Genre: Horror.
Studio:
Warner Bros.
Production Company:
Unknown.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It:
Unknown.
Who's Making It:
Scott Abott (sp?) (Screenwriter); Deborah Scott, Sandy Powell (Costume Designers, unconfirmed);
based on the novel by Anne Rice.
Premise: Unknown.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: The Queen of the Damned was the third in the series of Rice's Vampire Chronicles books. It is also the novel that would best translate into the proper essential storytelling ingredients a studio wants to see in their major releases, a thought that at first might raise the defences of the fans of Lestat. Nevetheless, QofD has it all: primarily set in the modern day but laced with flashbacks, it provides a menance so great as to rally all the immortal vampires to stand against it if they want to survive. Rice's own blend of historical, existential and gothic prose is woven with a blend of the action you'd expect to see in a James Cameron blockbuster while flashbacks reveal the nature of the vampires themselves. In a dark movie theater, it'd be a helluva ride.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
August 6, 1998... Earlier this week we received an email informing us that Warner Bros., the studio which currently ownes the film rights to Rice's Vampire Chronicles books, has commissioned a script for a new vampire film -- but not the one most Chronicles fans expect. Instead of it being the direct sequel to Neil Jordan's 1995 film Interview With the Vampire, instead the project in development is the third novel of Rice's series, The Queen of the Damned. According to our scooper, "they've hired seasoned TV writer Scott Abott to pen an adaptation which should be on Warner Bros' desks by early September." Unfortunately our search on The Internet Movie Database failed to turn up any credits for Abott -- but perhaps the scooper misspelled his name and meant Scott Abbott, who's work does includes TV writing credits.
Fans of Rice's work who have access to the Web have been able to play the waiting game for the next Vampire film online with the author. On her official website www.annerice.com, the author has posted messages about the problems associated with greenlighting a The Vampire Lestat film (even though Interview grossed more than $100 million domestically.) Answering an email from a reader named Jackie on April 30 of this past year, Rice updated her fans on the status of any future Vampire Chronicles film from WB:
"The key factor is that the entire vampire contract terminates in the year 2000. All the properties revert back to me at that time, unless production commences-principal photography that is-before then. I don't think it is possible for Warner Brothers to develop anything in that amount of time
"They have not been receptive to me or to my ideas at all.
"Not very long ago, less than a year ago in fact, I begged the executives there to let me write a script for THE VAMPIRE LESTAT for union scale (the Writers Guild won't let you write it for free) and a deferred payment not due until release of the picture. They simply weren't interested. It was very painful for me, as I had been talking to a new director they'd hired and we were both excited about the idea.
"I felt snubbed and hurt and have not bothered to approach them since. The young director is supposed to be developing THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED which I think is a bad idea, and basically a doomed project.
"In spite of their showing no interest in me as the screen writer, they have not been able to find one themselves for this bizarre idea of THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED. I'm not too surprised. I think any respectable script writer would be crazy to tackle that novel without having fully developed the background story of Lestat.
"Anyway, that is where it is.
"Warner Brothers in the meantime has been having a string of financial failures. They have terminated the employment of Billy Gerber, the principle executive with whom I had dealings. They are not in good shape as a studio.
"My suspicion is that the vampire novels will all revert to me, free and clear in the year 2000, and if the world doesn't end then, I'll have them to set up with another studio.
"The whole thing is baffling and defeating because I love movies and I dream of seeing the vampires on film."
"Deborah Scott, of Titanic costuming fame is rumored to have been approached by Sandy Powell (costuming from Interview) to team up on the next installment of The Vampire Chronicles. The film will not be entirely based on the second Anne Rice book, but will include portions from the third novel (Queen of The Damned) as well." [Anonymous.]
So is the new QotD project in fact a mixture of Rice's The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned books? We've received countless requests for a page for The Vampire Lestat over CA's three-year existence but since the project seemed to be (for lack of a better word) dead there was really nothing to report. Perhaps this recent turn of developments indicates that WB may be trying to bring about a new Chronicles film -- and just in time to meet the requirements to retain the movie rights to Rice's novels into the next century.
[Our imparting of the Dark Gift was given to us by anonymous for revealing the name of the QotD screenwriter. Humble thanks are also given to 'Isis' for additional help as well as the many legions of fans who've scooped us their requests for a new Vampire Chronicles page.]
Related Sites:
Anne Rice's Official Webpage -- Endorsed by the author, this page is devoted to bringing you the latest developments Rice is involved with. Frequently the author herself posts up messages updating the status of her prose and adapted projects.
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