#and lestat tried to kill claudia so honestly what is the fucking difference

[cypheragent]

can I be honest I think it's kind of crazy how much lestans go on and on about lestat's trauma because I honestly think louis, claudia AND armand all had it worse. sorry.

[moonykat]

Lestat was emotionally abused and neglected by his partner for over 7 years. That wasn't okay. Louis said it himself, he would push and push and push. He would constantly remind Lestat he was not important to him, etc.

Louis was physically abused by Lestat. That wasn't okay either. At all, Lestat was way more powerful than animal-eating Louis, so there was physical power imbalance there. He was thrown off from the skies ffs.

Do I think either of those actions were right? No. Do I justify Lestat's or Louis' actions? No. Do I think Lestat deserved to be neglected by Louis? No. Do I think Louis deserved to be beaten the way he did? Fuck no.

I do believe emotional abuse can hurt a person as much as physical violence, yes. And I do understand why the events that happened went down the way they did. Storywise, the events make sense. Do I like or agree with them? No. I hate them. But they make sense.

So although I understand that people will be angry about Lestat's violence, I also think they will fail to recognize that Louis was also violent to Lestat, but in a different way. Again, neither of these things justify their actions, but both of them were harmful to the other at some point. I think the show could've done a better job at showing the toxicity going both ways. They tried, but still if you're going to have a final scene like that, then you better give the audience an equally hurtful scene going the other way, as they clearly wanted to do but failed to achieve with the way Louis treated Lestat.

What I honestly dislike about the episode is the lack of proper trigger warnings at the beginning of it, and the forced inclusion of this "reason" for Claudia to do what she did in the books (it changes everything completely because her actions in the book were always extreme and kind of undeserving. Lestat did nothing near as bad to deserve being "killed" by her) when her motivation in the books would've been strong enough to move the story forward. And lastly, that last scene served no purpose to the story, it had no reason for being so graphic and gory, they wanted (and I think this is why they didn't use trigger warnings) the shock factor.

If they were always going to portray this relationship as endgame, if they had Louis say he doesn't consider himself a victim, and then they choose to go down the emotional and physical domestic violence route, it makes everything else fall flat because now people will just see him as a victim in love with his perpetrator. Making Lestat say he loves Louis as he holds his bloody body close made me flinch because there's no way anyone will look at that and then wish for them to be together again. Like, even I felt weird watching that bit. It also leaves no room for the audience to feel the true impact of Claudia's actions, because now it'll just be a survivor success story, and that is not how it was intended to be seen in the books. But okay, let's say the TV show has something planned, and you know what? I am open to see what they do with the last two episodes. They don't have to be healthy for each other, we know they aren't of course. But for the love of god AMC put some fucking warnings at the beginning if you wanna run wild with stuff that people are not at all expecting in the show.

[kingdomoftyto]

Continuing my liveblog of the early, 1992 draft of the IwtV movie script~

Okay where did we leave off?

Ah. Right. And OH boy, that "papa's waiting for us" line has some potentially horrifying implications. (Final version, she says "Papa left us and didn't come back.") Maybe her mother was just lying to her about it, but if she really does have a living father out there somewhere then UH OH everything that's about to happen is even worse than it already was!!

Louis feeding on Claudia and Lestat taunting him about it plays out pretty much the same

More of Louis being ready to throw hands with Lestat. Wish we could have seen them running on rooftops like this!

... The final cut has Louis holing up in a sewer drain and Lestat mocking him a little bit before trying to reason with him about his vampire nature: "Evil is a point of view. God kills indiscriminately, and so shall we. For no creatures under God are as we are. None so like Him as ourselves." Lestat brings Louis back to the inn and Claudia's already there waiting to be turned.

MEANWHILE, in the early draft:

The WHOOOOOLE backstory

I can't decide whether this is hilarious or a bummer, honestly. On the one hand, having Lestat as a more sympathetic character from the outset would have been interesting to see. You could make a whole AU out of that and it be really fascinating and fun. The movie(s) could have been a sort of retcon reboot for the series, which may or may not have panned out well, but could've been an interesting experiment.

On the other hand, the pacing of this movie would have been terrible and the framing story with Daniel would have been kind of pointless and confusing, on top of the obvious problems with Louis' and Claudia's reasons for hating Lestat later. It's kind of massively important to the plot that Louis couldn't pry any useful teachings out of Lestat no matter how much he tried, and that he was sure Lestat only wanted him for his money. Doing away with both of those things PLUS making Lestat gentler and more willing to talk about his personal history just makes Louis' intense dislike of him seem unreasonable lmfao

Anyway, let's see how The Vampire Lestat might have been adapted as a film!

So ANYWAY, we get a quick version of him killing the wolf pack.

Wh

Now she's just fucking with me. Antoine???? Nicolas gets cut completely but Antoine shows up in Auvergne????

Why are you like this, Anne Rice

Gabrielle gives Lestat some money so he can make it to Paris. He becomes an actor, and one night he notices Magnus watching him from the crowd.

Abrupt, but appropriate enough. And I know Lestat already said earlier that his maker had gone mad, but I think it still would have been weird to see Magnus "leaping about like a spider monkey" without hearing any of his dialogue first lmao

aaAHYIGHIDH I mean I GUESS. Definitely one part of the book I can live without seeing on the big screen, thanks!

Really subtle dig at Louis, there, Lestat.

God, can you imagine how differently things would have played out if Louis knew all this stuff back at the start of their relationship?? Holy shit lmao

WHY is Louis going to agree to look for these vampires later? Lestat's telling him everything up front now. I guess Louis could assume he's being lied to.

Ooh, even cutting back to show Louis' reaction shots! I'd read this fanfic for sure.

How does this not change the entire rest of the plot lmfao. Also wait, what about making Gabrielle would have been breaking the cult's rules?? Because she was dying? I don't remember them having a problem with her

... So he goes to see Gabrielle on her deathbed, and she is shocked to realize that he's not human anymore.

Hard to translate all this to the language of film. This whole sequence feels a little awkwardly done.

... Gabrielle asks him to turn her, so he does. They run along the rooftops laughing and embracing.

Wh... why? I get not wanting to spoil the hair growing back thing so the scene with Claudia later has more impact, but in that case why bring it up at all here? Very sloppy. Glad she wanted to keep Gabrielle's predilection for dressing as a man, though.

????? Was this a thing?? I don't think this was a thing

F in the chat for Armand's dignity

This rapid-fire barrage of scenes and exposition dumping is really not fit to cram into a single movie lol. Thank goodness the editors took things seriously

djsakhjsfdkg ah yes, the ridiculously kindhearted Lestat that Louis definitely knew about early on in their time together.

Lestat described as an angel, philosophical debates, Lestat aggressively defending the beauty of the world despite his later impatience with Louis over doing the same thing sometimes... This scene really has it all

Oh here we go...!

hohOHOHOHOHO

Sure why not just change the entire tone of the story, make Lestat's "death" an outright tragedy before it even happens! Lmao amazing

Oh, Anne, honey, no. You might want to think twice before using this comparison

Pfft, and then we're reminded that Gabrielle isn't actually dead, she's just off cavorting. Lestat, your problems may be tragic, but they're not quite as bad as you make them out to be. What must this sound like to poor Louis? Is he replaceable too?

... Gabrielle tells Lestat that she's figured out they can survive the day by digging into the ground, and he's just like "oh that's neat"

I was going to make a joke about "mumbo jumbo" being anachronistic, but dictionary.com says the phrase is from the mid-1700s so... nevermind

👀

All right then, keep your secrets

Lol at least there's ONE part of the backstory that he doesn't share with Louis. Kind of hard to bring in Marius without having to get into the whole Those Who Must Be Kept nonsense

"families", Louis smiling at him... what is this. This is supposed to be Louis' lowest point in the story lmfao

jgdHSGJSF so Lestat goes on for a bit about how he crossed the Atlantic, and I guess this is his idea of flirting?? oh my god

He's so GENTLE and REASSURING. What a TOTALLY different dynamic they have in this version

... Ugh, already over the image limit for this post. Let's pick it back up in the next one-!

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and being courted by Louis de Pointe du Lac

(Not my gifs)(Requested by anonymous) (I might make poly headcanons for him and Lestat: though I might have already done so I honestly don’t remember)

- You met Louis when Lestat was trying to please him and get him to stay with him. You were Claudia’s sister so when you came home to find a blonde vampire who was also a complete stranger sweeping your sister into his arms you were more than a little terrified and confused. 

- He decided he could kill two birds with one stone; get Louis to stay because he was responsible for Claudia being turned and get him to fall for you. Long story short you were taken to his castle and turned before Claudia was.

- Once Claudia had wrapped her arms around Louis Lestat informed him that he had another surprise and he brought you out.

 “She is all yours my friend.” 

- You could hear a pin drop as you entered; Louis could only think about how beautiful you were and that because of him you would be forced to live the same hell he was living in at that very moment. 

- You had expected him to be beautiful; after seeing Lestat you assumed all vampires were attractive but he was nothing like you imagined. He was angelic, godlike even and you could feel yourself already being drawn to him.

- Lestat was very pleased when he saw the looks you were giving each other but soon became distressed when Louis avoided you. He had gotten that ungrateful whiner a larger coffin that was now going to go to waste because he was too obsessed with being miserable. 

- You had fallen for him the moment you saw him but after time you began to think Louis hated you. Lestat reassured you it wasn’t true but you found yourself not wanting to be in the house with them knowing the man you who you cared so deeply for didn’t even want to look at you. 

- You packed your bags and kissed Claudia goodbye, disappearing as Louis and Lestat were gone. You were sure they would take good care of her and she seemed far more attached to them then she was with you. 

- To say Lestat was furious when they arrived home would be the understatement of the century. Claudia really hadn’t put up much of a fight when he demanded she tell him where you went.

- You hadn’t gotten far when Lestat came and angrily dragged you back, muttering about the predicament he had on his hands. He sat you down once you were “home” and asked if you wanted him to turn someone for you so that you would stay; he had grown quite attached to you himself. 

- The two of you were shocked when Louis shouted out a harsh “No!” from his spot in the corner of the room. You quickly turned to look at him, watching as he stalked over to you and pulled you along with him as he made his way to his room. Once he closed the door he pushed you against it and kissed you.

- You still to this day aren’t sure exactly what came over him but you think he had gotten jealous even thinking about you wanting another person. It’s the only explanation that really makes sense to you. 

 “I thought you hated me.”

 “I tried.”

- You spent the night making up for lost time and spent the day in his coffin  with Claudia sneaking in alongside you in the early evening. 

- You were much like Claudia, sleeping for a few hours in your own coffin before  carefully creeping into his where he would wrap you up tightly in his arms. You cherished the quiet moments you spent huddled up with him waiting for the sun to disappear below the horizon.  

- He’s very protective of you. After what happened to his wife and child along with him knowing just how evil Lestat could be at times he most definitely does not like leaving you alone.

- He’s not extremely jealous or possessive but would rather you stay by his side and keep away from humans or other vampires you may come across. 

- You’re going to be spoiled; anything you could ever dream of would be yours the instant you implied that you were even slightly interested in it. 

- There’s constant affection coming from him. He hasn’t been in a proper relationship in centuries and definitely misses the feel of it. On that note ~ he has been alone with Lestat for that very long amount of time and that calls for a great buildup of sexual tension and repressed urges.

- He loves watching you with Claudia or whenever you’re doing anything domestic. It has an odd soothing effect on him that he just can’t explain.

- You rarely fight but whenever it would happen it would be a very rough and emotion filled scene. You would give him the silent treatment and avoid him which would rightfully make him fairly upset and extremely tense especially when he knows you’re spending more time with Lestat.

- Sometimes you would creep into Lestats room when the sun is up; finding it hard to spend so long in solitude. Ever since you were turned you hadn’t really spent a night alone and before you and Louis got together you would stay with Lestat.

- Claudia would be the reason you spoke to him again. She would angrily march up to you and drag you behind her tiny body until you were in the same room as him. He would stand up immediately and wrap his arms around you as he apologized, you couldn’t help yourself as you practically melted in his arms. 

- None of your arguments are about anything truly serious so it isn’t hard to forgive him. And if you’re ever the one needing to apologize after a fight just stand between his legs and cup his face in your hands while you give him your sincere apology, he’ll forgive you instantly it’s like magic. He can never really stay mad at you.

- If you ever fight with Lestat Louis finds it kind of amusing to watch; the two of you bickering is quite the sight to see. But Lestat is a sadist and enjoys watching you and Louis argue for an entirely different reason. 

- Him playing with your hair as you lay your head on his shoulder.

- His hand is always on your waist or holding your hand whenever you are out of the house. He wants to show everyone that he’s courting you and that you belong to him.

- He’s almost always the perfect gentleman. He always opens doors for you and lends you his hand when helping you into your carriage (I guess).

- There’s a very specific scene in my mind with him holding your hand as you walk down the steps of your carriage all the while he stares down a group of men who are ogling you. He’s just watching them closely before you call for his attention once more and he leads you to wherever you were going. (I hope this makes sense lol)

- There’s a lot of buildup before he kisses you ( just think of that scene with Armand in the movie when you probably thought they were about to kiss; love that scene).

- Really passionate kisses and spontaneous groping. He loves pinning you to things as well

- He’s a very honest person; he also can’t keep things from you for very long before he explodes from guilt. He’s an extremely guilty person in general; it’s just a fact.

- He’s incredibly strong and is always picking you up and spinning you around. He loves doing it when you’re dancing together usually as Claudia plays the piano.

- Him calling you darling, dear, my love, and sugar after a few centuries pass.

- Traveling with him and Claudia when the deed is done. 

- He tries to keep you away from Lestat for the most part; Lestat is extremely jealous of this and kisses you in front of him just to be petty and spiteful. A threesome will ensue at some point we all know it.Your boyfriend is his boyfriend and you are to be his as well. There is just no way Lestat would have you be just Louis’s and not his too.

- His eyes seem to constantly be on you which is honestly flattering considering how perfect he is.  

- Rubbing his shoulders as you sit behind him on a sofa. You usually do it to keep him calm/calm him down while Lestat annoys him or tries to argue. 

- He would feel an urge to kill anyone who hurts you even if they just accidentally bump into you,same goes for anyone who disrespects you; it’s usually because Lestats like a little devil on his shoulder.

- Comforting him when he gets upset about his wife and child. You’re always able to brighten him up and make him less melancholy.

- He’ll be telling you how much of a monster he is and how you should really not stay with him as he pulls you closer and snuggles into you.

- He loves laying on any squishy part of you. 

- There’s so many apologies for having you turned.

 “Louis if I wasn’t turned I wouldn’t have met you and that would have been the true tragedy.”

- He’s such a stressed fucking individual like just hold him in your arms and calm him down before he snaps in half. Although he can honestly be such a drama queen.

 “I love you.”

 “Say it again?”

 “I love you.”

 “…One more time please.”

- Kissing your neck but not to be an asshole like Lestat would.

- Him making sure Lestat doesn’t overstep any boundaries or manipulate you.

- He reassures you that he will only and always love you after he feeds because we can all see how sensual they look when they suck someones blood. 

 “You are mine right my love.”

 “Of course my dear.”

- Occasionally you wake up to roses scattered around your coffin. You’ll find him sitting on one of the many couches waiting for you to walk in with one of the softest smiles you’ve ever seen on his face. 

- Anything you ask; anything at all, he will do for you.

- Holding hands as you watch the sunrise in movies.

- He always comforts you. It doesn’t matter if you’re only slightly upset or extremely depressed; he’s always going to be there for you.

- Tight Hugs.

- Braiding or just playing with his hair, he pretends he doesn’t like it but he loves the feel of your hands in his hair.

- Hearing stories from when he was young; especially if you get together now a days rather than way back then. (We all have our own different fantasies)

- Him laying out on the balcony rail as you stand beside him; occasionally leaning over him and planting a kiss on his lips. It never fails to make him smile.

- Small smirks whenever you kiss his cheek.

- So many ‘I love you’s’ you’re drowning in love. As well as compliments all the time.

- It’s quite clear that you’re not going to be able to leave anytime soon. His little undead heart couldn’t take the loss.

“I need you my love.”

- You would stay together; just you, him and Claudia living out the rest of your eternal lives like husband and wife.

[moviegroovies]

just realized i never wrote that interview with the vampire post i promised y’all, so here we go

first of all! i love it. just want to get that out there. like, 10/10 stars, would watch again, have watched again, almost twice, kind of planned to watch for a sort of fourth time tonight, might not. idk. it’s great!! it’s great both as a movie (i watched the movie first like a blasphemer) and as an adaptation of the book. actually, it’s a GREAT movie adaptation of that book, probably one of the best jobs i’ve ever seen of adapting a book into a screenplay and then getting it on film. as i said, i read the book after i watched the movie, and pretty much everything was adapted directly, even significant amounts of dialogue, to the point that it felt sort of like a novelization, if novelizations were perfect.

this is what i WISH novelizations were, actually. like, using it as an example isn’t fair because it was written before the movie, but as the kind of loser who has read novelizations (i payed. like 40 dollars for a ghostbusters one. and then like 2 bucks for a Different ghostbusters one which i haven’t read yet but don’t have high hopes for), this was what i always want them to be like. same plot, lots of the same dialogue (i HATE novelizations that try to make it their own by changing the dialogue slightly. i was reading that ghostbusters one and i don’t even think i had watched ghostbusters recently but i know the lines well enough that it threw me the fuck off when the author changed them. like if someone came into your house and moved all your furniture slightly to the left? that was what it felt like), but a few things that didn’t happen in the movie, too. deeper characterization, the kind of worldbuilding/character building you can’t really do in a limited time frame on screen. getting into the charater’s thoughts. using nuance. novelizations could totally be this! or at least i wish they were! basically what i’m saying is stay tuned for my unlicensed nuclear accelerator novelization of ghostbusters going up on this blog coming soon. 

anyway, a thing i liked about it as an adaptation of the book was that it was always true to what anne wrote (and i think she did at least part of the script, although i heard the director did heavy edits on it), but there were some lines that weren’t in the book that improved the scenes imo! like the little exchange in the theater of vampires where louis is commenting on the vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires, and claudia responds “how avant garde.” it serves both to clear up what’s going on (since we don’t have the benefit of louis’ narration at this point in the movie) and to humanize them a little. most of the added dialogue did that, and that’s something i really like--especially that line as louis watches new orleans burn and thinks that lestat deserves his revenge. Loved that. and him getting to see the sunrise again through film? oof!!!! honestly i liked the ending of the movie more than i did the book, which makes me feel blasphemous. it seems like louis is just doing... better in the movie. i don’t want to give too many spoilers or anything, but in the book he ends up completely detached, and never gets that gay power moment of telling armand he’s not going to give up his pain and then leaving him, so What’s The Point. on a more positive note, another thing i liked was the “you used to eat rats?” exchange. that was a much needed cute family moment.

oh! and they put some stuff from the vampire lestat into this movie, too, which, again, i liked, or at least, i like now that i know that’s what was happening. lestat being able to read minds and louis not being able to. lestat only wanting to drink the blood of evil doers. a lot of the added stuff helped make lestat more sympathetic, which was a definite necessity. actually, tom cruise acted the hell out of that role, which was surprising. not really that he could act (i’ve seen things i liked him in) but that he could be lestat, a flamboyant vampire prettyboy. wasn’t tom cruise the one who punched someone for implying he was gay? idk. 

actually, i was really surprised how gay this movie was for a movie starring tom cruise and brad fucking pitt. like, tell me before i watched it that those two were the stars and i would have been expecting (i was kind of expecting) the most no-homo rendition of the movie possible. and yeah, they toned it down a little from the book... but not that much. louis’ narration is a lot less overtly homo than lestat’s anyway, and brad pitt really fucking Nailed being louis. 

(which i find hilarious, because while tom cruise apparently got really into the vampire chronicles while they were filming this and had all these opinions in like movie promoting interviews about how lestat was actually a good dude, and loved louis (smthn along those lines i skimmed the shit about this), which really came through in his characterization of lestat, brad read like, one chapter of the book and lost interest. i loved the book, myself, but what a fucking icon.) 

that almost-kiss with armand at the end? also iconic. 

really, the only sexual stuff they actually tuned down was the louis/claudia shit, which i’m all fucking for. like, claudia is a grown woman, but it’s still so awk in the book whenever she’s coming onto louis, especially considering how often he reaffirms that she’s his daughter. even worse when he comments on her sensuality, or when she kisses him.... ick. plus, kirsten WASN’T a grown woman, so that would have been really nasty if they kept it.

oh and christian slater!!! i didn’t know he was in this until i started watching it, and i was very excited to see him. that’s my heathers love talking. i was talking to my dad after i saw it and apparently river phoenix was supposed to play daniel before he died, and my dad thought he would have been a lot better for the role i guess, but personally i think slater really picked up the part. he also didn’t shy away from being a little homoerotic, especially toward the end. he got the part right. plus, heathers. 

and i can’t gush about the actors without talking about kirsten dunst. she was 11 when she was in this (apparently her parents wouldn’t let her actually watch the movie when it came out, which, ha), but she absolutely conquered the part of the 60 year old woman in a child’s body. there were times when i actually forgot that she was just an eleven year old, because she was that good. the scene with the body in her bed isn’t in the book (not quite, although something else happens with claudia and leaving bodies around), and it’s one of the best in the movie imo. you can see lestat doting on her but not understanding her, you can tell why she would resent him, you can see her resentment and before she even snaps at him you can see that she’s an adult woman stuck inside a child (like that villain from batman the animated series--did anyone else think of that?), pissed off that she wants to be treated like the grown person she is but continues to be given dolls. also, there was some peak murder family moments in that scene, with louis standing there lowkey horrified. we never got the exchange with claudia telling louis that she’s going to kill lestat and him telling her Do Not Do This Thing, unfortunately, which was something i liked more from the book, but his concern and confusion in this scene kind of speak to that. you can especially tell that he still hasn’t realized that she’s grown--he’s seeing her the same way lestat is. aww.

so, i read the book and watched the movie in pretty quick succession, and i’m writing this a day after finishing the book and a few hours after my kind-of rewatch and about a week after the last time i saw it all the way through. my memory of both being pretty strong rn, there are only a very few things that i can think of which changed from book to movie outside of things necessary to take it to the screen and keep the movie from being like twelve hours. claudia is necessarily aged up from 5 to 11--it’s just practical, a 5 year old would not nearly have had the range that kirsten did for this. armand is changed from looking like a 17 year old redhead to antonio banderas (is it bad that i’m so uncultured that before this i only knew him as the dad from spy kids?), age 34, in a Really Bad black wig. (in general i’m all for banderas in the role, and he definitely acted it well, but what the FUCK was that costuming. why does his hair look like that. i digress but they did him dirty, especially considering how much Better everyone else looks as a vampire.) the subplot with lestat’s blind father living with him and louis at first is cut, which is kind of a shame imo. i really liked how on edge lestat was when begging louis to kill him (not as bad in context), how it kind of breaks the mask lestat tries to wear and shows that he’s confused and vulnerable and he really just doesn’t know much about being a vampire--that “and why should i know!” outbreak they put in did a good job of being the movie’s counterpart to that scene, however. the ending is changed a bit, altho i’ll leave the spoilers of how exactly up to your imagination. some things should stay sacred, right?

one thing i’m REALLY glad they added was louis freeing the slaves on his plantation.  i think it was a nasty choice on behalf of anne rice to write her sympathetic, thoughtful protagonist as a slave owner in the first place, especially one who by his own admission didn’t see slaves as people for a long time, and it’s unfortunate to me that it had to be adapted in that way (although i don’t think ignoring that aspect entirely would have been a better movie solution), but the slaves were at least made free men before louis moved to new orleans. in the book, louis still burns the house, but he doesn’t free the people enslaved there, and he never reflects on that. fucked up if true, i guess. i blame mostly anne for that whole thing.

ooo, that scene with lestat killing the two prostitutes was good. it’s pretty much adapted word for word from the book, but the book doesn’t have the visual of tom cruise leaping over the coffin to sit on it while she’s in it, and that was one of the sexiest scenes i can remember. so.

just remembered at the last moment that i liked the “i’m going to give you the choice i never had�� thing, both because it gives a little hint of lestat background (and makes him more sympathetic/adds to the whole breaking the mask thing that i like) and because they did a Very fucking good callback with it at the end.

there’s probably more about that movie that i have Opinions on, but when i remember them i’ll just have to make another post, ig. i will say tho? that last scene they added is so FUCKING good. cue up sympathy for the devil on my way out, will you?