And why not? The vampire craze may be over, but that wouldn’t stop die hard fans, would it? Anne Rice took to her Facebook on Saturday with good news. Why is it good news? Well, after the Queen of the Damned movie, the series has been in limbo. I love the book series and it really deserves a great, on screen interpretation.
In 1994, Interview with the Vampire was adapted by Warner Bros, starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. IT was, in my opinion, very good. 2002 saw Queen of the Damned, which turned out to have elements from The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. It turned out to be a poor attempt at a movie and we wouldn’t hear about a possible sequel to the series for a while. 2013 and 2014 there were talks about bringing the fourth book, Tale of the Body Thief.
But now may be the time to start fresh, the 1994 film, Interview with the Vampire movie being 22 years old. There are so many stories to be told. Reboot is the word, but how? This is from Anne Rice’s Facebook page.
The theatrical rights to the Vampire Chronicles are once again in my hands, free and clear! I could not be more excited about this! — A television series of the highest quality is now my dream for Lestat, Louis, Armand, Marius and the entire tribe. In this the new Golden Age of television, such a series is THE way to let the entire story of the vampires unfold. — My son Christopher Rice and I will be developing a pilot script and a detailed outline for an open ended series, faithfully presenting Lestat’s story as it is told in the books, complete with the many situations that readers expect to see. We will likely begin with “The Vampire Lestat” and move on from there. —– When we sit down finally to talk to producers, we will have a fully realized vision of this project with Christopher as the executive producer at the helm. I will also be an executive producer all the way. —- Again, I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to be able to announce this. —- As many of you know, Universal Studios and Imagine Entertainment had optioned the series to develop motion pictures from it, and though we had the pleasure of working with many fine people in connection with this plan, it did not work out. It is, more than ever, abundantly clear that television is where the vampires belong. —- Over the years you all have told me how much you want to see a “Game of Thrones” style faithful rendering of this material, and how much you want for the series to remain in my control. Well, I have heard you. I have always heard you. What you want is what I want. — You, the readers, made these books a success before any movie was ever made based on them, and I will never forget that fact. —- Christopher and I will be posting many questions on the page for your input in the days to come. —– I am filled with optimism this morning about the future for my beloved Brat Prince. What better way to start a tour for the new book!
Wow, with that said, I agree 100%. The Vampire Chronicles would be great as a television show. HBO or even Showtime or Cinemax could pull this off. True Blood was a huge hit on HBO and to do something in the style of Game of Thrones, I could totally see that. With 10 or 12 episodes a season, we could see a book a season or even less. Interview with the Vampire could be an entire season, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned could be season 2. There are ways to work it. I mean the Sookie Stackhouse novels were around the same length as the Vampire Chronicles and better stories. Plue the first season would be all kinds of a period piece, which HBO is good at doing.
If you can’t tell, I am excited about the prospect of seeing a Vampire Chronicles TV show. I hope Anne Rice makes the right decision moving forward, I am sure she will. Casting a new Lestat, Armand and Louie, this will be fun. I just hope it gets made and it is all up to the creator, which is how it should be.
I would prefer an actual cable network, not an AMC or FX. I want to see HBO make the Vampire Chornicles.
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