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Archive-name: books/anne-rice-faq/part1
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INTRODUCTION (Part 1 of 2)
Happy New Year one and all! Congratulations for making
it this far and another year closer to joining the vamps
in celebrating the dawn of a new millenium. (Get those
RSVP's back early for Armand's "Party like it's 1899" bash!)
In any case, it's a new year, a new dawn, and a slowly but
surely new Anne Rice FAQ. This edition of it brings some
improvements on how to find information, ridding of old
information (the Special Servant Section is no more, I'm
afraid) and, as always, the usual updates.
I'll take this opportunity to mention what I'm sure will be
some welcome news, mainly that the return of an automatic
mailer for the FAQ is in the works! The old one lasted
about a month before the necessary program was snatched
away from me and given how many of you kept on trying to use
it (even after the address you had to mail to was no longer
valid) this was one aspect of the FAQ you all really appreciated.
So, always being one who tries to take a hint when possible,
I'm working on bringing the auto-mailer back. Look for
updates on when it becomes available in upcoming editions of the
FAQ.
Until then, enjoy the copy you have in front of you and I'll
see you next edition!
As always, please make note of the copyright info., which can
be found in the second part of the FAQ.
OUTLINE (aka "Where the heck IS everything?")
The Anne Rice FAQ has currently been split into two parts
(more parts will be added as needed to keep each part under
64K). I'll include a full outline in all parts of the FAQ
to make finding information easier should someone only come
across a single part and want to know what they're missing.
*** = The part you are currently reading.
***Part One:
Intro
Outline
Disclaimers
So Who's This Anne Chick?
(background, books written, etc.)
Vampires-o-Rama
(books, movies, msc info.)
Captivating Companions
(VampChron companion book, opinions, Prism
of the Night, AR Trivia book)
Part Two:
Intro
Outline
Wonderful Witches
(TWH questions, movie, companion book)
Vamps, Witches, Now What?
(The Mummy, future projects, other Rice books)
The Naughty Bits
(Beauty books, Belinda, EtoE)
From One Fan to Another
(Opinions on books, fan club info, book signing
tips, audio tapes, graphic novels and msc.
merchandise info.)
"The Bleeding Edge of Technology"
(AR listserv, newsgroup, web sites)
No Applause, Just Throw Money
(FAQ credits and copyright information)
DISCLAIMERS
1. This FAQ covers questions that are asked by both
those new to Anne Rice and by those who have been fans for
years. Because of this, some of the answers to questions
will contain SPOILERS for some of the books. Since I cannot
predict what will and won't be a spoiler for you and since
it would be annoying to write the word SPOILER with every
answer I instead tried to keep the questions visually
distinct from the answers. This way, you can read the
question and decide if you want to know the answer without
inadvertently ruining a plot twist for yourself.
2. In my Internet travels I have found that quite a few
FAQs tend to be dry and humorless. This tends to ruin the
fun of the FAQ both for the reader (namely, you) and the
writer (namely, me). I've tried to avoid this as best I can
by writing this FAQ as though I were talking to you instead
of just typing it out. However, this means that sometimes I
will write things that are tongue-in-cheek and I will also
write things that are my opinion. But I did make absolutely
sure that the facts I write are accurate. So, please keep
in mind that if it sounds like a fact (such as "Anne Rice
wrote some books.") it's a fact and if it sounds like an
opinion (such as "They were all really good.") it's an
opinion and should be taken as such. Also keep in mind that
all opinions are mine (Laura Troise) unless otherwise stated so
don't try to blame anyone else for them <g>. (More on credits
and copyright information at the end of the FAQ)
SO WHO'S THIS ANNE CHICK?
**Like I said, who is Anne Rice anyway?
Anne Rice, born Howard Allen (no, she didn't have a sex
change, it's just a name) O'Brien on Oct. 4, 1941 is the
wife of Stan Rice and the mother of Christopher Rice. Known
for her lush, gothic writing style, she is most famous for
her series The Vampire Chronicles, though she has written
many other books. Anne's popularity comes from writing
books that draw the reader into the time and place of the
story. She has also been very influential in changing the
old myths and stories of the supernatural (Newsweek cited
Anne's work as the reason why the movie of Bram Stoker's
Dracula deviated so much from the original book).
**So what has Anne written?
Here is the list of the books Anne has written with
their dates of publication. Books that are in a series have
been kept together and put under their series name.
Under the name of Anne Rice:
The Feast of All Saints (1979)
Cry to Heaven (1982)
The Mummy (1989)
Servant of the Bones (1996)
The Vampire Chronicles:
Interview With the Vampire (1976)
The Vampire Lestat (1985)
The Queen of the Damned (1988)
The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)
Memnoch the Devil (1995)
Lives of the Mayfair Witches:
The Witching Hour (1990)
Lasher (1993)
Taltos (1994)
Under the name of Anne Rampling:
Exit to Eden (1985)
Belinda (1986)
Under the name of A. N. Roquelaure:
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (1983)
Beauty's Punishment (1984)
Beauty's Release (1985)
**These names are a bit wordy, is there a shorter way of
referring to them?
Yes there is, but only for some of the books. Others either
have short enough names or just aren't talked about enough
for a shorthand form to be necessary. Here's how some of
the books are referred to either in writing or conversation
(and how I'll write them in this FAQ):
Feast of All Saints: FOAS
Cry to Heaven: CtH
Exit to Eden: EtoE
The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy: The Beauty books
The Witching Hour: TWH (Though this series is known as the
Lives of the Mayfair Witches, for some reason this title has
not caught on. It is referred to as the TWH series)
Interview With the Vampire: Interview or IWTV (Note: some people
will call IWTV "Vampire" but this is discouraged by most as
the word "Vampire" can refer to far too many things in the series
for the meaning to be clear.)
The Vampire Lestat: Lestat, TVL
The Queen of the Damned: Queeen, TQD, QotD
The Tale of the Body Thief: Body Thief, TotBT
Memnoch the Devil: Memnoch, Mem., MtD
The Vampire Chronicles: VampChron (Sometimes it's written as
VC but this often gets confused with The Vampire Companion
which is called VC more often than VampChron is so VampChron
is more common. In this FAQ, VC will refer to the
Companion, which I'll talk about later, only).
Servant of the Bones: SotB
Anne's newsletter, Commotion Strange, will be written as
CS with the appropriate letter number beside it whenever
I'm quoting from it directly.
A complete list of all the abbreviations used on
alt.books.anne-rice can be found on the abar FAQ. See
the "Bleeding Edge of Technology" section in part 2 of
the AR FAQ for more information.
**Enough with the books already, what about short stories?
Anne has written three of these:
"Interlude With the Undead"
Playboy, January 1979
"David Bowie and the End of Gender" (Article, not a story)
Vogue, November 1983
"The Master of Rampling Gate"
Redbook, February 1984 (Also in The Ultimate Dracula and
Lovers and Other Monsters)
**How much of Anne's real life is in her books?
Quite a bit actually. From the Mayfair house on First
Street to the deck of cards that Lestat uses to play
Solitaire, things from Anne's life turn up everywhere in her
books. The most notable example of this is the character of
Claudia who was based on Anne's daughter Michele (Sept. 21,
1966-Aug. 5, 1972) who died of leukemia. It was Michele's
death that inspired Anne to write Interview.
**Why do so many of Anne's characters end up in New Orleans
or San Francisco?
Anne lived in both NO and SF for quite some time and she's
very fond of them (esp. NO where she grew up and lives
today). She brings her characters there because of both her
fondness and familiarity with the towns.
**Does Anne really believe in vampires and witches?
Anne has said that, while she does not believe in vampires,
she does not rule out the existence of witches or ghosts.
In fact, her house on First Street is supposedly haunted,
though Anne claims she has never seen the ghost in question.
**Why do Anne's characters use outdated PC programs? You'd
think they could afford better.
From CS#3:
"Guys, why are you always asking me why my characters
don't work on State of the Art Computer equipment.
They do! When Lestat wrote his bio, he was working
on what HARDWARE was out that year. And Mona had the
top of the line HARDWARE when LASHER was written? I
mean, I don't get it. Don't you guys like WORDSTAR?"
I'm not sure if Anne realizes that our complaints
are about the *software*, but assuming that she does,
I'll answer her question by saying that no one hates
Wordstar in the sense that they were attacked by it as
a child, but that it is an old and very plain program
which makes it hard to believe that Lestat, consummate
materialist that he is, wouldn't move on to something
which costs a lot more and has more bells and whistles
for him to play with.
**Why doesn't Anne write about characters who aren't
white?
From CS#3:
"ON AFRO-AMERICAN CHARACTERS IN MY SUPERNATURAL WORLD.
Maybe I'm just not sure enough of myself to put them in.
I'm not sure I really know what they would think or feel.
I don't know."
**Can you give me a list of articles about Anne?
I could, but it would take half my lifetime. There are
many, many, *many* articles either about Anne or her work or
just quotes from her that they are just too numerous to
list. A good rule of thumb to finding them in your library
is to put in the keyword 'vampire.' This will get you the
bulk of articles that somehow refer to Anne as anyone who
talks about vampires tends to cite her in some shape or
form.
**Is there a biography about Anne?
There is. It's called Prism of the Night and it's written
by Katherine Ramsland. (See also: Should I buy/read VC or Prism
of the Night?)
**How can I contact Anne?
Anne has installed a phone line in her house for fans to
call in and give their opinions (good or bad) about her work.
The number is (504) 522-8634. Once you call you will get an
answering machine on which you can leave a message for Anne.
**What's this I hear about a newsletter?
Anne has decided to send out a newsletter entitled "Commotion
Strange" to those fans who are interested in getting it. If you
are one of those fans, send a letter or postcard to:
Anne Rice
1239 First St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
Anne will pay for the postage of the newsletter so you only have
to include your address. Anne has not set any schedule for the
distribution of the newsletter (meaning, it won't necessarily be
every week/month/etc.) so expect delivery to be irregular.
**Where can I send fan mail to Anne?
The above address will work just fine for that.
**Does Anne read every letter sent to her?
No, because then Anne would not have time for the little
important things like, oh, breathing. <g> She just gets too
much mail from her dear fans to be able to read it all.
She has an assistant, Suzy Q. (who most fans were able to
meet during the Memnoch book tour) who goes through her fan
mail for her and let's Anne know what her fans are saying.
**Will Anne send me a personal response that I can then
gloat about to all my friends?
From CS#3:
"ANSWERING PERSONAL LETTERS. Can't do it anymore. Just
downright impossible. Occasionally I have a minute, but
my life now is a desperate fight to find a few hours to
be alone with this machine, writing on my work. what
distracts me is not only continuous requests for publicity,
but my great and loving family whom I enjoy and want to
spend time with, and wouldn't give up for the world. But
I have become OVERBOOKED, there is no doubt about it."
What Anne does now, in order to make sure her fans get
a personal response, is to answer their comments and
questions in CS, so that way all her fans hear from her
and not just a select few.
**Hey! That address is for Anne's house! I can go visit
her now, can't I?
In theory, yes. But please keep in mind something that she said
in CS#2:
"Our addresses are well known, including that of St. Elizabeth's
Orphanage. But do remember, please; the family lives in our
houses; they are private residences. And though we love you, we
can not come to the door, or meet with people personally. We
thank you for your understanding. We do have a great deal of
security; men on patrol; dogs, all of that. But in general, we
have found that our readers are the kindest, gentlest people
in the world, and we are honored that sometimes you want to
stop on the corner of First and Chestnuts,or of Napoleon and
Prytania. We love to look at New Orleans houses too, as
always have."
Along those lines, let me add that Anne has said that it
becomes very hard for her to write her books when fans
come to the door and distract her. Plus, Mojo and Lestat's
mastiffs were based on Anne's dogs so do you really want
to chance it?
**Does Anne have an e-mail address?
From CS#3:
"REGARDING E-MAIL AND INTERNET ETC. I'm not hooked up to
anything, and have no modem....I speak sometimes through my
friend Britton Trice on the Internet. Anyone else claiming
to be me or to speak for me is not telling the truth. Britton
Trice is my sole connection."
**Just who exactly does the editing for Anne's books? There
are some pretty hefty grammer/continuity/spelling errors in
those. What's going on with the editors at Knopf?
Nothing, actually. Even though Knopf has assigned Anne a
(in Anne's opinion) very wonderful and skilled editor, Anne
does all the editing for her books herself. Anne has gone on
the record as saying that if you find any errors in her books,
she is the only one to blame for them and *not* anyone at Knopf.
**What's this I hear about Anne writing a letter to
President Clinton?
Apparently an avid Clinton supporter (I was told she had
Clinton/Gore bumper stickers at the Memnoch Ball), Anne
wrote a letter to President Clinton where she spoke about
things like the flat tax and health care. Copies of this
letter were sent out on the Commotion Strange mailing list
and, from what I understand, to the Weekly World News as well
(yes, the same WWN that said Clinton had aliens supporting him -
and I don't mean the illegal ones). Many fans were taken aback
by the letter for various reasons (mainly because they did not
expect to receive such a letter when they asked to be on the
mailing list) and some even questioned its validity when copies
were distrubuted on the 'net. However, as those on the mailing
list can attest to, Anne *did* write the letter. What Clinton
did with it is anyone's guess (though I'd be interested in
knowing).
**Has Anne lost her ever-loving mind?
Theories abound.
VAMPIRES-O-RAMA
**Who is this Lestat guy and what's the big deal about him?
Lestat de Lioncourt a.k.a. The Brat Prince a.k.a. "Lestat, you are
the damnedest creature!" is the main character in the
VampChron series. He first appears in Interview as the
one who makes Louis (the narrator of Interview) into a
vampire. TVL is the biography of Lestat so I won't get into
that here. The big deal about Lestat is twofold. One, he
goes against all previous concepts of what vampires are
like. He is not some mindless monster but rather a
fun-loving, sympathetic, pain-in-the-ass guy whom most of
the other characters would sleep with if they had the
chance. Two, he's Anne's favorite character (and
this is out of all her works, not just VampChron). Whereas
Louis *is* Anne, Lestat is what Anne would like to be.
**How do you pronounce Lestat's name?
There are three schools of thought on this:
Less-tat (rhymes with 'hat')
Luh-stat (also rhymes with 'hat')
Luh-staht (ah sounding like the 'o' in 'dot' or 'hot')
Anne tends to use the third form, but don't feel that that's what
you have to use. Although there has been ongoing debate about
how to say Lestat's name (usually beginning with a preface of
"Well I studied French/lived in France/know how to French kiss and
*I* think..."), you don't have to be intimidated by it. There is
no "Official" way of saying Lestat's name. Just say whatever feels
more comfortable to you. So long as others don't openly giggle
when you say it, you're doing fine. (Yes, I know Stat gave
his own pronunciation of it in MtD, but since Anne herself
tends to waver in which one she uses, you're still fine using
whatever you're most comfortable with.)
**You said that many of the characters wanted to sleep with
Lestat, does this mean that vampires have sex?
Nope. While Anne's writing gets a little vague about this,
Anne herself is not. When asked point-blank if her vampires
could have sex she said no. Once a human becomes a vampire,
they are no longer capable of sex and moreover, they're not
interested. Louis put it best when he said that the
pleasure from sex is but a pale shadow of the killing.
Vampires get physical pleasure from drinking blood and
killing. Of course, this does not keep them from getting
involved in some pretty heavy petting, but that's another
story.
**Are all of Anne's vampires gay?
No. And neither are they all straight. Vampires are, by
nature, bisexual (meaning that they can fall madly in love
with someone of either gender). Some of Anne's vampires
were bi before they got the Dark Gift but all of them are bi
after. This is an advantage for them as it's so hard for
them to find companionship that having a problem with the
gender of someone is really setting their standards too
high. The reason why it looks like they're all gay is that
many of the couples are made up of two men. This is because
it took Anne a while to create some strong female characters
for her strong male characters to hook up with. No more, no
less.
**Wait a minute! I'm in the middle of QotD and it just
mentioned Santino! Didn't Louis chop him up into little
pieces the size of Smith Brothers' Cough Lozenges in
Interview?
You're making the common error of confusing Santino with
Santiago. Santiago is the vampire that made fun of Louis
(doing that annoying mime routine, etc.) and helped to trap
and kill Claudia. Santino is the vampire who headed up
the coven that took Armand away from Marius (this is
mentioned in TVL) and, in QotD, he helps Pandora find Marius
and bring him to the Sonoma Compound.
**I think I just found another major continuity error. In
IWTV, Louis says that the last time he saw Lestat was in the
spring before his interview. But in TVL Lestat says he was
underground at that time. Is Lestat lying through his fanged
teeth?
Believe it or not, no he isn't. *Louis* is the one who is lying
about this moment. This is because, while she was getting ready
to write TVL, Anne realized that if Louis' version was true, it
would ruin what Anne wanted Lestat's story to be (his coming up
in 1984 and so on). So the Brat Prince is telling the truth.
Go fig.
**What the heck was up with that vampire that Louis and
Claudia found in Eastern Europe?
In her Compuserve conference, Anne explained that the reason
why that vampire was so unlike Louis and Claudia was that it
hadn't been made properly. No more, no less.
**What's this I hear about Anne saying Lestat has left her?
I'll let her words speak for themselves (this was taken from
the message on her phone line, the number of which was listed
earlier):
"Good morning everybody. This is February 22, 1995,....
Um, I had a very, very strange experience this week that
I want to share with you: Lestat...left me. For those of you
who are readers, who have seen the movie, you know who I mean.
The Vampire Lestat, he left me. He departed me forever. And
this doesn't mean he died, or anything like that, he just left
me. I finished making the very last corrections on the galleys
of my novel _Memnoch, the Devil_ which is the fifth novel I've
written with Lestat, I wrote it February of last year, and I
went back over it February this year, and as I completed the
last page, I knew that Lestat was leaving. He didn't quite say
it to me directly, but we both kind of sensed that the five books
had finished what we had to do together. And I wrote in ink on
the last page, "Adieu, mon amour," commending him to God. I
probably murdered the pronunciation of that in French, but then
he's French, I'm not. I can tell you exactly where he disappeared.
He disappeared in the twenty-hundred (2000) block of St. Charles
Avenue, only about 25 to 30 feet downtown from the Ponchartrain
Hotel. He disappeared in that spot. That's where he was standing
when my imagination left him. And he was looking in a shop window,
there's a place on that corner that used to be a Mercedez-Benz
dealership, and he just happened to be passing there and he saw
himself in the glass, of...of that empty store, or building,
and...that was the last time he and I looked at each other, he's
gone. He's absolutely gone. And now it's my obligation as a
writer to create new characters and to think about my new
book _Servant of the Bones_ and to try to make characters that can
talk for me, as eloquently as Lestat did because he's not going to
come back. I know that."
**Do you think she means it?
Right now I'm not sure. But it would seem that neither is Anne.
To be honest, the way she answers the question "Is Lestat gone
for good/Are the VampChron really over?" changes from month to
month so this question, as far as this FAQ is concerned, is
going to be classified in the same way that I classify the
possible castings for future VampChron movies, which is to say
that I won't put anything about it in here until some actual
work is being done.
**What about that sixth VampChron I've heard so much about?
In CS#4 and elsewhere, Anne was very excited about how she
was now working on a new VampChron called Symphony for
Mary Anne which Lestat would play a small part in. After
a bit of time had passed, though, she went back and said that
it would no longer be a VampChron book and apologized for
disappointing any of her VampChron fans.
This serves as a good example for why I won't list any of her
upcoming books until they've been sent to the publisher. The
creative process does not work on a straight and narrow line
and the submission of something to Knopf is truly the only time
when the information about the book can be counted on as "final".
**Can you give me some info. on who did what with the
IWTV movie?
Sure, here it is:
Interview With the Vampire
The Vampire Chronicles
Geffen Pictures
Tom Cruise: Lestat de Lioncourt
Brad Pitt: Louis de Pointe du Lac
Stephen Rea: Santiago
Antonio Banderas: Armand
Christian Slater: Daniel Molloy (interviewer)
Kirsten Dunst: Claudia
Screenplay by: Anne Rice
Directed by: Neil Jordan
Produced by: Stephen Woolley and David Geffen
Music composed by: Elliot Goldenthal
**What was with all the hoopla over the Interview movie?
Well, the first problems over making Interview into a movie
came when Hollywood couldn't deal with Lestat and Louis
being as close as they were *and* having a little girl in
the house (they thought Lestat and Louis were pedophiles).
Interview went through a lot of scripts, companies and
formats before David Geffen went to Anne and asked her to do
the script that she wanted. She did and then David set
about casting the characters. However, he (after a few
other choices such as Daniel Day-Lewis fell through) picked
Tom Cruise to play Lestat. Anne saw red when this happened
and felt, in her words, "betrayed" by what David did, as did
most of her fans. They exchanged a lot of not-so-nice words
in the media while Interview went into production. When
Interview was finished, David sent a tape of it to Anne (who
was unable to attend a screening) and Anne loved it! She
loved it so much that she took out two full-page ads in
Daily Variety, The New York Times and the Advocate to tell
her fans that she loved the film, that everyone involved did
a great job and that, if her fans saw the film and still
didn't like it, they could tell her to her face (at book
signings and what have you).
**Did Anne publish anything else about the movie?
Yes. She also wrote out an essay that gave more or less her
point by point opinion of everything that happened in the movie.
This was published in a December 1994 issue of Daily Variety.
**I have my own ideas about who should have played the
characters in the IWTV movie, should I mention them to other
fans?
Go wild. The "What about XYZ to play..." thread is one of
the oldest ones on abar (archiologists have, in fact, uncovered
ancient cave paintings which suggest that Early Man felt that
while Tom did a nice job, the part should have gone to Julian
Sands). There have been threads casting movies for all of the
books so any suggestions you might have will be received by a
very receptive audience.
**Ok, I'm willing to take the risk of having the plots of both
ruined, so could you please tell me what is different
between the movie of Interview and the book of Interview?
Gladly. From my readings on a.b.a-r it seems to me that the
differences between the book and the movie come in two
categories so I'll list them that way as well. Please note
that, for the FAQ, I'm not going to note what may or may not
have ended up on the cutting room floor. All I'm addressing
here is what was or was not in the movie vs. what was in the
book.
Catagory 1) Major changes that really deviate from the book
and are probably going to have interesting implications on
the sequel (a.k.a. "Wait a minute, didn't that happen the
*other* way?"):
This category starts off with Louis. In the book he turned
to drinking and suicidal tendencies because his brother,
Paul, died in an accident after they had had an argument.
In the movie, Paul is replaced by Louis losing his wife and
daughter in childbirth. Anne herself made this change as she
thought it would better explain both Louis' feelings for
Claudia and also show a bit more of Lestat's nice side (the
idea being that he was attempting, in his own way, to give
Louis the family he lost).
As for Lestat, the big change in the beginning is that his
father is not with him. Louis has no idea about Lestat's
past in any way, shape or form.
The next two big changes come in Paris. When Louis makes
Madeline into a vampire, there is no indication that Armand
was just outside influencing Louis to do it. And later, when
Louis, Claudia and Madeline are taken back to the Theatre of
the Vampires, there is no sign that Lestat is there or having
any say in Claudia's ultimate death.
Next, Louis' separation from Armand comes not long after
Claudia dies (instead of staying with him for years as he did
in the book).
Louis then tells Daniel that he saw Lestat again in 1988
(instead of 1976). In the book, of course, Louis lied about
seeing Lestat at all but there has been no indication yet to
show if this will be the same for the movies.
Finally, the last big change is the ending. In the book,
Louis drinks from Daniel and leaves him there to live or die.
Daniel wakes up the next day, replays the last few minutes of
the tapes (where Louis describes where he found Lestat again)
and leaves, apparently to try to find Lestat. In the movie,
Louis attacks Daniel but does not drink. Daniel flees the
room, gets into his car and drives away. As he checks
himself for damages he starts to play the tapes, starting
from the beginning. Just as he has begun to calm down Lestat
appears, drinks from Daniel, puts on Daniel's coat and slips
into the driver's seat. The movie ends with the implication
that Lestat is going to make Daniel into a vampire.
Category 2) Things that are not really big changes but are
still important to note (a.k.a. "Lestat didn't fly in
Interview dammit!")
Well, no, he didn't. But, for the most part, this change from
the book was simply a Hollywood addition that was done for
effect (and to give us that great shot of Brad enjoying the
moment--but that's just me <g>). Other such changes:
The vampires did not shed blood tears when they cried.
After being given the Blood, both the canine teeth and the
teeth just before and behind them were sharpened, whereas
in the book only the canines are changed.
Louis has black hair, not brown.
Armand's appearance is not that of a 30something Latino
with hair down to his knees but, in fact, that of a 17ish
Russian with curly, shoulder-length auburn hair.
Claudia used poisoned victims to weaken Lestat in her attempt
to kill him. The idea of dead blood doing anything but
making vampires feel ill belongs solely to the movie.
At the Theatre of the Vampires, all the vampires should have
had their hair dyed black.
It was Gabrielle (in TVL), not Claudia, who first showed readers
the fact that a vampire's hair will grow back if it is cut.
Also, this process occurs while they sleep during the day, not
within a few minutes as it did with Claudia.
Although there is no mention of Louis' official height in the
books, most people feel that he is shorter than Lestat. In
the movie, Tom Cruise's Lestat is shorter than Brad Pitt's
Louis.
When Louis and Claudia went to Europe, they did not meet any
vampires until they came to Paris. In the book they found
a mindless vampire while traveling through Eastern Europe.
Also, throughout the movie, they shorten the amount of time that
it took for various things to happen. For example, becoming a
vampire happened in a matter of minutes, it took longer for Lestat
to find the mortal Louis again and so on.
**I distinctly heard you say sequel. Is there going to be
A movie sequel for Interview?
Current Hollywood gossip has it that the sequel for Interview
(namely TVL) is a go. Rumors abound about who will star in it,
but nothing is certain yet.
**Is there a video version of IWTV?
Yup! It's out now and is actually reasonably priced. You
Should be able to find it at your local video or record
store.
**What about a director's cut of IWTV?
That's hard to say as right now that answer is in that gray
"Hollywood rumor" area. However, Roger Ebert had this to say
about the possibility of a DC of IWTV:
"It's pretty certain they will, since it is a source
of extra revenue for them, and an ego-boost for the
director. But first they want to see the theatrical
version. _Then_ they bring out the next version."
**What about the soundtrack from the movie?
The soundtrack is available for you to buy, but it contains
only the music composed by Elliot Goldenthal, and "Sympathy
for the Devil" performed by Guns N' Roses.
Contents: Libera Me, Born to Darkness Part I, Lestat's Tarantella,
Madeleine's Lament, Claudia's Allegro Agitato, Escape to Paris,
Marche Funebre, Lestat's Recitative, Santiago's Waltz, Theatre
des Vampires, Armand's Seduction, Plantation Pyre, Forgotten Lore,
Scent of Death, Abduction & Absolution, Armand Rescues Louis,
Louis' Revenge, Born to Darkness Part II, Sympathy for the Devil.
Music that was in the movie, but not included in the soundtrack
is as follows (thanks to Cynthia Hoffman who I'm quoting):
"Handel Harp Concerto in B Flat, opus 4, no. 6
Antonio Soler Harpsichord Sonata in F Sharp
Haydn harpsichord sonata in e flat major, adagio e cantabile
(HOB XVI/49)
The Handel is what played in the background while Claudia
was growing up; the 3d movement of the Haydn played in paris
Beware; Fenton really did adapt some of these, so they sound
different than they did in the movie (but still recognizable)"
**Is there any way I can get my hands on a copy of the IWTV
script?
Yes, via:
Book City Collectables
6631 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028
tel. 213-466-0120
fax. 213-962-6742
You can get a copy of either Anne's script or Neil Jordan's.
The scripts are $15 apiece with a $3.50 postage charge for the
first script and $2.50 for each one after that. CA res. add
a $1.24 charge per script.
There was also a web site which had the script on it, but rumors
on abar are that you can't get the script there anymore.
**Was Interview nominated for any Oscars?
It was up for Cinematography and Musical Score. It lost to
The Madness of King George and The Lion King.
**How about the MTV Movie Awards?
Though nominated in practically every catagory, it only won
in three: Best Actor (Brad Pitt), Most Desirable Male (Brad
again, *big* surprise <g>) and Breakthrough Performance
(Kirsten Dunst).
**Ok, did Lestat say the line "You're a vampire. You never
knew what life was until it ran out in a red gush over
your lips." in the movie or didn't he?
No he didn't. For an explanation of why that famous line
from the preview did not show up in the actual movie, again
we turn to Roger Ebert:
"Many movies are in editing right up until the day
before the labs start churning out the prints.
But the previews, which must be ready weeks or
months earlier, are put together from earlier
versions of the film. Sometimes they include scenes
that are cut from the final print, but I've never
heard of a studio deliberately putting scenes in a
preview that aren't in the film."
FWIW, You'll notice that a few other things were changed
or cut out before the movie hit the theatres. For example,
in the commercials, after Claudia went into Louis' arms,
he says "Monster." to Lestat. In the movie, this was
changed to "You fiend."
**What is Moon Over Bourbon Street?
Moon Over Bourbon Street is a song that Sting wrote for both
his Bring on the Night and Dream of the Blue Turtles albums.
This song is about Interview from the point of view of
someone who is unaware of Lestat's take on what happened.
Many fans feel it should have been included in the soundtrack of
the movie of Interview but, sadly, it was not.
**What's the "Armand and Daniel" song?
The "Armand and Daniel" song is a common way for those who have
read QotD and have listened to Nine Inch Nails' album Pretty
Hate Machine to refer to the song which is actually titled
"The Only Time." I don't know exactly why this occurs (my
personal guess is it's because of the line about the devil in
the back of his car) but it does. It's important to note,
however, that while Trent Reznor (NIN) is an Anne Rice fan,
there is no indication that this song was meant to be about
Armand and Daniel.
**Um, I made it all the way through Memnoch the Devil and
I don't get the part where Maharet hands Lestat the note.
What's the punchline?
Quite frankly, no one really knows for sure. The closest
thing to an explanation that's come from Anne is that it
has to do with vision, which is apparently a theme in the
books Anne has considered herself to have worked on since
the first line of Interview ("I see," said the vampire...)
How, exactly, that relates back to the note, or to Memnoch,
or how anything in Memnoch relates to anything else in it
or the series is really up for grabs. IMHO, make of it
whatever you'd like. Your theory is bound to be as good
as anyone's.
CAPTIVATING COMPANIONS
**So what is that Companion thing anyway?
The Vampire Companion (VC), like Anne's biography, was
written by Katherine Ramsland. It's an encyclopedia of
sorts for VampChron and offers such things as pictures
(not of the characters though), maps, summaries of plots and
trivia like what was written in the first draft of
Interview that didn't make the final draft. Anne helped
Katherine put it together, but the main work is Katherine's.
**What's that *other* Companion thing?
As of right now, there are two Anne Rice Vampire Companion
books. Information about the second comes to us from
Britton Trice of the Garden District Bookstore:
"The Vampire Companion is a new book edited by George Beahm.
He has done similar books on Stephen King. The book is a
compilation of old and new articles, essays, and reviews about
Anne and her books. For example, the Playboy interview is
included and an interview with me about the current prices of
AR'S first editions. It is a limited edition of 500 hardbacks,
numbered and signed by George Beahm and 3 other contributors
including Katherine Ramsland. The limited edition sells for
$35.00 and a custom made clear acrylic slipcase is available
for $15.00- shipping is $5.50."
**Should I buy/read VC or Prism of the Night?
This question cannot be answered without giving an opinion of
the two books. Originally I only included my opinion of the
books but this caused something of a stir on alt.books.anne-rice
since it was felt that giving only one opinion put too much of
a slant on things. Since I agreed with that sentiment (and since
Ian offered so nicely) here you will find two differing opinions
about VC and Prism of the Night. Please keep in mind that these
are only opinions and you can take them or leave them. If you
have any questions, please direct them to the person who wrote
each section.
Ian Wellock:
I liked VC. It has three main sections, the Entries
A to Z, which covers a total of 484 pages (!), a Time Line,
which starts at 'around 4000 B.C.' and goes up to 1992,
the time of TotBT's publication, and also a Vampire Atlas,
with some fascinating maps which is a nice touch for those
of us mere mortals who have never been to New Orleans.
There are a few errors, but I regard these as minor.
(Details can be had upon request). For me, far and away
the best reason for reading this book is the collection and
cross-referencing of all the little items into many different
subject areas, which, if you can't remember when a certain
character made an appearance, or find out more about the
Talamasca, is invaluable. I even like to sit down and just
read the thing, and thereby pick up little snippets of
information that perhaps were not immediately obvious.
Laura Troise:
I didn't like VC. For all the good that it offers (what is
listed above) it offers a lot of garbage as well. It should
be retitled "Katherine Ramsland's Interpretation of the
Vampire Chronicles." Her opinion invades *everything*.
This would be fine (after all, *my* opinion is all over this
FAQ) except that *she gets things wrong while giving her
opinion*. She has a Ph.D. in philosophy and has studied
Jungian psychology but there's a very strong Freudian view
throughout the book. She rips apart characters that she
doesn't like and ignores what really happened in the books.
Plus she gets basic facts wrong (like the names of
characters) so you never know what bits of information to
trust. VC is a fine book but it is in no way the "Official
Guide to the Vampire Chronicles." It contains too many
errors to be officially anything.
As for Prism of the Night, this is a slightly better book in
comparison. Katherine's interpretation of Anne's books is
still in there but you can pretty much ignore it while
reading about Anne's life. The only problem is that
Katherine is not a good writer (and I've had published
authors agree with me on this) so you have to slog through a
lot of bad prose to get to the gems of Anne's life.
Anne herself had this to say about Prism of the Night in
CS#3:
"On my life: because you ask. There is Katherine Ramsland's
PRISM OF THE NIGHT, a full scale biography with which I
cooperated, but which I never sought to control. It's out
there in paperback, and is fairly up to date. I have not
read all of it. I mean it's my life, for God's sakes! But
my father did read the first edition and approved of it
before he died. Good enough for me."
In her conference on Compuserve, Anne said that she doesn't
do final proof reads of the Companion books so this could
account for the errors to be found within VC (I don't know
enough about TWHC to comment on it one way or the other).
Finally, the word from Katherine herself. This was supplied
to me via abar who got it from someone who was putting together
a web page for Katherine. I'm sorry about the length and any
spelling errors, but I was told I could only include it if I
didn't edit it in any way and since I wanted to be sure I was
letting all sides have a say, I thought it best to go with
a slightly long rebuttal rather than no rebuttal at all.
"ARE THE COMPANION GUIDES REALLY OFFICAL???
Katherine: I suppose that, NO matter what I say, people
will still believe their own theories - including the one
that I don't really exist - but I did explain in the
introductions to the books how Anne and I created the
vision for the Guides together. She wanted them to
be very detailed and rich with trivia and background, and she
certainly supplied ALL of the quotes!
Also, I doubt that I could have put the original short story of
Interview in the last book without Anne's approval (and prior
approval of the other books).
I'm ALWAYS dismayed by readers who insists that I don't even
KNOW Anne. It's a strange thing to say. On the other hand,
perhaps their skepticism is a compliment to my imagination - to
be able to make all that up and get away with publishing it!! Wow!
Anyway, Anne and I faxed each other back and forth (day and night)
until she was happy with it. She served as a consultant THROUGHOUT -
always providing quotes and resources to help me "track" her
imagination. Admittedly, there is a certain amount of
interpretation involved and I explained that in the
introduction. If readers ask me why I said something in this way
or that, I can almost ALWAYS defend it from the text of the
novels. I tried very hard to make no personal judgement of
characters, relying on judgements from the context of the
novels- and providing references for them. Since most of the
Chronicles are from Lestat's point of view, and since he viewed
Armand as nihilistic and the "embodiment of thirst itself," that's
what I wrote. And since Lestat (and ANNE!) viewed Louis as
dependent and somewhat helpless and unwilling to use his full
powers, that's the way I presented it.
I personally don't feel that way! I actually prefer Armand
and Louis to Lestat. I have private opinions of what motivates
them and what they might be outside Lestat's view, as I'm sure
MANY other readers do! That's partly the fun of good fiction -
to be able to take it beyond its apparent boundaries in the
direction of one's own imagination. Only people who know me know
my true opinions about the various characters.
If I've made mistakes in the text I've asked readers to let
me know. It's a big job to write an encyclopedia and then to
deal with editors and copy-editors (and even printers) who
decide to change things without asking. I have tried very hard
to be accurate because my intent was to provide Anne's readers
with more background than they get in the novels - not just from
research and travel but FROM ANNE HERSELF! I had hoped it would
be fun for people to be able to see the paintings or landscapes
she describes... to hear about her inspirations and to learn
more about things to which she merely alludes in the novels.
Why did I say what I said about Armand in the revised Companion?
BECAUSE THAT'S THE WAY ANNE FELT ABOUT IT WHEN WE WORKED ON THE
REVISION, while MEMNOCH was still in manuscript form. ANNE
is always free to change her mind and make revisions, but I GO
(and have to) with what she's thinking AT THE TIME THAT THESE
GUIDES ARE PREPARED FOR PRINT...
So that's the long way of saying YES, these books are QUITE
official. ANd yes, I really exist!
Katherine"
**Isn't Prism of the Night out of date by now?
From what I've been told the current paperback copy of Prism
of the Night has been updated to include things about TotBT,
Lasher and Taltos (the original hardcover stopped before TotBT).
**What about an updated VC?
There is an updated VC. It's not in hardcover (which is good
as that makes it cheaper) but it does include entries on MtD
and even has a copy of the original short story that IWTV
grew up to be. For obvious reasons I'm not going to spend
my money on this book (see above) so I can't tell you if
Katherine managed to fix any of the problems with the first
VC.
**Can anyone else tell me if the problems were fixed?
Yes. Stephanie Buday had this to say:
"She didn't. I read through the revised VC at a bookstore
a month or so ago. The entries are updated to include
Memnoch, but other then that, it's *exactly* the same,
inconsistancies included."
**What about that that Anne Rice Trivia book? Is it any
good or what? You know?
I don't have the book myself, but Mishian kindly offered
this review:
"I bought the Anne Rice Trivia Book, on impulse, pulling
things off the shelf in a stupor. When I got home I felt
like a fool! Leafing through it, I couldn't help but think
of those silly little tests from grade school-short answer,
true/false, fill-in-the-blank, matching... The trivia book
is mostly questions like "Who said this?" or "What was that?"
I guess it's o.k. if you just want to go through and test how
well you read (or memorized). Here is a sample question-->
Julien claimed to be Antha's father- why is this impossible?
Or match the hotel with the event that occured. Just when I
thought this was a waste of $5.99, I noticed a section on
Anne herself. It has cool little trivia bits like "What is
her favorite chocolate bar?" Ans. Hershey's Milk Chocolate
Symphony. I really like the section on Anne, but I'm still
not sure the book was worth the amount I paid. It is
copyrighted 1994, so I guess it is up to date."
**What about other Anne Rice companion books?
You can find information about Katherine Ramsland's other
companion books in part 2 of the FAQ under the appropriate
sections, and there is information about more general
Anne Rice related books in the "From One Fan to Another"
section, under "Other than the Ramsland and Beahm books, are there
any other Anne related books?"
******End of part 1******
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