Interview with the Vampire

Anne Rice, author of Interview With The Vampire, wanted Daniel Day Lewis for the role of Lestat, the villainous, preening European vampire responsible for turning protagonist Louis into a creature of the night. She got Tom Cruise. Cruise’s casting was reviled at the time, along with the film – but now, nearly thirty years later, Neil Jordan’s gothic melodrama (and Cruise’s wonderfully wicked performance) is beloved, bloody fun.

Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) is a vampire. He tells his story to an eager modern-day journalist: reanimated in 1790s Louisiana by a merciless, maniacal vampire named Lestat (Tom Cruise), Louis becomes entangled with Lestat due to their thirst for blood, and their joint stewardship of ten-year-old vampire Claudia (Kirsten Dunst).