Tom Cruise’s Interview With The Vampire Replacement Cast
Tom Cruise will see his vampire character recast for a new show.
This article is more than 2 years old
Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible) starred in the 1994 Oscar-nominated movie Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. AMC is now taking its own stab with a series. Variety has reported that Sam Reid (The Newsreader) will be the lead role as the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt.
The show was greenlit back in June and like the Tom Cruise movie, it will follow the story that was originally written by Anne Rice. The author published Interview with the Vampire in 1976 that has spanned decades with the latest book being published in 2018. The first entry follows Louis de Pointe du Lac as he recounts his life to a reporter. The main focus is on how he turned into a vampire and his relationship with his mentor Lestat de Lioncourt.
Depending on the success, how AMC feels, and what Sam Reid wants to do for his career, he could be the character for a large chunk of time. The company owns the rights to all of the books, and with 13 novels to dissect, the opportunities for continuing seasons, spin-offs, and even movies are all possible for the actor to continuously play the vampire that once belonged to Tom Cruise. The network has rights to the author’s other series, The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, which was reported last year by Variety. Reportedly the author and her team were negotiating for $30-40 million for both series, but whatever was settled for was not disclosed. As of now, it is unclear what the cabler will decide to do the Mayfair Witches series, which consists of three entries that ran through the 90s.
Tom Cruise and Sam Reid are not the only ones to hold the role for Lestat. In 2002’s Queen of the Damned, Stuart Townsend (Salem) played the character in the adaption of the third book in the series. It appears the role holds good luck for success as Cruise is one of the biggest stars around due to Mission Impossible and Edge of Tomorrow, Reid is about to appear in the Australian series The Newsreader and has found success in miniseries like Lambs of God and The Hunting, and Townsend has starred in series like Salem, Betrayal, and Robot Chicken.
The adaption of the Tom Cruise movie is set to have eight episodes. AMC is aiming for a 2022 release on both the network and its service, AMC Plus. Rolin Jones (Perry Mason) is the showrunner, writer, and executive producer. Mark Johnson, Anne Rice, and Christopher Rice will executive produce too. Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) is set to direct the first two episodes.
Interview with the Vampire, the original film, was directed by Neil Jordan (Greta) and written by Anne Rice. The cast was a star-studded lineup with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro), Kristen Dunst (Fargo), Christian Slater (Mr. Robot), and Thandiwe Newton (Westworld). The adaption of the first book got two Oscar nominations for its art direction by Dante Ferretti (Hugo) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (Hugo). The other nomination was for the original score by composer Elliot Goldenthal (Frida).
