I was very moved by hearing from some of our Black readers that they really love the idea that Aaliyah played Akasha in the Queen of the Damned film. And, they, one woman told us in New Orleans, remember she was beautifully- she was gorgeous... and she was in this beautiful costume, dressed like Aaliyah. And she said that she and her friends had felt kind of shut out of the fantasy genre. (…) I was moved by that. (…) By the way, when, when Lestat was done on Broadway, Marius was played by a Black actor. And it worked fine. Worked beautifully. Wonderful actor.
Uh, I don't think, I don't think the ethnicity of Marius, uh, that he's half Roman, is always part of the story, but the other half doesn't have to be Celtic. (…) You know, and Lestat, you have to get Lestat the way he's described. I think his description is so much a part of who he is that it would be terrible to deviate. And same with Louis. Louis at least has to be beautiful. Obviously, um, the fans were happy with Brad Pitt playing Louis, and he played him as a blonde. (…) But Armand, Louis, and Lestat, I think they have to look the way they're described. And, uh, but there's a lot of flexibility.
I mean, I was in love for a long time with the idea that maybe Cher would play Gabrielle. And Cher is not described like Gabrielle. (…) I do wanna say one thing, though. I, myself, will always go for the finest actor regardless of ethnicity, color or even gender maybe. I don't know. I mean, I would like to think that the finest actor is really what's important.
