More than 30 years after Tom Cruise first bared his fangs as Lestat de Lioncourt in Interview with the Vampire, director Neil Jordan has revealed just how close audiences came to seeing him do it again. Jordan, who directed the 1994 adaptation of Anne Rice’s bestselling novel, actually wrote a screenplay for a sequel based on The Vampire Lestat, the second book in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. This time, instead of Brad Pitt’s Louis telling his story, Lestat would have taken center stage — with much of the movie exploring his origins in 18th-century France.
There was only one problem: Cruise didn’t want to make a sequel. “I wrote a sequel,” Jordan told Collider while discussing the new 4K restoration of Interview with the Vampire. “They asked me to do a version of The Vampire Lestat, the second book that Anne had written, where Lestat is central. It’s Lestat’s story. Interview was Louis’ story, and I wrote that sequel.”
The Movie Would Have Revealed Lestat’s Origins
Published in 1985, The Vampire Lestat dramatically expanded the mythology Rice had established in Interview with the Vampire. Lestat himself narrates the novel, revealing his life before becoming a vampire and the circumstances surrounding his transformation. The book eventually brings Lestat into the modern world as a rock star, but Jordan was much more interested in what came before.
“It’s mainly set in 18th-century France,” he explained. “I mean, Anne had this rather ridiculous idea of him being like David Lee Roth or something, playing the guitar and all that shit. That was fine. But the 18th-century story of how he became a vampire was absolutely fascinating, I found, and I did write it.”
It certainly wasn’t difficult to understand why Warner Bros. would have been interested in continuing the story. Released on November 11, 1994, Interview with the Vampire earned more than $105 million domestically and nearly $224 million worldwide. Despite the controversy that initially surrounded Cruise’s casting as Lestat — including objections from Rice herself before she saw his performance — his flamboyant, vicious and frequently funny vampire emerged as one of the film’s most memorable elements.
The ending practically begged for his return. After Louis finishes telling his story to reporter Daniel Molloy (Christian Slater), Lestat suddenly reappears, attacks Daniel and takes control of his car. As Guns N’ Roses’ cover of “Sympathy for the Devil” kicks in, Lestat offers Daniel a choice very much like the one Louis had rejected: “I’ll give you the choice I never had.” Lestat was back. Except he wasn’t.
Why Tom Cruise Said No to The Vampire Lestat
According to Jordan, Cruise simply wasn’t interested in returning to a character he’d already played. “But Tom, at the time, he’d never done sequels to anything,” Jordan said, “so he didn’t want to reprise the character.”
In retrospect, the timing makes that decision particularly fascinating. Only two years later, Cruise starred as Ethan Hunt in 1996’s Mission: Impossible. He would ultimately return to the role repeatedly over the next three decades, turning Mission: Impossible into the longest-running franchise of his career. Cruise would also eventually revisit another of his most famous roles, returning as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell 36 years after the original Top Gun for 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick. But Lestat never received the same treatment.
Warner Bros. eventually resurrected the Vampire Chronicles without Cruise or Jordan. The result was 2002’s Queen of the Damned, which drew upon elements of both The Vampire Lestat and Rice’s The Queen of the Damned. Stuart Townsend took over the role of Lestat, with Aaliyah playing the ancient vampire Akasha. The movie bore little resemblance to the direct Interview with the Vampire follow-up Jordan had envisioned.
Could Tom Cruise Still Return as Lestat?
Technically, Jordan’s screenplay may still exist, though whether anyone could actually make the movie today is another matter — and Jordan himself doesn’t sound particularly interested in finding out. “If he wants to do it, it’s still there,” he said of Cruise. “I don’t imagine he would do it. I don’t imagine Brad would want to revisit the part either. At the gap of 30 years, I’m not sure I would.”
There’s another problem: Jordan doesn’t even have easy access to the screenplay anymore. “I don’t even know where that script is,” he admitted. “I can’t even access it on my computer because it’s in a version of Final Draft that no longer exists. So maybe somebody can read it at Warner Brothers, but I haven’t read it for a long time. I had fun writing it, though. I did.”
Which leaves one of vampire cinema’s most intriguing roads not taken. Somewhere in the Warner Bros. archives, there may still be a screenplay for The Vampire Lestat that would have reunited Tom Cruise with one of his most memorable characters — taking audiences back centuries to discover exactly how Lestat became the vampire who stole Interview with the Vampire and, very nearly, got a movie all his own.