Development The rights to Anne Rice's novel were initially purchased by
Paramount Pictures in April 1976, shortly before the book was published. The script lingered in
development hell for years, with the rights being sold to
Lorimar before ending up with
Warner Bros. Pictures. Director Neil Jordan was approached by Warner Bros. to direct after the huge success of his movie
The Crying Game (1992). Jordan was intrigued by the script, calling it "really interesting and slightly theatrical", but was especially interested after reading Rice's novel. He agreed to direct on the condition that he be allowed to write his own script, though he did not gain a writing credit. The themes of
Catholic guilt which pervade the novel attracted Jordan, who called the story "the most wonderful parable about wallowing in guilt that I'd ever come across. But these things are unconscious, I don't have an agenda." Later on, when
Interview entered the casting stage, British
actor Julian Sands was championed by Rice and fans of the novel to play
Lestat, Before Cruise was cast, Rice and the studio wanted
Daniel Day-Lewis to portray Lestat after
Brad Pitt was cast as Louis, but Day-Lewis turned it down as he didn't want to portray a vampire. The casting was initially criticized by Rice, who said that Cruise was "no more my vampire Lestat than
Edward G. Robinson is
Rhett Butler", Due to Rice's perception of Hollywood's
homophobia, at one point she rewrote the part of Louis, changing his sex to female, in order to specifically heterosexualize the character's relationship with Lestat. At the time, Rice felt it was the only way to get the film made, and singer-actress
Cher was considered for the part. Originally,
River Phoenix was cast for the role of Daniel Molloy (as Anne Rice liked the idea), but he died four weeks before he was due to begin filming. When
Christian Slater was cast in his place as Molloy, he donated his entire salary to Phoenix's favorite charitable organizations. The film has a dedication to Phoenix after the end credits.
Julia Stiles also auditioned for Claudia but Neil Jordan considered her "too old".
Filming Filming took place primarily in
New Orleans and in
London, with limited location shooting done in
San Francisco and
Paris. Louis' plantation was a combination of primarily
Destrehan Plantation, just west of New Orleans, and
Oak Alley Plantation in nearby
Vacherie. The depiction of 18th- and early-19th-century New Orleans was achieved with a combination of location shooting in the
French Quarter of New Orleans and filming on a purpose-built waterfront set along the
Mississippi River. Production then moved to
London, where interior sets were constructed at
Pinewood Studios. The sets designed by Dante Ferretti included the interiors of Louis, Lestat and Claudia's New Orleans townhouse, Claudia and Louis' Paris hotel suite, the Théâtre des Vampires (built on Pinewood's
007 Stage), and the catacombs where the Parisian vampires live. Shooting took place in San Francisco, mainly on the
Golden Gate Bridge, with the external façade of Louis' hotel located at the intersection of Taylor Street,
Market Street, and Golden Gate Avenue. filmed mostly in London in the depths of winter, which sent him into a depression. Director Neil Jordan was initially hesitant to use Stan Winston Studios, because they had gained a reputation for specializing in large-scale
animatronics and
CGI with
Jurassic Park and
Terminator 2: Judgment Day;
Interview with the Vampire was going to require mostly special makeup effects. This required the actors to hang upside down for 30 minutes, so that the blood would rush to their heads and cause their veins to protrude, enabling the makeup artists to trace realistic patterns.
Pre-screening A rough-cut of
Interview with the Vampire was shown to
test audiences, who, according to producer David Geffen, felt "there was a little too much blood and violence." The screenings were held over the objection of Neil Jordan, who was planning on further paring down the length of the film before previewing it, but Geffen wanted to show the longer version to "get a feel for what the audience wanted." Eventually about 20 minutes' worth of footage was either cut or rearranged before the theatrical version was ready. ==Release==