This section is a summary of what has
been confirmed (and rumoured!) about the movie. Firstly, I have listed all the general
details. Click on names and companies below for more information from the Internet Movie
Database.
At the bottom of the page, I have divided this section into eleven separate areas for easier navigation. Here you will find a comprehensive and detailed collection of information concerning all aspects of the film.
Release Dates:
Officially:
Sometime in 2002 - no actual date
has been set just yet.
Previously:
5th October, 2001 (US)
1st November, 2001 (Australia)
These dates have now been withdrawn.
Director - Michael Rymer
Writing
Credits - Scott Abbott
Michael Petroni, Michael Rymer (revisions)
Anne Rice (novel)
(Anne must be given accreditation even
though she is not involved with the film)
Producer
- Jorge Saralegui
(David Geffen is also rumoured)
Executive Producers - Su Armstrong, Andrew Mason
Production Companies - Warner Brothers, Village Roadshow, Material (joint venture)
Distributor - Warner Brothers
Original Music by - Richard Gibbs, Jonathan Davis
Cinematographer - Ian Baker
Film Editing - Dany Cooper
Production Designer - Graham "Grace" Walker
Art Direction - Tom Nursey
Costume
Design - Angus Strathie
(Sandy Powell and Deborah L. Scott are
also rumoured)
Production Manager - Sue MacKay
Studio Executive - Courtenay Valenti
First Assistant Director - Colin Fletcher
Still Photographer - Jim Sheldon
Lead Set Dresser - Marian Murray
Unit Publicist - Fiona Searson
Music Scoring Assistant - Jason Frederick
Camera Technician (Wescam camera) - Steven J. Winslow
Visual Effects Supervisor - Greg McMurry
Special Effects -
Manex Visual Effects (MVFX) - Akasha death effects.
RIOT Pictures (a company in Santa Monica, California) - Vampire combustion effects, the matte paintings of the Ancients residences, and the entire concert sequence.
Casting Companies - Prototype (Australia), DQ Extras (Australia)
Locations - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (main) and Los Angeles, California, USA
Locations in Melbourne (including several warehouses) were chosen to resemble cities like New Orleans and San Francisco. Film makers felt the city had a broad style of architecture that made these stand-ins work.
Los Angeles was used mainly for location shots. Since much of the film is set in LA, several locations had to be filmed to make the story more believable. These locations will be superimposed onto Melbourne footage to appear in the final cut of the movie. Most acting scenes were filmed in Melbourne, but several scenes were also shot on location in LA.
Original Proposed Shooting Schedule - 44 days (Melbourne) plus 10 days (Los Angeles)
The Melbourne shooting schedule actually panned out to more than 44 days... (see below)
Proposed Budget - US $30 million
Although budget details have been kept relatively secret, this is the rumoured amount. It converts to about AUS $50-$55 million. This is a rather small amount for a movie of this scale, and even director Michael Rymer has admitted that this figure is "extremely low".
Production
Status - Post-Production
Filming was originally scheduled to begin
in May, 2000.
It was then pushed back to 21st August, 2000, then late September, 2000...
Principal shooting officially began on 2nd October, 2000. Australian filming was completed near the end of December, 2000. Los Angeles filming is believed to have been completed around the end of January, 2001.
'Queen of the Damned' was originally set to be released in the US during October, 2001, but the release date has now been pushed back until sometime in 2002.
Apparently, if filming had not begun by October, 2000, the film rights would have reverted back to Anne Rice. However, Warner Brothers were successful in retaining these rights and completed filming rather promptly. Despite a long and tedious journey to the big screen, 'Queen of the Damned' has finally been made!!!
(as from Urban
Cinefile)
'Queen of the Damned' is a supernatural adventure which follows the legendary vampire, Lestat (Stuart Townsend), who has re-invented himself as a rock star in the contemporary American music scene. His music wakes Akasha (Aaliyah), the queen of all vampires (the Queen of the Damned), and inspires her to want to make Lestat her king. Akasha’s malevolent power is so great that all the immortal vampires must stand against her if they want to survive. Meanwhile a young London woman, Jesse (Marguerite Moreau), with a fascination for the dark side falls in love with Lestat.
For more story details, please visit my Script Information
and Unofficial Script sections.
This movie has been widely referred to as the sequel to the 1994 film, 'Interview With The Vampire'. However, the term 'sequel' is misleading. Technically, it is not really a sequel, but rather a follow-up film. 'Queen of the Damned' will be very different from the first film and is set to take an entirely new approach. Furthermore, the studio has chosen to skip the second novel and has instead adapted the third book in the series. 'The Vampire Lestat' will not be totally excluded - elements from both books have been somewhat combined - but the obvious emphasis is on 'Queen of the Damned'.
