fuck yeah anne rice

The Television Show

Production

As many know now, they will be working with Paramount Television and Anonymous Content

They want to stay fully engaged with fans in the production process

No set broadcaster, all options open (Netflix, Hulu, etc.) (Chris joked about it being on Facebook)

Next announcement will be when that network is decided

No timeline for production. They have no idea how long it will take. Script-writing is next. Chris is the one who will be script-writing, Anne will review

Chris: “She finished writing season 1 when she wrote the books!”

Pilot is done. Next are more episodes. They are starting the process and having several meetings with Paramount and Anonymous Content

Anne SWEARS the series will be 100% loyal to the books. (They named GoT as an example of doing this though soooooo)

Anne said compromises are inevitable but artistic control comes from good will and respect; you make it work by picking people you admire and trust. They worked with Paramount and Anonymous Content since they all agreed on a common vision and the end result of the series

No idea about locations of sets and whatnot

Don’t know if they will keep with the 80’s period of the books, however Anne wants to do Lestat’s pre-vampire period period-accurate

Neil Jordan may end up helping out on the project

Casting

Still taking suggestions from fans and looking fancasts up on imdb

Anne: “Lestat is always shaking his fists to those who would break him down…Scrappish impish…lovable hero” Chris: “–and he’s hot!! :D He’s gonna be hot. #LestatIsHot”

Chris and Anne might want to cameo in the series (joked about making a game out of it)

Some characters may change where “ethnicity is flexible”

Anne and Chris agree that POC being casted are important and will be considered in casting. The Millennial vamps (older gang) will most likely be largely POC.

Anne says she has taken notice of black fans showing their admiration of Aaliyah playing Akasha.

Anne gave a story about meeting an Akasha cosplayer who mentioned that she and her friends feel left out of high fantasy for being black and how Anne was moved by this.

Anne: “Akasha isn’t written as black or a person of color…she’s middle eastern” Me: ??? (Those aren’t…mutually exclusive???) Anne: “–but she could be a person of color.”

Marius was played by a black man in the musical and Anne thought he did a great job. Marius can be any ethnicity so long as he’s half Roman. She’d prefer to have Marius as blue eyes and blonde haired like Lestat but it’s “not imperative for him”.

Anne: “Louis at least has to be beautiful”

Armand has to look as described as well.

Anne wanted Cher to play Gabrielle.

Anne and Chris to be inclusive, but will always focus more on how fine the actor is. Talent is needed to get the role, not just looks.

Armand will be casted as someone who looks 17, but will be technically older. Not sure about age for Lestat and Louis (Anne is thinking early 30s)

Physical and emotional aging will be put into consideration (she gave Marius as an example as him looking like he’s in his 40s but being mentally older)

Plot and Episodes

They will tell the story chronologically in Lestat’s eyes so wolves-paris-so on. Basically, how knowledge unfolds for Lestat is how it will unfold for audience THIS MAY CHANGE depending on when they talk to producers, however this is not what they want in terms of how the events should happen.

Don’t want to cheat on Lestat’s life and skip out any details of it (go figure)

Stay faithful to the books and to Lestat’s story

Chris warns for us to be mindful of news that doesn’t come from official page

Lestat and Gabbi’s journey to be expanded

Origin stories of Marius and other older vampires will be shown and expanded on (done through the flashback stories Marius gives)

Blood and Gold will be involved but they won’t DO the story (so using that material for possible spin offs)

A lot about the Talamasca and especially David. Jesse too, but mostly David

(Anne: He’s close friends with Lestat in TOTBT Me: Is that what you call it? lmao)

TVL could be 2-3 seasons. IWTV may be one. Depends

Anne and Chris want to know what goes wrong in the translation from book to media in other series so they can avoid it

They’re keeping eroticism the same as in the books.

Lestat turning Gabrielle will be a big scene, as they feel this is when the series starts to truly bring the vampire world into view and Lestat really starts becoming a vampire. This scene is significant in asking the audience what they would do in that instance. Lestat turning will also be significant.

Characters and Character Relations

SOMEONE FUCKING MENTIONED LOUSTAT AS THE LOUIS / LESTAT SHIP NAME AND THEY BOTH LOST IT (which one of you was it? Hm?)

There will be a lot about Louis and Lestat’s relationship in the series (and Lestat and Nicki)

Anne says she understands how important queer relationships are and how they have driven the series

*On expanding on other characters* Chris: …human characters like Jesse or Daniel Mollo- Anne: OR LESTAT WHEN HE’S HUMAN Me: :/

Anne doesn’t feel a need to make new characters.

More info on Théâtre des Vampires and the characters in that part will expanded as well

Chris and Anne openly acknowledge Lestat as bisexual and this will be depicted clearly within the show

On the topic of Armand, what that character means to Anne will shine, so he will gain a more sympathetic role outside of just the IWTV perspective. Both his dark side and his more childish, light-side will be shown

Jim Morrison of The Doors was Anne’s inspiration for Lestat’s singing voice and for the band (I forget but I think this was the song Anne named as being a good example. Though, I’m partial to their sexy song “5 to 1″). She describes Lestat’s voice as somewhere between a “barratone and tenor…Melodic”. (Something about Jon Bon Jovi also a little bit)

Mayfair Witches

Rights of Mayfair Witches not available to them (?) and thus, the crossover books are not a part of the VC TV series and, thus no show for them right now

Maybe Mayfair TV series in future. Anne doesn’t want them to play second fiddle to the vampires

Anne and Chris

They talked about the recent April Fool’s Joke. Anne apologized to Justin Beiber?? Why?? I don’t know (they weren’t behind the joke article)

Chris likes Riverdale (ew)

Chris worked with Anne on Ramses the Damned.

Someone in the VC Discord Server brought up the question of if Chris could/would carry out the VC books after Anne. Based off this interview, I think it’s very likely depending on how well the VC TV series goes. He seemed a little apprehensive about it, but he’s worked with his mother on writing and is familiar enough with her characters to care about them. I think it’s possible

Chris went to the VC balls in New Orleans as a kid

Chris’ A Density of Souls may get a chance to be a film. Chris is in discussion with someone about it (?? that’s what I got from the interview anyways)

*After Anne leaves to get Chris a Coke* Chris *to the camera*: She won’t let me out of the house. She won’t let me leave!! Me: Same

The Facebook Page and Other Information

Anne, yet again, made a little speech about how nerds mean a lot to Hollywood nowadays

“Readers know things about the novels that are valuable”

They have a record of fan comments that Anne reads every so often

They mentioned some of the fights going on in the FB thread

(Chris: There are some people with…strong casting choices. Anne: I got into fights with people lmao)

Anne prefers if you message her over the page rather than through emails

They cannot do much about given resumes and asking about jobs related to production. There will be a time for that later

Anne is in contract for two more VC novels. It sounded like her next novel is also included in the TV series’ contract, but I could have misinterpreted. 

Anne asks about any regrets or things she would change from the books as she goes into the series. More fleshing out but that’s about it

Today, Anne Rice had two livestreams on Facebook, the first as a general Q&A and the second specifically related to the Vampire Chronicles television show. Part way through the second livestream, the video glitched and I missed a minute or two, but overall this is what I had.

I’ve divided the information into 3 sections and highlighted the most important or interesting things she mentioned in my opinion):

Anne Herself

Anne wants to assure fans she is the ONLY one who answers and sees emails sent by fans. She tries hard to view all of them

She also reassures that shes been trying to read as many comments given on Facebook as possible and to consider them

In her writing process, she can’t do all-nighters anymore; her books about Christ were the last time she really did this

She loves how people in New Orleans love life and celebrate it. She misses New Orleans terribly. She notes, “Lifestyles [down there] are inherited and have a beauty”

She reads more non-fiction than fiction and constantly takes notes from them, especially about archeology (which she loves: “It’s like eating ice cream for me! I love it so much”)

She says she no longer identifies as a Christian, but still has a love for Jesus and what he has done for her, such as helping her solve problems and beyond that

She has some new announcement coming soon not concerning the vampires

She feels this is the age of the nerd where readers’ opinions are most important. Says she has always taken us the readers seriously and wants us to feel appreciated. She appreciates our power and what we have done for the series.

The Books and The Characters

*spoiler* There is NO certainty Mona and Quinn are dead. This is just what Lestat believes.

She went through the pronunciations of characters’ names

Marius is pronounced like Marius in Les Miserables

Mekare is May-care-ee, but thinks other pronunciations are beautiful too

(And I think as a fandom we’ve come to agreements on everyone else’s names. She went by the names fast!)

Anne says she sums up the story of the chronicles as “how badly Lestat wants to be the hero of his own life”

She appreciates fans pointing out mistakes in her writing since she wants to be as accurate as possible, especially when it comes to history/time periods

When asked about the taste of blood/how it functions, Anne says blood is like every kind of drug- it’s sex, alcohol, drugs, everything

She writes a TON of notes since she occasionally forgets when/how certain things are mentioned, such as how the Savage Garden was introduced in the novel (which she no knows as something that occurred during Our Conversation with Nicolas and Lestat)

The name “Talamasca” came from a book on old witchcraft she found

Lestat’s name was a “blunder” rather than a “eureka” moment. His name was NOT based on her husband Stan intentionally. She was trying to look up old french names.

The transformation process of human to vampire (after getting the Dark Gift) is a little slower than how the IWTV film portrayed, but close in Anne’s mind (she truly appreciated how the film went above to stay close to her own visions and her work)

During his time with Louis and Claudia, Lestat attempted to give answers that would “keep them alive” rather than actual answers, knowing that he couldn’t reveal what he knew due to what Marius had told him (essentially, not just answers that he thought would satisfy them but that he thought would carry them on by themselves…which worked in my opinion)

There were several questions about Gabrielle and Becket commented about how Gabrielle is a fan favorite before he introduced the questions:

Anne says Gabrielle is cold, but admits that she loves Lestat yet at the same time doesn’t need him.

She does not see Gabrielle as autistic (she laughed at this question which really irked me :/ )

She will not write about a memoir from Gabrielle’s point of view since she wants Lestat to stay the focus of “the tribe” and she’s done with writing those sort of side books.

Lestat’s main concern right now is “keeping the tribe together”

She wants to continue with exploring some of the newer characters, Fareed and Seth were mentioned as a part of this.

Anne has an “ambivalence” towards Louis and she loves him since he represents an old part of her, but this is also the same reason she has trouble going back and writing for him, because she feels she is now a different person

She appreciates that there is no “real” consensus on what is the best/worst of her books amongst the fans (though Memnoch was her first example for worse soooo 😏)

In some ways, how Amel speaks to Lestat is a metaphor for how Lestat speaks to Anne.

The Television Show

(Casting)

Armand will NOT be played by someone around 14, because of the long filming process and how it will age the actor. She acknowledges fans want someone young for Armand but feels it will be too difficult to use (um, hello Anne, CGI??)

She thinks Cate Blanchett would be a wonderful pick for Gabrielle.

Says the looks are most important for Lestat, Louis just has to be beautiful (lol)

She really cares about the appearances of the cast and their availability to do about 5-6 years of filming

(Chronology and Production)

She thinks she will not go through network tv, so the home to the show would be Amazon, Hulu or Netflix.

She feels the show won’t be as violent as Game of Thrones but wants that integrity and style, and that “authenticity” to the books that Game of Thrones has (So for the rating, I’m guessing she feels around M?)

Anne wants to be true to the books and what the fans want to see (in regards to characters and plot points)

She appreciated the commitment of the team for the IWTV film and wants to keep up to that standard. She does not want unreasonable changes and compromises

Chronologically, she wants to begin with TVL with Lestat as a young man.

Feels around the 2nd/3rd season is where IWTV would start

The books are long, so it will not be a one season / one book situation.

It will begin chronologically, so it won’t be Lestat reading IWTV and THEN starting with his story as a response, it will start in France as the events happen (I was hoping it would be the former…)

No Mayfair witches in the show

Characters who are introduced later, but existed chronologically earlier like Benedick and Magnus, will be put earlier in the show

The Talamasca will be heavily involved “eventually” in the series, possibly earlier on. Related to this, she wants to tell the history of her vampires and those entities.

She wants to definitely (so badly) cover the scene where Lestat is being turned “stage by stage…” meaning him being in the tower and having realizations about his strength after drinking the blood. Also, how he turns Gabrielle (possibly wants to have a young actress to play Gabrielle and have her human age appear through makeup so the transformation will be more dramatic)

Louis’ story WILL be told, but the show will be mostly from Lestat’s POV

Anne hopes the show will go into production before the end of this year. Around 2018 is when it would come out

Anne and Chris have had a lot of interested companies already looking into developing the project (but she doesn’t want to reveal who is talking to them since it “wouldn’t be fair”)

She isn’t sure if the show will break the 4th wall. She acknowledges that Lestat does it in the books, but she feels she would have to stick with it for the entirety of the show and that would be difficult (so it sounds like mostly a “no” but she’s considering it)

Here is the Youtube video of the first Q&A

Here is the Youtube video of the second Q&A, specifically related to the television series

If there is anything I missed in my highlights post in regards to these two videos that you would like to bring up / discuss, feel free to mention it in a reblog or in the comments section.

She was JUST taking the stage when your message popped in, yes, I met her tonight at the booksigning! Full report to follow. 

For now, I will report:

There will be 2-3 more books in the VC following Prince Lestat.

She’s got a meeting with Universal Studios and Imagine Entertainment re: Tale of the Body Thief and other book-to-movie adaptations in November.

She had asked Christopher to write the Tale of the Body Thief script on spec, for free, bc the attempts they had seen of any VC scripts were horrendous and they wanted to get it moving. Needless to say, his script was fabulous and that’s what started the wheels turning. 

She has had the same editor for 40+ years and compared their relationship to a marriage.  

Another Question for Lestat answered. 

ooc; A reboot of the Vampire Chronicles films seems to be a possibility, including a remake of Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned.

Setting up a potential “Twilight”-like franchise, Universal Pictures has acquired movie rights to Anne Rice’s novels in “The Vampire Chronicles” series for Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment.

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are on board to produce.

The deal — announced Thursday — includes the adapted screenplay for “Tale of the Body Thief” written by Rice’s son, author Christopher Rice. Other novels in the series include “Interview with the Vampire” and the upcoming “Prince Lestat.”

Rice published “Interview with the Vampire” in 1976 and “The Vampire Lestat” in 1985, followed by “The Queen of the Damned” (1988), “The Tale of the Body Thief” (1992), “Memnoch the Devil”  (1995), “The Vampire Armand” (1998), “Merrick” (2000), “Blood and Gold” (2001), “Blackwood Farm” (2002), “Blood Canticle” (2003) and “Prince Lestat” this year.

OMG OMG OMGGGGGGGGG

- Anne Rice, NY, 10/15/13. Paraphrased, I can’t remember exactly how she put it, but that was the message. She doesn’t see a man-wolf/vampire crossover happening.

AND she also said that, although she discussed it with Becket hoping to make it work, a Blood Vivicanti/VC cross-over is not going to happen. So that answers THAT.

I had posted this ages ago, but it bears a reblog in light of the past week’s announcement and speculation surrounding Prince Lestat.

I should mention that the question asked of her was: “Do you see a crossover of the Wolf Gift and VC or Mayfair series happening?”