Usually – and almost always, unequivocally – Tom Cruise manages to soar above the collective opinion of the masses with his masterpieces. When he is not cracking the skies open with an F-18, melting minds with overt eroticism and shadowy cults, and screaming “Show me the money” into the phone, he is busy traipsing around the globe being the biggest movie star the world has ever seen since the advent of cinema.

But, whatever superhuman, insomniac desire Cruise possesses to constantly and relentlessly keep starring in one after the other culturally phenomenal pieces, not everything always goes according to plan, even in a world that is so perfectly enslaved to the blindingly perfect star power of Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Anne Rice Shredded Tom Cruise Apart For Taking on Lestat

The mythology of vampires and apocalyptic creatures taking over mankind has always fascinated the macabre mind of humans. But just as interesting and original as each supernatural story can be when left alone to the imagination, every attempt to give these wild stories some semblance of shape and form and recreate them on the screen goes wrong, more times than most. The errors faced by novel and video game adaptations are a tale as old as time, and so, when the infamous 1976 Anne Rice novel, Interview With the Vampire, was faced with a similar fate, the author was acutely involved with the production to realize the authorial intention on the screen.

Tom Cruise as Lestat

But with Tom Cruise‘s casting, the last of her strings snapped after the production already faced multiple roadblocks that threatened the film at every turn and corner. Just as fans gathered to sign petitions to get him removed from the film, Rice poured gasoline on the raging wildfire that spewed venomous outrage toward Tom Cruise’s casting as Lestat. Cruise later commented, “When it first hit, it really hurt my feelings, to be candid about it… her venom hurt. You don’t usually start a movie with someone not wanting you to do it.” Soon after the film’s premiere, Rice famously issued an apology for doubting the star’s ability to take on the challenging role of the villainous psychopath.

The Controversy Surrounding Tom Cruise’s Sexuality

With the launch of Top Gun and its infamous beach volleyball scene, the film and its leading stars became totems for an underground gay revolution that was brewing in Reagan’s America. The film possessed a quality that spoke to the people for being more than just a symbolic message of love, friendship, and camaraderie. The case that was already building against Tom Cruise for being secretly gay was further antagonized by his and Brad Pitt‘s 1994 film, Interview With the Vampire. At the time Esquire reported:

Interview With the Vampire (1994)

The matter was however laid to rest after a strongly-worded message from Nicole Kidman (Cruise’s then-wife) in a 1995 issue of Vanity Fair that once and for all shut down any rumors of the Jerry Maguire star as gay:
I did not marry into a marriage of convenience,–I would never, ever do that. You marry for love. We’re both heterosexual. We have a lot of homosexual friends, and neither of us would shy away from having a homosexual role. He played the vampire Lestat and didn’t give a sh*t.
In recent years, the rumors have become as much a myth and a whisper of the past as the star’s mystical role as the psychopathic vampire. And although Interview With the Vampire remains one of Tom Cruise’s most radical performances of his career, it is hardly one of the first notable mentions that come to mind when talking about Cruise’s brilliant filmography.

Interview With the Vampire is available for streaming on HBO Max.

Source: Esquire