Interview With the Vampire Cast Then and Now: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise – Hollywood Reporter

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Tom Cruise, the cast's biggest name at the time, starred in Interview With the Vampire 10 years after catapulting to fame in Risky Business. As Lestat de Lioncourt, a sadistic vampire, Cruise plays the film's main antagonist. His casting followed a hot streak of critical and box office smashes, including Top Gun (1986), Rain Man (1988) and A Few Good Men (1992). His portrayal of a paraplegic Vietnam War veteran in Born on the Fourth of July (1989) garnered immense praise and a best actor nod from the Academy. However, Anne Rice publicly opposed Cruise's casting in Interview With the Vampire, insisting that he and Brad Pitt swap roles.

Interview was followed by a slew of other hits in the late '90s, like Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut, Magnoliaand the first of several Mission: Impossible films. In the early '90s, Cruise and former casting agent Paula Wagner created Cruise/Wagner Productions, which produced many of his major projects.

From 2000 and on, Cruise has mostly starred in big-budget action flicks (Minority Report, War of the Worlds, Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow) and thrillers (Collateral, Lions for Lambs, Valkyrie). In 2020, he will reprise his role in Top Gun: Maverick and has been confirmed to return for the seventh and eighth installments of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

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Interview With the Vampire Cast Then and Now: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise - Hollywood Reporter