Probably the same reasoning as people who take inappropriate pix of child dolls. It's 'safe' to do because it doesn't involve real people and people who have a problem with it are obviously small-minded bigots.

I have to say while I think Robert Downey Jr. Is a great actor, I just can not visualize anyone besides Tom Cruise as Lestat. He just nailed the arrogance and temperment so perfectly. It is probably the only film I can watch him in and not think they whole time "hey that is Tom Cruise" because he really plays it so well. May end up being surprised though, it has happened before.
-M

I remember the uproar over his role in it. All of those ridiculous fangirls didn't want their precious boyscout hero to play a bad guy. It was the only movie I ever like him in.

Well now that I've been spoiled (if I even make it that far in the Vampire Chronicles), I guess I wanna ask, this isn't going to be another one of those sick, twisted scenarios where girls fall in love with their rapists and boys grow homosexual affections for the older men who molested them?

I've already seen enough of this similar behavior in Anne Rice books (all of the guys seem to love each other. Don't get me wrong; I'm not against male-male relationships, but why can't some of them just be "buddies"?).

Anne is known to have a thing for male-on-male erotica, and it shows. But according to my ex, the stuff in Armand isn't directly sexual. The vampires can't even have sex, though they do obviously have a sexuality to them. I'm kind of confused as to how Marius is a pedo if he can't even do anything with Armand. I understand the sexual metaphors of vampirism and all, but I don't know if that would be enough to turn me off of the book ('Vampire Armand' I mean). But I'm nearly done Queen of the Damned, so only two more to go until I can read that one.

Though I did kind of, um, dislike the relationship Lestat and Gabrielle had after he turned her in 'The Vampire Lestat'. I mean, I know they were different creatures then and all, but it still made me kind of uncomfortable when Lestat himself referred to them together as 'lovers', though he did not mean it in a directly sexual sense of course.

I'm guessing it was her standard "Shutup! I'm great! I make lots of money and everyone loves me! LALALALALA not listening!"

BTW, your ex misled you (or just plain lied if you prefer). There is a rape scene. Marius also slept with Pandora after he was turned. The series swiftly becomes more and more about sex and less about anything else from the get go.

I agree, by the 5th book one does get the sense that it's more about sex and everything else is secondary... I wasn't surprised when I discovered that Rice also wrote erotica.

But Robert Downey Jr.? Now this is one I have to see to believe it.

Hm. That sorta makes sense, because I heard from a lot of people that it was around the 4th or 5th book that stuff in the Vampire Chronicles really started going downhill.

TBH she started on a slope. It was about book 4 or 5 that she shot off the slope, blew a hole in the wall and then broke the warp barrier.

If I remember, they get pretty graphic in 'Armand'. At least going so far as to describe someone getting a wine bottle up their keister. It's also graphic in the scene where Marius and Armand 'rape' one of the human girls they know(going so far as to describe the velvet glove on Marius' hand while he's doing explicit things to her) and describing Marius basically preforming fallatio on a preadolescent Armand. Those are 3 scenarios I remember, there may be more.

Samhain, your ex lied to you. I wouldn't let anyone under 16-17 read them, personally.

Yeahhhhh....
I think I'm going to stop at "Queen of the Damned"....

Sorry, but I just feel uncomfortable reading scenarios of a) rape and sexual abuse and b) victims falling in love with their abusers/attackers (which might actually be a case of Stockholm's Syndrome - if they're being held captive against their will).

If she had left the weirdness out of them, I would actually own the books! I just couldn't stop thinking, "What the hell is wrong with this woman?" and had to stop reading. She should've just stuck to erotica and other stuff that I don't read of hers.

ETA: I don't think it's Stockholm's Syndrome. I think it's more along the lines of what real child abuse is like. They grow up thinking 'this is perfectly normal' because all they know is the abuse.

Sometimes I just block out all of the romantic mumbo jumbo in a lot of books that I read. But once you hit one part, then it sticks in your mind for the rest of the ride, and depending on how disturbing it is, it just makes me want to put it down and free my mind of it.

Wait.....there was sex somewhere in those art history lessons?! I totally missed that.

Vampire Lestat was probably my favourite of the books, but I'm skeptical about a film version.
RDJ is awesome though and steals every scene he's ever been in, so I'm sure at the very least, I'll enjoy his parts.

Preach it, sister!

All joking and seriousness aside (wait a sec, what does that leave then?!) I look forward to seeing my favorite boy scout tackle the challenge of playing the world's sexiest type of monster. It's thrilling to ponder... Then again, I'm a movie buff so I'm always curious to see actors in unexpected roles. I'm also curious to see who fills in the rest of the roles. (Mildly off-topic but I also look forward to seeing him in Sherlock Holmes this upcoming Blahmas-I meant Christmas)

I agree wholeheartedly about Banderas though. He is a top-notch actor with fantastic skill, but he was more than mildly inappropriate for that particular role. He's hot, but he's not THAT hot. Perhaps someone else would be better... Then again, I generally prefer characters as they appear in my imagination to real life people. Pour une example: I read all of the Twilight books. I even *gasp* enjoyed them for a hot second... Then the casting list came out. I took one look at Robert "Doesn't wash his hair" Pattinson and thought "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?! He's not pretty enough..." This led to my inevitable disillusionment and so forth. Odd that a movie can do that...

We'll see what happens. Hollywood seems hellbent on ruining every good book that comes out now. I haven't read all of them but I think I'll wait now-I like to see the movies first so I don't nerd-rage when I see the film (like my pelting my TV with shoes after the 3 hour horror show that was Memoirs of a Geisha; I'm STILL pissed about that one...)