Interview with the Vampire is struck by Louis’ deep sorrow and desire to escape his pain, and Cruise’s Lestat proves essential in giving the movie a beating heart. Through the framework of Louis’ story, we see a man clinging to the last shreds of his humanity while not fully comprehending that his grief and pain are precisely what makes him human. When he encounters Lestat, the tempting offer has little to do with special vampire powers, but instead the freedom and joy that Lestat represents. Here is an offer to take away the pain, and Cruise jumps in as the life of the party.
Lestat is not only a remorseless killer but he’s mastered the finer arts of toying with his victims like a cat playing with a mouse. He knows there’s no human that can harm him, and so even while his victims tremble in their last moments of life, he’s still cracking jokes. The movie lets us know we can join in Lestat’s antics. Nathaxnne appreciates, “Tom Cruise draining a rat into a glass like an upside-down Capri Sun is one of the best things to ever happen in a movie,” and how the actor moves Lestat “between bored dandyism and injured rage, his eyes wild.” Emily asks a natural follow-up: “How do I get more Tom Cruise vampire content?”
The actor knew he wanted to play Lestat from the first time he read Anne Rice’s screen adaptation of her own novel. In his personal recollections of making the movie, Cruise studied lions for the part, not only because they’re fearsome hunters but also because of their “elegance.” Director Neil Jordan leans into this approach, which we can see as Lestat prowls a party with Louis, looking for prey. He strides through the human world like a god among mere mortals, and yet the undead Lestat is always brimming with life. Cruise conveys power as Lestat, not in the same way as the confident Maverick or Ethan Hunt, but as someone with nothing to fear. We see that the only thing that could give Lestat pause is losing Louis.
