“˜Queen’ hopes for killing at box office
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 20, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 Warner Bros. Pictures In "Queen of the Damned,"
Aaliyah (Akasha) wants Stuart
Townsend (Lestat) to kill that guy, over there.
By Jean Chang
Daily Bruin Contributor
It took a contract on the brink of expiration, several cast
speculations (from Heath Ledger to Josh Hartnett), and several
script rewrites over the years to bring the latest Anne Rice film
adaptation to the big screen. The result is not a sequel to
1994’s blockbuster hit “Interview with the
Vampire,” but an ostentatious exposition of pseudo-sex, blood
and velvet frock coats that arrives in theaters this Friday.
An amalgamation of two novels in the Vampire Chronicles,
“The Vampire Lestat” and “The Queen of the
Damned,” the film is both a modern and period piece and
follows the life of Lestat, le rock star, who tries to come to
terms with his past and a 4,000-year-old mother vampire hell-bent
on world domination.
“The Queen of the Damned” also signals a departure
from the aestheticism of Neil Jordan and the arrival of Australian
director Michael Rymer (“Perfume,” “In Too
Deep,” “Angel Baby”), whose distinct and somewhat
kitschy vision makes it clear that there is no fluid transition
from the first film to this second one.
Rymer and producer Jorge Saralegui were both aware that the
daunting task of condensing two lengthy books into a two-hour movie
would not bode well with everyone.
“There’s thousands of characters and subplots and
very gory things going on that we couldn’t film,” Rymer
said, “and things that to my mind didn’t entirely pay
off, so we just started culling, and we were quite ruthless about
sort of focusing the story. “¦ We agreed about what we thought
would work from the books and what wouldn’t work. Basically
the film represents our collective vision.”
Rymer already received a positive thumbs up from the notoriously
fastidious author, Anne Rice, to whom he gave a tape of the film in
person in New Orleans. Who could forget her public denunciation of
the 1994 film and her subsequent apology and praise in a full ad in
Variety?
“She was very objective,” said Rymer. “She
knew that it wasn’t going to be the books, and she was
prepared to evaluate the film on its own merits. “¦
She’s pretty much given us her blessing.”
His confidence makes it tempting to trust his insight. There is,
however, a little obstacle to overcome before announcing victory:
the fan base.
Before the film was even cast, there were many casting wish
lists floating around cyberspace. When the casting was finally
announced and a rough draft of the screenplay found its way on the
Internet, hell broke loose among many fans adamant on adhering
faithfully to the bestselling novels. There was talk of strikes,
irate letters to Warner Brothers and the general impiety of
Hollywood and its perverse interest in turning good books into bad
movies. No one wants another “Message in a Bottle” or
“Original Sin.”
In the film, Stuart Townsend (“About Adam,”
“Wonderland”) assumes the role of the 18th century
nobleman, the vampire Lestat, newly wakened to the modern times
after a long slumber in a tomb. His flamboyant personality leads
him to live the very public life of a rock star in the 21st century
while revealing secrets of the trade, thereby making him Public
Enemy Number One to all the vampires around the world.
“It was an opportunity to fulfill all of those teenage
fantasies of being a rock star, you know,” Townsend said.
“We all want to do it. There’s a lot of resources to
look up, all the old vampire films, and it’s so much a part
of our culture.”
Despite the criticism the film has been receiving about
Rymer’s obvious intent to target the teen audience, the music
has been faring better in the critical arena. Rymer hired Jonathan
Davis, lead singer of Korn, to compose the score. Davis, whose
surprising musical influence is Andrew Lloyd Webber, composed the
film while on tour with his band and found the experience entirely
different from anything he has ever done.
“You’re looking at a screen,” said Davis,
“You’re painting emotional pictures with the music and
sound, so there’s no template for it. It’s just you do
it and you do what you think brings out the actors’
performances.”
To many people, however, the film is not about
“testosterone” rock music or an accurate adaptation. It
is about a gifted 22-year-old singer who was just spreading her
acting wings when she died in a tragic plane crash in the Bahamas
on August 25, 2001.
Aaliyah’s brother, Rashad, remains philosophical and
surprisingly positive amid the media hoopla surrounding his younger
sister’s last role. He had to lend his voice to fill in the
consonant sounds in the looping process, which had not been
finished at the time of Aaliyah’s death. The experience was
therapeutic for him.
“I went in and I saw the screening of the film,”
said Rashad, “which prepared me really to sit there and go
through the process of seeing her performance over and over again.
As time goes by, I embrace the fact of the positive, which is that
she’s her happiest when she’s doing what she loved to
do, which was act or sing. And that allowed me to cope with the
fact that she’s not here.”
Rymer and Saralegui carefully approached the marketing of the
film in a way that allowed them to simultaneously announce their
appreciation of Aaliyah’s performance and the discrete, if
campy, style of the film that would hopefully yield a place among
other vampire favorites and garner a certain cachet. Marguerite
Moreau (“The Mighty Ducks,” “Wet Hot American
Summer”), who portrays Jesse, the ardent pursuer of Lestat,
believes this film is bound to introduce some new blood to Anne
Rice novels.
“There’s so many fascinating aspects that were left
out of the movie, that it’s like, “˜You like? Well, jump
in more.’ It’s great,” Moreau said.
