Anne Rice, author of Interview With The Vampire, wanted Daniel Day Lewis for the role of Lestat, the villainous, preening European vampire responsible for turning protagonist Louis into a creature of the night. She got Tom Cruise. Cruise’s casting was reviled at the time, along with the film – but now, nearly thirty years later, Neil Jordan’s gothic melodrama (and Cruise’s wonderfully wicked performance) is beloved, bloody fun. Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) is a vampire. He tells his story to an eager modern-day journalist: reanimated in 1790s Louisiana by a merciless, maniacal vampire named Lestat (Tom Cruise), Louis becomes entangled with Lestat due to their thirst for blood, and their joint stewardship of ten-year-old vampire Claudia (Kirsten Dunst).