Gaywatch: Interview with the Vampire
My friend came over last night to watch Mad Men, but we wound up watching Interview with the Vampire. Slightly different bits of entertainment, but that's how we do it. As much as I love Interview, I hadn't watched it in a good long while...and by 'in a good long while' I mean 'since I became a shameless slasher.'
So it makes perfect sense that my pure, innocent frame of mind from back then didn't bother to notice this movie's alternate title had to have been "Little Claudia has Two Daddies."
And with an author like Anne Rice, who's famous for vampires and the ambiguous sexuality of main characters, we already know this was done on purpose.
***Mild spoilers from here on.***
First off, the film itself:
As far as vampire movies go, it doesn't get any better this. Whenever I get really frustrated at the pussy vampires Hollywood is shoving down our throats these days, I point at 'Interview' and say "But they can be sexy AND dangerous! Really they can! It's dark and beautiful and passionate and ugly and scary and people FUCKING LOVED IT!! People who were older than thirteen!!"
And 'Interview' is, indeed, all of that and then some. It starts with the central character, Louis, in a hotel room with a reporter. He wants to give his life story, and so it begins in the year 1791 after he's lost his wife and child. The grief has, understandably, robbed him off his will to live. I mean this guy is looking for anyone to do him in. Unfortunately for him it's Lestat, a vampire, who takes him up on the offer, except he does one better and offers him a choice: death or vampire? Louis chooses the latter, and from then on the movie spans 200 years in the life of a self-tormented bloodsucker.
I was surprised to find how well this movie has aged. Obviously there's going to be blood, but it only ventures into "gore" territory a couple of times because, make no mistake, this is not Underworld. This is a Gothic Drama in every sense of the phrase (except the sense that includes Hot Topic). What special effects there are still look pretty darn good from the POV of 2011.
Looking back, Louis is your typical "I don't want to be a monster" vampire who lives on rats as long as he can to avoid killing people, but unlike the whiny vampire prats of today he actually has some real shit to complain about. His dialogue can get a bit more melodramatic than everyone else's and yet I don't care because 1. It's valid and 2. It's cleverly acknowledged when he says yet another line filled with drama and a pissed off Lestat yells "SHUT UP, LOUIE." Obviously Anne Rice was aware of the language she was having Louis use, which doesn't surprise me in the least. I also can't help but think that Louis was one of the first angsty I-don't-wanna-be-this-way vampires, and you can't blame the thing that started the cliche, you can only blame the crappy rip offs that came after and made it a cliche in the first place. ::cough:: Star Trek and science fiction ::cough::
Lestat is one of my favorite villains period. End of story. Unlike Louis, he loves being a vampire. He's also extremely smart, manipulative, and straight up merciless at times. What takes him from deliciously evil to flat out compelling is his attachment to Louis and, later, Claudia. A villain capable of love is always fascinating when done well, and he was done so. damn. well. I still site it as one of Tom Cruise's best performances to date.
It pains me that Kirsten Dunst has become such a mediocre actress, because she was such an amazing child actor. Her performance as Claudia still makes my eyes go wide, she is that ruthlessly good. She was, what, twelve years old when this was filmed? And fuck if she didn't play the game with as much cajones as the big boys. Seriously.
As a character she's sort of a "good" version of Lestat: just as bloodthirsty, just as conniving, only she uses them to get rid of the abuser rather than abuse others. Eventually, she's literally a forty year old woman trapped in a ten year old's body and she is justifiably pissed as all hell about it, giving her a very interesting dynamic as well. The scenes that all three of them (Louis, Lestat and Claudia) share are where the movie really shines because that's when the pitch black humor, drama, and relationships really churn along.
As a whole, my interest takes a dive after Lestat is out of the picture, but even so it never flat out bores me. It's a long, dark, morbid, macabre piece of work that is captured absolutely fucking beautifully. The colors, the costumes, the time periods, it flows from lavish and ornate to damp and crude with deceptive ease. 'Interview' really does have a bit of everything, a total feast.
And now for The Gay:
The main ship here, as far as movie canon goes, is without a doubt Louis/Lestat...and for more than a few good gay reasons.
1. This was made when Tom Cruise* and Brad Pitt were at their physical peak. So not only is there palpable tension, but there's palpable tension between two of the most beautiful men of the 90s.
2. The way they speak to each other. The devotion and complexities of their relationship result in several sexually charged moments. Back in that day and age, a man calling another man "beautiful" wasn't the red flag it is today, but the WAY Lestat says it sure as fuck is.
3. Physical proximity. From standing incredibly close, to Lestat devouring Louis' neck (resulting in some very interesting facial expressions from the latter) to stroking the other's cheek, everything's there. At one point Lestat is lying on top of Louis, whispering in his ear. Just sayin'.
4. They become Claudia's parents via Lestat's manipulation. He knew that Louis was getting ready to leave him, and turns a little girl Louis fed on into a vampire so they can call her their "daughter," all in a ploy to get him to stay. That's not interpretation, Lestat flat out says it.
5. The gayness isn't exclusive to Louis/Lestat. For one meal, Lestat picks up a teen boy who we're clearly supposed to understand is gay. Lestat calls him beautiful just like he says it to Louis while touching his face. And when Louis meets Armande...ho boy. Louis comes THIS CLOSE to kissing him, and if homophobic dickheads didn't exist, they would have. And thus my "Homophobes ruin everything" mantra stands firmly in place. Sadly.
6. You go so far as to say that Louis resisting his vampire instincts and Lestat trying to get him to "embrace who he is" is a parallel for coming to terms with one's sexuality, and you would have a perfectly valid argument.
Obviously, you don't have to go digging for the slash in this movie. It's lying around on the ground for you to trip over at any given time.
Verdict: If you're a fan of vampires then you've probably seen this, but on the off-chance you're a fan of vampires are are going stark raving mad at all the rated-PG-tweenybopper-bullshit that gets passed of as vampire material, I'll say it anyway: WATCH THIS NOW. Even if you're not into vampires per se, but dig dark material, WATCH THIS NOW.
I mean HELLO.
And they look way better in motion than they do here.
That is all.
*Tom in real life is pure insanity on a biscuit and I wouldn't trust him with my cat, but I will never stop watching his movies because he's a damn talented actor. I have a similar rule for Gwyneth Paltrow, only replace 'insanity' with 'vanity.'
So it makes perfect sense that my pure, innocent frame of mind from back then didn't bother to notice this movie's alternate title had to have been "Little Claudia has Two Daddies."
And with an author like Anne Rice, who's famous for vampires and the ambiguous sexuality of main characters, we already know this was done on purpose.
***Mild spoilers from here on.***
First off, the film itself:
As far as vampire movies go, it doesn't get any better this. Whenever I get really frustrated at the pussy vampires Hollywood is shoving down our throats these days, I point at 'Interview' and say "But they can be sexy AND dangerous! Really they can! It's dark and beautiful and passionate and ugly and scary and people FUCKING LOVED IT!! People who were older than thirteen!!"
And 'Interview' is, indeed, all of that and then some. It starts with the central character, Louis, in a hotel room with a reporter. He wants to give his life story, and so it begins in the year 1791 after he's lost his wife and child. The grief has, understandably, robbed him off his will to live. I mean this guy is looking for anyone to do him in. Unfortunately for him it's Lestat, a vampire, who takes him up on the offer, except he does one better and offers him a choice: death or vampire? Louis chooses the latter, and from then on the movie spans 200 years in the life of a self-tormented bloodsucker.
I was surprised to find how well this movie has aged. Obviously there's going to be blood, but it only ventures into "gore" territory a couple of times because, make no mistake, this is not Underworld. This is a Gothic Drama in every sense of the phrase (except the sense that includes Hot Topic). What special effects there are still look pretty darn good from the POV of 2011.
Looking back, Louis is your typical "I don't want to be a monster" vampire who lives on rats as long as he can to avoid killing people, but unlike the whiny vampire prats of today he actually has some real shit to complain about. His dialogue can get a bit more melodramatic than everyone else's and yet I don't care because 1. It's valid and 2. It's cleverly acknowledged when he says yet another line filled with drama and a pissed off Lestat yells "SHUT UP, LOUIE." Obviously Anne Rice was aware of the language she was having Louis use, which doesn't surprise me in the least. I also can't help but think that Louis was one of the first angsty I-don't-wanna-be-this-way vampires, and you can't blame the thing that started the cliche, you can only blame the crappy rip offs that came after and made it a cliche in the first place. ::cough:: Star Trek and science fiction ::cough::
Lestat is one of my favorite villains period. End of story. Unlike Louis, he loves being a vampire. He's also extremely smart, manipulative, and straight up merciless at times. What takes him from deliciously evil to flat out compelling is his attachment to Louis and, later, Claudia. A villain capable of love is always fascinating when done well, and he was done so. damn. well. I still site it as one of Tom Cruise's best performances to date.
It pains me that Kirsten Dunst has become such a mediocre actress, because she was such an amazing child actor. Her performance as Claudia still makes my eyes go wide, she is that ruthlessly good. She was, what, twelve years old when this was filmed? And fuck if she didn't play the game with as much cajones as the big boys. Seriously.
As a character she's sort of a "good" version of Lestat: just as bloodthirsty, just as conniving, only she uses them to get rid of the abuser rather than abuse others. Eventually, she's literally a forty year old woman trapped in a ten year old's body and she is justifiably pissed as all hell about it, giving her a very interesting dynamic as well. The scenes that all three of them (Louis, Lestat and Claudia) share are where the movie really shines because that's when the pitch black humor, drama, and relationships really churn along.
As a whole, my interest takes a dive after Lestat is out of the picture, but even so it never flat out bores me. It's a long, dark, morbid, macabre piece of work that is captured absolutely fucking beautifully. The colors, the costumes, the time periods, it flows from lavish and ornate to damp and crude with deceptive ease. 'Interview' really does have a bit of everything, a total feast.
And now for The Gay:
The main ship here, as far as movie canon goes, is without a doubt Louis/Lestat...and for more than a few good gay reasons.
1. This was made when Tom Cruise* and Brad Pitt were at their physical peak. So not only is there palpable tension, but there's palpable tension between two of the most beautiful men of the 90s.
2. The way they speak to each other. The devotion and complexities of their relationship result in several sexually charged moments. Back in that day and age, a man calling another man "beautiful" wasn't the red flag it is today, but the WAY Lestat says it sure as fuck is.
3. Physical proximity. From standing incredibly close, to Lestat devouring Louis' neck (resulting in some very interesting facial expressions from the latter) to stroking the other's cheek, everything's there. At one point Lestat is lying on top of Louis, whispering in his ear. Just sayin'.
4. They become Claudia's parents via Lestat's manipulation. He knew that Louis was getting ready to leave him, and turns a little girl Louis fed on into a vampire so they can call her their "daughter," all in a ploy to get him to stay. That's not interpretation, Lestat flat out says it.
5. The gayness isn't exclusive to Louis/Lestat. For one meal, Lestat picks up a teen boy who we're clearly supposed to understand is gay. Lestat calls him beautiful just like he says it to Louis while touching his face. And when Louis meets Armande...ho boy. Louis comes THIS CLOSE to kissing him, and if homophobic dickheads didn't exist, they would have. And thus my "Homophobes ruin everything" mantra stands firmly in place. Sadly.
6. You go so far as to say that Louis resisting his vampire instincts and Lestat trying to get him to "embrace who he is" is a parallel for coming to terms with one's sexuality, and you would have a perfectly valid argument.
Obviously, you don't have to go digging for the slash in this movie. It's lying around on the ground for you to trip over at any given time.
Verdict: If you're a fan of vampires then you've probably seen this, but on the off-chance you're a fan of vampires are are going stark raving mad at all the rated-PG-tweenybopper-bullshit that gets passed of as vampire material, I'll say it anyway: WATCH THIS NOW. Even if you're not into vampires per se, but dig dark material, WATCH THIS NOW.
I mean HELLO.
And they look way better in motion than they do here.
That is all.
*Tom in real life is pure insanity on a biscuit and I wouldn't trust him with my cat, but I will never stop watching his movies because he's a damn talented actor. I have a similar rule for Gwyneth Paltrow, only replace 'insanity' with 'vanity.'