Anne Rice announced on her Facebook page this week that the theatrical rights to her popular Vampire Chronicles books are once again in her hands. She is now planning a TV Series that will feature that likes off Lestat, Louis and Marius. Rice and her son Christopher will be developing a plot script and a detailed outline for an open ended series. They will start with pitching The Vampire Lestat, the book after Interview With A Vampire, staying more faithful to his story in the books. Rice and her son are both planning to be executive producers.
Rice writes on her Facebook page that the demand of fans for the series to have a Game Of Thrones style adaption has encouraged her to take the rights back in her own hands, the George RR Martin has stayed faithful to the book while still making compelling Television.
Not the first adaption of Rice's work
Universal Studios and Imagine Entertainment had optioned the Vampire Chronicles series to develop as a film franchise that centres around the 18th century French nobleman turned vampire but Rice says she realized her stories are more suited to the medium of TV. In this current golden age of television she is likely to not be the only author who's preference will be the small screen. Interview With A Vampire was previously brought to the big screen in 1994 starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise but Rice was critical of Cruise’s portrayal.
Later Queen Of The Damned was adapted for cinemas starring the late Aaliyah but it was panned by critics and Rice referred to the film as ‘mutilating’ her work. The character’s have not appeared on screen since the 2002 film.
There have been no shortage of vampire adaptations appearing on television in recent years, from the Xrated True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mystery series) to the teenage The Vampire Diaries (based on LJ Series novels) or FX’s The Strain (based on Guillero Del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s horror trilogy).
The Anne Rice book series currently consists of eleven books with the twelfth Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, releasing Nov. 29.
