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Movie Review

Prepare to be disappointed, fellow Riceans. It appears that there have been some drastic changes. They changed the script, and some of the main vampires in the book have been written in as "minor characters" in the movie script. Gabrielle, Daniel, Magnus, Baby Jenks and The Fang Gang, Santino,and Louis(..the beautiful Louis) are not in the movie. I'm so disappointed. Not only that.. Anne Rice's vampires were supposed to be beautiful, right? But in the movie, they have chosen some old and ugly freaks to play the roles of Khayman, and Mael. I sincerely hope though that the actors will portray their characters with the respect they deserve.

This adaptation of Anne Rice's best-selling novel goes something like this-- the legendary vampire Lestat, has re-invented himself as a rock star in the contemporary American music scene. His music wakes Akasha, the queen of all vampires, and inspires her to want to make Lestat her king. Akasha's malevolent power is so great that all the immortal vampires must stand against her if they want to survive. Meanwhile a young London woman with a fascination for the dark side falls in love with Lestat.And do you know who this woman is..? Why, it's Jesse. Hmmm.. that's new, huh.

Aaliyah Haughton, the 21 year old r&b singer, who recently made her acting debut in Romeo Must Die has been cast as The Queen Of The Damned, Akasha. I hope she does well as Akasha, because she looks the part. I hope she understands her character well enough.

On the other hand, Stuart Townsend, a 28 year old Irish actor was at last named as Tom Cruise's successor, to play the charismatic Lestat. Stuart Townsend's Lestat does not have blonde hair - more a medium brown with blonde streaks. Still not right, huh.. but maybe Stuart could look the part, given the right make-up. Honestly, I am quite intrigued by this man..

... but how can I ever forget how well Tom Cruise portrayed our beloved Lestat? It's hard to imagine him as anyone else. As of Brad Pitt, I didn't know much about him until I saw him in "Interview..". Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater, and Kirsten Dunst were equally great too. When I watched the film (Interview with the Vampire), I was absolutely mesmerised - I just wanted to run back in and watch it again and again.

Sadly, I don't think this will be the case with the 'Queen of the Damned' film, as the Warner Bros casting team introduce us to fairly anonymous new actors. If only they could give the casting list to me! I would be sooo glad!

Anyway, I still look forward to seeing it for the first time. And eventhough I'm extremely disappointed at the changing of the script, I will, as ever, keep an open mind.