Over at Bloody Disgusting they’re reporting that they’ve managed to confirm rumours that Robert Downey Jr is in talks to play Lestat in a new movie based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. While the previous Lestat movies, Interview With The Vampire (with Tom Cruise as the bloodsucker) and the godawful Queen Of The Damned (Stuart Townsend) were made by Warner Bros, this new film is being developed by Universal.
There’s no news yet on which of the books will form the basis of the new Lestat film, but whichever one they choose, it appears Universal is hoping to turn The Vampire Chronicles into a major screen franchise. Although Interview With The Vampire is the first in the series, it’s difficult to imagine them starting with that story when Neil Jordan’s 1994 version is still fresh in the memory (but then, Universal is rebooting Battlestar Galactica for the big screen only months after the TV series ended, so who knows?). It would seem to make sense to start with the second book, The Vampire Lestat, as while elements of that went novel into the Queen Of The Damned movie, it’s never had a proper screen adaptation.
With Twilight reigniting interest in all things Vampire, it’s not surprising someone has gone back to Anne Rice’s much-loved books, and Downey Jr. would be an excellent choice for Lestat.