Neil Jordan maintains that his choice of the ‘Mission Impossible’ actor was the correct one
Now that the second season of ‘Interview with the Vampire’ continues to delight Anne Rice fans, it is curious to go back to 1994, when it premiered. the Neil Jordan film adaptation that featured Tom Cruise as Lestat. The actor was already a global star thanks to ‘Top Gun’ and had received an Oscar nomination for ‘Born on the 4th of July’, however, not everyone was convinced of his encore as a vampire.
A controversial adaptation
The casting of the actor as Lestat de Lioncourt caused considerable rejection among fans of Anne Rice’s original book. Now, in an excerpt from her new memoir published in The Telegraph, The director reflects on his decision to cast Cruise in the role of Lestat and the outrage it aroused, remembering that he originally offered the role to Daniel Day-Lewis.
“The problem was the casting of Lestat. Brad Pitt had agreed to play Louis and somehow assumed that Daniel Day-Lewis would play Lestat, an assumption shared by Anne. I offered it to Daniel, who read it and, as expected, she did not want to play the character. A few years earlier, she had confined herself to a wheelchair to play Christy Brown in ‘My Left Foot’. She would have had to sleep in a coffin throughout this production if she had followed the same practice. So we moved on.”
After meeting Cruise twice at his Brentwood home, Jordan realized that The actor actually had a lot in common with Lestat, something that made him sure of his decision.
“I finally understood. He had to live a life away from the gaze of others. He had made a contract with the occult forces, whatever they were. He had to hide in the shadows, even in the Hollywood sunlight. It would be eternally young. He was a star. He might as well be Lestat.”
Jordan points out that Cruise is also a superb actor, but that “that detail” was lost in the indignation that followed to the election:
“It seemed like half of America had read Anne Rice’s books and wanted to weigh in on Lestat’s casting. Anne herself said it was as if I had cast Edward G. Robinson in the role of Rhett Butler. But she was wrong and later was big enough to admit it.”
Cruise’s performance was appreciated by critics and it is one of the roles that define his work. In an interview with The Guardian, Jordan elaborated on the matter.
“It must have been very difficult for Cruise to be in the middle of that backlash. The whole world said, ‘Your casting is wrong.’ He’s a great actor. If he says he can do something, he’s going to do it in a way that people will love.” It will shock you. Tom has become the last remaining movie star. It’s a little strange.”
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