FAQ

Yes. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles is based on the novel Interview with the Vampire (1976) by American author Anne Rice. Rice also wrote the screenplay for the movie. The novel was followed by a number of sequels, known collectively as The Vampire Chronicles. These include The Vampire Lestat (1985), The Queen of the Damned (1988), The Tale of the Body Thief (1992), Memnoch the Devil (1995), The Vampire Armand (1998), Merrick (2000), Blood and Gold (2001), Blackwood Farm (2002), and Blood Canticle (2003). Some also add to this list the books from two other Ricean chronicles: (1) New Tales of the Vampires, which includes Pandora (1998) and Vittorio the Vampire (1999), and (2) The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, which includes The Witching Hour (1990), Lasher (1993), and Taltos (1994). The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned were combined for the movie sequel, Queen of the Damned (2002) (2002). In 2006, Lestat: The Musical by the song-writing team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin opened on Broadway.

Beginning with (1) Interview with the Vampire, the best order in which to read the remaining books are: (2) The Vampire Lestat, (3) The Queen of the Damned, (4) Tale of the Body Thief, (5) Memnoch The Devil, (6) Pandora, (7) The Vampire Armand, (8) Vittorio the Vampire, (9) The Witching Hour, (10) Lasher, (11) Taltos, (12) Merrick, (13) Blood and Gold, (14) Blackwood Farm, and (15) Blood Canticle. This order is recommended because of numerous crossovers between the three chronicles.

Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) was made a vampire by Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom Cruise) in the year 1791, when Louis was twenty-four-years-old.

Before Lestat turned Louis, he gave him a choice -- to live a life of sorrow, as Louis was currently doing following the death of his wife, or to become a vampire. That is the choice that Lestat never had. Lestat was living as an actor in Paris when he was kidnapped and forced to become a vampire by the mad vampire, Magnus, who killed himself immediately after making Lestat a vampire.

When someone is given the Dark Gift, it means they have been transformed from human to vampire. The Dark Gift IS vampirism. In the Ricean universe, all vampires are granted the same abilities: telekinesis, pyrokinesis, telepathy, and mesmerism, along with enhanced senses, strength, and immortality. What was unique to each person was the degree to which a fledgling would manifest each power immediately after being born to darkness. For example, when the Dark Gift was bestowed upon Lestat, he quickly developed a high degree of telepathic ability, whereas Louis did not.

Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) was Lestat's gift to Louis. "You need company more congenial than I," Lestat explained to Louis just before he turned her. Louis suspected that Lestat was afraid that he was going to leave him because of the disgust and loneliness he was feeling with regards to his own vampirism. It was Lestat's hope that turning Claudia and giving her as a daughter to Louis would give Louis a purpose and keep him with Lestat. Lestat is afraid to be alone. Louis tells his interviewer, Daniel Malloy (Christian Slater), that he thinks Lestat did it because he was lonely too.

Vampires drink blood because it sustains them. In the Ricean universe, a vampire must not drink blood from a dead person. "Dead blood" will make them seriously ill. And confirmed by Lestat's own storyline IN the film, it does NOT kill him as some mistakenly think. The uncirculating blood becomes toxic and therefore, the vampire must stop drinking before the heart stops beating, even if there is more blood left in the victim's veins. Lestat is forced to drink from a corpse in the novel's sequel and all it causes is what he calls a temporary "rolling delirium." It's theorized that this dizziness is the result of the blood not gaining fresh oxygen through circulation.

She used laudanum (opium). In the movie, it killed the boys but kept the blood warm long enough for Lestat to be tricked into drinking it. In the book, It was the drugs in their blood that temporarily incapacitated Lestat long enough for Claudia to slit Lestat's throat.

For two reasons: (1) she hated Lestat for turning her into a vampire who could never grow up, and she wanted to free herself and Louis from Lestat; and (2) she knew or at least suspected that drinking dead blood would weaken Lestat so that she could attack him while he was too weak to fight back.

Lestat survived because drinking dead blood will not kill a vampire. 'Less the death takes you down with it' does not actually mean the vampire dies from drinking dead blood. It just makes them seriously ill. The blood is not circulating. The poison in the blood also added to how Lestat reacted. It won't kill him but it will hurt him and weaken him for a time. As noted in the San Francisco version of the Lestat musical (which served as an actual sequel to this film) Lestat says 'She's poisoned me!' Lestat recovered for multiple reasons. Nothing Claudia did is actually fatal to a vampire. Besides this he had the blood of two older vampires within him (confirmed in the novels and the Lestat musical). He fed on the aligator to aide in his recovery (as mentioned in the film itself).

In 1870, in the month of September. (Curiously, no mention is made of the fact that Paris was besieged by German soldiers from September 1870 to January 1871.)

No. The Théâtre des Vampires was made up by Anne Rice for her Vampire Chronicles. However, there was a similar theater in Paris called Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, created in 1897 and specializing in horror shows. Unlike the Théâtre des Vampires, where the vampires actually killed humans onstage and drank their blood in front of the audience, the shows at the Grand-Guignol were theatrical performances played by actors.

Armand (Antonio Banderas) says that he is 400 years old and claims to be the oldest living vampire in the world. However, the novels reveal that Armand is lying about this point.

The little boy (Louis Lewis-Smith) was Armand's servant or "renfield". In the novel, he is referred to as Denis. He is the one offered to Louis when Armand and Louis first meet, and he is seen driving the carriage when Louis and Armand are escaping the fire.

Louis is the "gentleman" of the vampires and the most human, unlike the vampires in the theater. When the boy (Dennis) made a sound of pain, Louis stopped because he didn't want to hurt him. He also didn't want to open the same wound twice. Viewers have variously interpreted the vampires' laughs during this scene as being because they found amusement at the boy's pain or at Louis' attempts to not cause pain.

Claudia was afraid that Louis was going to leave her for Armand. She asked Louis to turn Madeleine (Domiziana Giordano) into a vampire so that Madeleine could become Louis' replacement and care for Claudia when Louis was no longer around. Madeleine agreed to become Claudia's "mother" because she had just lost a daughter of Claudia's apparent age, and she wanted to feel like a mother again.

The vampires were acting under orders from Armand to destroy Claudia and Madeleine and imprison Louis in a coffin, under the guise that it was retribution for having killed Lestat. Claudia was actually destroyed because Armand wanted Louis to himself and thought that, if he got rid of Claudia, Louis' paternal love for her would go away. The novel presents another possible reason: Armand did it out of spite against Lestat. (Armand indicated to Louis in the movie that he once had dealings with Lestat). The novel explains that, years before when Lestat was a newborn vampire, Armand lead a coven of Satanist vampires. Armand tried to have Lestat condemned for not following their rules, so Lestat revealed to Armand's followers that Armand was deceiving them. Armand killed many of his own followers for trying to leave him and never really forgave Lestat. It would be in Armand's nature to want to lure Louis away from Lestat, too.

Unless specifically designed to block light, fabric is normally light-permeable. Even if they had been able to shade themselves from the sun, any one of the vampires or their mortal slaves could have checked on Claudia and Madeleine to be sure that they were dead. If they were hiding under their dresses, the fabric could have simply been moved aside at that time to kill them or their clothing could have been removed.

In the novel, it is explained that Louis was furious because Daniel (referred to only as "the boy") did not get the point...that you DON'T want to be a vampire. "The boy" then looks for Lestat, but Lestat doesn't show. "The boy" shows up again, now given the name Daniel Malloy, in Queen of the Damned where he finds the now 500-year old vampire Armand, and the two of them form a relationship.

No, they are bisexual. In the Ricean universe, sexual drive, sexual enjoyment, and sexual functioning is a characteristic of mortals and is lost in the transformation from human to vampire. Vampires are sensual, androgynous, and completely asexual creatures. Although vampires may feel love keenly, the attraction they feel for their companions (human or vampire, male or female) is emotional and intellectual.

...was Lestat singing while he danced with Claudia's mother's corpse? "Non piu andrai farfallone amoroso," a selection from Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) by Wolfgang Mozart.

...played in the background when Lestat first bit Claudia? Claudia's Allegro Agitato. It can be found on the soundtrack on track 5, mixed in with a few other Claudia tidbits.

...was Claudia playing when she was learning to play the piano? Sonata No. 90 in F# Major by Padre Antonio Soler.

...was Claudia playing when she was playing piano for the family? Symphony no.87 in D, first movement, by Joseph Haydn.

...did Lestat play on the piano when he came back from the dead? Sonata In E Flat Hob. XVI 49 Adagio E Cantabile by Joseph Haydn.

The lyrics in Italian are: Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, Notte e giorno d'intorno girando, Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor. Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor. Non piu avrai questi bei penacchini, Quel cappello leggiero e galante, Quella chioma, quell'aria brillante, Quel vermiglio donnesco color, Quel vermiglio donnesco color, Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, Notte e giorno d'intorno girando, Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor. Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor. Fra guerrieri, poffar Bacco! Gran mustacchi, stretto sacco, Schioppo in spalla, sciabla al fianco, Collo dritto, muso franco, Un gran casco, o un gran turbante, Molto onor, poco contante, poco contante, poco contante, Ed in vece del fandango, Una marcia per il fango. Per montagne, per valloni, Con le nevi, e i solioni, Al concerto di tromboni, Di bombarde, di cannoni, Che le palle in tutti i tuoni, Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, Notte e giorno d'intorno girando, Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor. Delle belle turbando il riposo, Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor. Cherubino, alla vittoria! Alla gloria militar! Cherubino, alla vittoria! Alla gloria militar! Alla gloria militar! Alla gloria militar!

English Translation: You won't go any more, amorous butterfly, Fluttering around inside night and day, Disturbing the sleep of beauties, A little Narcissus and Adonis of love. You won't have those fine feathers any more, That light and jaunty hat, That hair, that shining aspect, That womanish red color ~[1[in your face]0] ! Among soldiers, by Bacchus! A huge moustache, a little knapsack, Gun on your back, sword at your side Your neck straight, your nose exposed, A big helmet, or a big turban, A lot of honour, very little pay. And in place of the dance A march through the mud. Over mountains, through valleys, With snow, and heat-stroke, To the music of trumpets, Of bombards, and of cannons, Which, at every boom, Will make bullets whistle past your ear. Cherubino, go to victory! To military glory!