and thrust her career into over-drive. Beyond the characters or actors, every I is dotted and ever T is crossed – and although Rice does indeed add a little of her own original flavor in – we get what we expect from a vampire tale. Seduction, long teeth, blood, death, darkness, and of course – a few moments of surprise.

The movie begins with Louis/Brad Pitt, looking hot as ever with long hair beginning to tell his epic tale to Interviewer/Christian Slater. How exactly or even why this interview begins to take place is all but swept under the table, since it really is completely unimportant in the overall scheme of the movie other than the fact that such a scene was required.

Louis thinks back to 1792 a time in his life that was full of utter despair. Although at a young age he was the master of a large plantation but his wife had died during childbirth. Unable to deal with his loss, he wanted death and sought it out by sleeping with any wh*re he could, drinking, and even daring a guy holding a pistol to shoot him. But, it was a vampire that answered his calling, a vampire named Lestat/Tom Cruise.

Again, for perhaps reasons unknown and/or not told throughout the course of the film, instead of choosing death which he wanted, Louis decides to become a vampire and join Lestat as his partner. Together the two dashing vampires sweep the town, but Louis unlike Lestat is unable to swallow the entire vampire legend completely which means that his moral and mortal consciousness begins to get the better of him much to Lestat’s disappointment.

From here the movie does two things. Each in its own time. First, a child is born to the proud parents of Louis and Lestat. Claudia/Kristen Dunst brings an innocent yet deadly flair to the story, a vampire that will never out-grow the desire to hold a doll. Claudia of course immediately bonds with Louis, since he once was a father for a moment until his wife died during childbirth. Slowly, she drives Louis’ love away from Lestat which leads to a fatefully and tragic outcome.

Once that’s all taken care of, Louis and Claudia ship themselves off to Paris, where Louis seeks out other vampires. Without much trouble, he comes upon Armand/Antonio Banderas, who seductively and quietly helps Louis. Again, the homoeroticism comes into play as Armand asks Louis to join him, to be by his side, to allow him to teach him. They even share a brief scene where it seems Louis is about to kiss Armand – but the moment is loss to allow the epic to continue.

As for the casting, I’ve read a lot of past reviews that have complained that all Louis does is whine, whine, whine, and Lestat he acts like Tom Cruise, imagine that. Even the original author Anne Rice publicly stated that she hated the casting of Tom Cruise, a statement she later publicly recanted after seeing his performance. There’s much to hate in this movie. It’s easy to see it as yet another vehicle for a few hot young Hollywood stars to be in this time tackling a legend, instead of something perhaps a little closer to reality. And, although I too found Interview With A Vampire to be a little slow in places – the more I have seen it has reinforced my belief that both Cruise and Pitt, and even Banderas – brought quality to the screen. Yes, it could have been better – but, it could have been worse – an argument that can be found in almost any movie.

Much, kudos should be awarded to Kristen Dunst – not because her career blossomed from this point on as seen quite frequently in countless “what they did before they became famous” spots on TV – but because as a child actor she gives a great performance for her age. Maybe not as much as Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, and not anywhere close to Anna Paquin’s energy in The Piano – but she swallowed, ingested, and spit out a performance required for her character. You could say it is easy for a child actor, to act. To ask a child to act like a child – is like asking a producer to act like a businessman. But, Dunst has to act like a child that is a vampire, that is stuck for eternity in the body of a child. It is here she acts with innocence yet acts the complexity adult vampires feel. For a moment, we forget who she is – even now, years after and long before she became a star.

Perhaps the only problem with Interview With A Vampire is its need to come full circle. The need for the “interviewer” to have a connection with the “interviewee”. The need for characters to come back, have their final shining moment – perhaps even worse while loud “this is the end” type music blares in the background” – plus somehow Superman finds a way of making an appearance in the vampire flick. A fault that most films make – some easier to see many years later.

Overall, Neil Jordan’s (The Crying Game) Interview With A Vampire may just be “Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise with long teeth”, but Anne Rice has made sure that there’s an associate between viewers and characters – one could almost say a longing to have been a part of those times, a sexual energy – that is absent from most vampire flicks.

This review is based on the cable version of the movie currently showing on TNT

Recommended:
Yes