Neil Jordan’s treatment of Anne Rice’s novel of Interview with the Vampire starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Kirsten Dunst was well-received; 2002′s adaptation of Queen of the Damned with Aaliyah and Stuart Townsend, not so much.
News has broken that the fourth book in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, The Tale of the Body Thief, has been optioned by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s company, Imagine Entertainment.
It would appear that Anne Rice will NOT be directly involved with writing the screenplay, stating, “I was not asked, nor did I apply. I want to spend this time writing new books. I think the property is in good hands right now… I’m not involved. I’m working on my next book and will be touring for the Wolf Gift.“
For those who haven’t read the novel, the synopsis is as follows:
“Vampire-hero, rock star and seducer of millions, Lestat is an immortal extraordinaire…
But Lestat yearns to be reborn a mortal. Tormented to the depths of his vampire soul he wanders aimlessly across the globe from Amsterdam to the Amazon jungle, until he meets the one being who can grant him his wish. He is the Body Thief, more sinister and evil than any daemon. But when Lestat surrenders his vampire body he discovers what he’d so long ago forgotten: the awkwardness and anguish of being human…”
I read many of the Vampire Chronicles more than ten years ago now and lost interest in the tales. To my mind, the first three were the best and missing out the opportunity to transfer The Vampire Lestat to the big screen is a mistake. In my opinion, it was easily the most interesting of the books and I felt that The Tale of the Body Thief wasn’t quite on the same level as Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat or Queen of the Damned.
