Tom Cruise, the Hollywood megastar, has always heeded his own counsel, and for better or for worse, the choices he made throughout his career paid off. Now, at the pinnacle of the industry, Cruise can boldly claim that he is the last true Hollywood icon left standing. And such a label comes with its own set of responsibilities.
Cruise is not the first actor to say no to sequels. The trend was only popular with sci-fi or action-adventure films like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. For artists looking for something more creatively grounded, sequels were never an option.
It didn’t come as a surprise then that an actor like Cruise refused to entertain the idea of a sequel well until the 2000s when he left behind his Oscar-baiting career to pursue something more theatrically motivated aka the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Tom Cruise Shuts Down Interview with the Vampire 2
For an actor as ambitious, driven, and versatile as Tom Cruise, sequels, spin-offs, and series were never worth investing his time and money into. The streaming era made those famous in the late 2000s. But before then, a sequel or a spin-off was almost always bound to be derivative of the original work and hence, never quite good enough.
As such, it wasn’t unusual for an actor’s actor to seek out original, sensational, and unique scripts worthy of exploiting his talent. With films like Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Collateral, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Last Samurai, Cruise proves that sequels are not always necessary to make a successful career in the movie industry. The same logic applied to Interview with the Vampire.
Speaking to Variety on the film’s 30th anniversary, director Neil Jordan revealed how Cruise put down his foot when it came to a spin-off sequel about his character from the 1994 movie, Lestat de Lioncourt. Based on Anne Rice’s novel “The Vampire Lestat,” Jordan’s script for the sequel to Interview with the Vampire never made it to the studio production lineup after Cruise shut down any possibility of ever starring in the film.
Lestat Deserved a Spinoff of His Own
Not every character from every film or television series deserves a spin-off dedicated to their particular arcs (apart from Saul Goodman and Peacemaker). However, Tom Cruise’s Lestat de Lioncourt was truly worthy of being explored further in terms of his maniacal narcissism and the homoerotic undertones displayed through his arc in Interview with the Vampire.
However, the 1994 film had already gone through development hell followed by a troubled production and Brad Pitt‘s damning reaction after his time on the set of the Anne Rice adaptation sent all hopes of a sequel to an early grave. Cruise’s own aversion to sequels did not help the situation either.
Neil Jordan, the director revealed to Variety in a November 2024 interview:
I was asked to write a script of “The Vampire Lestat,” which I did. And quite simply, Tom didn’t want to reprise the role. It was as simple as that. And it would’ve been quite a different animal. If Mr. Cruise had said he would do it, I’m sure they would’ve done it. But at the time he wasn’t doing sequels.
Ironically, the bulk of Cruise’s 44-year-long career found a stronghold within the Mission: Impossible franchise which is set to launch its eighth installment. The entire spy action saga starring Tom Cruise has enjoyed a 30-year tenure from the first film to the last, with the original Mission: Impossible launching in 1996.
Tom Cruise’s aversion to sequels began to wear thin at the turn of the century when Mission: Impossible 2 premiered. In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick followed 36 years after the original Tony Scott movie while rumors about Edge of Tomorrow 2 and Days of Thunder 2 are being heard throughout the industry.
Interview with the Vampire is available to buy/rent on Prime Video and Apple TV.
