Downey, Jr. In Talks For New ‘Lestat’ Project

This is some pretty shocking news.  Bloody Disgusting is reporting that they have it on good authority that Robert Downey, Jr. is in close talks to play the role of Lestat in another adaptation of one of Anne Rice’s ‘Vampire Chronicle’ novels. The fact that Universal is planning to reboot the series is some big news to start with. To have an actor of the caliber of Downey, Jr. is even more astounding.

Two films previously adapted novels centering around Lestat de Lioncourt, a vampire who has walked the Earth since the late 1700s. Tom Cruise played the part in 1994’s ‘Interview With the Vampire,’ and Stuart Townsend played him in 2002’s ‘Queen of the Damned.’ Universal is surely looking for this new movie to do better than the 2002 film, which pulled in $45 million against a $30 million budget. ‘Interview With the Vampire’ did better, raking in $223 million against a $60 million budget. With Downey, Jr. on board, this new film will be a tentpole of some sort, either for the Summer or for the December run before the end of the year.

There is no word yet on what novel of Anne Rice’s this new film will be adapted from. Neither has anyone been announced as working on a screenplay for it.