Out of the blue, for no real reason, I've just realised the one film that above all others I wish was remade.
Interview with a Vampire was a jolly good film for those that like that kind of thing. I certainly did at the time, and probably still do. Vampires and that kinda shit have become quite popular recently (on both TV & film, with both teens & adults), but it was all a bit niche at the time. But despite that, Interview did well at the box office and also garnered a lot of praise from mainstream critics. It pulled off a neat trick, in that Anne Rice fans liked it, but those that had never even heard of her thought it was pretty damn good too. I've seen it a couple of times since becoming all growed up, and IMO it stands the test of time - yeah it's all pretty OTT and hammy in places, but the story all hangs together and the style is concordant with the plot, as well as being both striking and consistent. And both Pitt and Cruise are excellent in it. I'm no fan of Cruise generally, but he was brilliant in IwaV.
But here's a confession: I was one of those Anne Rice fans. As a teenager I loved that series, and read a fair few of them. The first 5 I think, maybe 6.
And I think anyone who's read those books would point to The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned as being far far better stories than Interview with a Vampire. With the successful adaptation of the first book, I really looked forward to seeing the film treatment of the second and third.
It was a long wait. So long, in fact, that by the time the next one was released on film I was a decade older and had lost interest. A good thing too, because by all accounts the second film is an utter pile of shite.
IwaV is a fairly thin book. The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned are both books with much more depth, more complex and involved, and hence each take up a similar amount of space on a bookshelf as one of Alistair Reynolds' heftier tomes. But bizarrely, after the successful adaptation of the much shorter and shallower first book, they decided to try and combine both the following two books into one film. And they waited 10 years after the first release, by which time the enthusiastic reception had faded into vague memory, fans like me had moved on, and I'm sure the budgets and personnel on offer from studios had receded in kind. I've never seen it, but it's no surprise that it's seen as such an utter clusterfuck of a film.
So: Remake The Vampire Lestat. Don't try and bundle it up with the next book - in fact, it'd be wise to split it in two as was done with Harry Potter's last hurrah. Do it properly, with a decent budget and plush production in the style of Interview, but updated to suit a modern eye, tastes, and our now ubiquitous wry cynicism. There's a new generation growing up with fucking Twilight to sell to, plus those of my age that are quite taken with things like Being Human, even if many wouldn't actually admit to liking Pitt and Cruise in that vampire film all those years ago. We can fall back on The Lost Boys as an excuse if needs be. It'd be a guaranteed cash-cow if done properly, a new franchise waiting to happen.
So it'd work for the studios IMO. But for me, I'd just like to see something I remember as a fucking good story brought to life on the screen in the way it deserves.
