Anne Rice’s ‘Vampire Chronicles,’ ‘Mayfair Witches’ At AMC

“It’s always been my dream to see the worlds of my two biggest series united under a single roof.”

A look at what Anne Rice calls the the “most significant and thrilling deal” of her career, plus an overview of the impact of The Vampire Chronicles on literature, screen, and the stage—and the future with AMC.

Variety reports that Anne Rice has signed with AMC Networks to adapt her best-selling book series “The Vampire Chronicles” and “The Lives of the Mayfair Witches.” The deal includes film and television projects for AMC’s own TV networks and streaming services as well as licensing out to others. Anne Rice and her son Christopher Rice will serve as executive producers on all projects developed under the deal. The package includes all 18 titles between the two book series, which together have sold more than 150 million copies around the world. AMC has acquired the rights to create multiple series set in the same universe (as the books are).

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JUMP: The Impact of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles

MASSIVE news for Vampire Chronicles fans: Anne Rice has signed with AMC Networks to adapt “Vampire Chronicles” and “Mayfair Witches” for a shared universe.

Rice told Variety:

“It’s always been my dream to see the worlds of my two biggest series united under a single roof so that filmmakers could explore the expansive and interconnected universe of my vampires and witches. That dream is now a reality, and the result is one of the most significant and thrilling deals of my long career.”

Anne Rice is the bestselling author of more than 30 novels. Her first novel, 1976’s Interview with the Vampire, is one of the bestselling novels in the world. Christopher Rice, a bestselling and award-winning novelist in his own right, has collaborated with Anne on multiple novels.

The Impact of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles

Anne Rice’s Influence on Vampires in Literature

Anne Rice burst onto the literary scene in 1976 with Interview with the Vampire, the first book in her Vampire Chronicles. Originally written out of grief for the loss of her daughter, the book went on to be more than mere therapy. From that first book on through subsequent volumes, the author has changed how vampires are seen by the literary world and the public at large. More to the point, she expanded on the underlying themes essential in modern vampire novels.

And she didn’t stop with vampire novels. Her stack of published books also includes witches (Lives of the Mayfair Witches series), mummies (Ramses the Damned Series), werewolves (Wolf Gift Chronicles), angels (Songs of the Seraphim series), a biblical events (Life of Christ series), and even erotic retellings of fairy tales (Sleeping Beauty Series).

However, observes English Literature Notes:

“It is the vampires of which she writes that influenced the world. The influences evolved over time and through each book, but the basic themes remained the same, family, sexuality, morality and feminism. She shed new light on each of these themes in the contrast of the world at the time of the writing of each novel. Therefore, as the times changed, so did her use and descriptions of these themes, which led to the evolution of her influence on society.”

Elizabeth Rayne at SYFY Wire:

“You could argue that Anne Rice reinvented the vampire. Early literary and cinematic vampires emerged from the catacombs as hideous monsters—the warped face of Count Orlok in Nosferatu is pure nightmare fuel. Before vampires ever materialized onscreen, Bram Stoker sought to make the titular count in Dracula a soulless beast that readers could neither sympathize with nor forgive. The repulsive visuals of early vampires on film were reflections of the unmitigated evil they were perceived to be. There is a glimpse of humanity in Bela Lugosi’s Dracula when he confesses his envy for human mortality, but most movie vampires were as black and white as the films they haunted. They later evolved into even more vicious creatures in color with B-movies like The Hunger and The Blood Spattered Bride, showing an insatiable bloodlust that stained the subgenre with a stereotype that wouldn’t die.”

Looking back on Interview with the Vampire, it served as both a watershed moment in vampire literature and as the cornerstone of a blockbuster series of novels. However, as Books Tell you Why explains, at the time of its publication, the novel created a backlash for its romantic approach, and for humanizing the monster.

“While this trait of the novel has gone on to inspire numerous writers and books since, these criticism caused Rice to avoid the horror genre for some time. She did not return to horror until 1985 when she wrote The Vampire Lestat, a sequel to Interview with the Vampire that focused on Louis’ maker. Today Rice considers Lestat to be her greatest character, one who represents both the best and worst parts of herself, as well as being somewhat influenced by her husband.”

Later, Rayne explains how Anne Rice’s vampires manifest lust and demonstrate romance:

“They connect through the psyche and through the blood, something echoed by the conflicted Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more recently by the lovesick and desperate Adam and Eve who grapple for survival in 2014 film Only Lovers Left Alive. Vampire love is its own phenomenon. The closest any situation gets to a bedroom scene in Twilight is the fling between Lestat and Akasha, where they engage in the ultimate act of intimacy between the undead: drinking from each other.”

Anne Rice’s Vampires On Stage And Screen

Interview With The Vampire (1994)

Directed by Neil Jordan, 1994’s Interview with the Vampire was an American gothic horror film based on Anne Rice’s 1976 novel. The film, which starred Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louis, recounted their time together, as Louis tells his story to a San Francisco reporter. A box office success, Intervie With a Vampire received Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Original Score. Co-star Kirsten Dunst, who portrayed Claudia (who was turned into a vampire as a 10-year-old), was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

“I think Tom did his very best to be that character,” Rice said of the film’s star in 2014. “I think he had a great deal of respect for what was written in the book…and Tom really brought Lestat’s personality into that movie. He got it.”

Anne Rice on Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, & potential new movies for The Vampire Chronicles

Interview With the Vampire (1994) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers

Queen of the Damned (2002)

Almost a decade after Interview with the Vampire, the film sequel Queen of the Damned combined elements from the second and third Vampire Chronicles novels, The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned. Cruise and Pitt didn’t return in their roles from the previous movie—in fact, many characters and important plotlines were written out of the film.

During the entire process of producing the sequel, Rice was openly displeased with the studio’s treatment of her literary property. She wrote in 2008:

“They have not been receptive to me or to my ideas at all…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.”

The end result of Queen of the Damned was savaged by critics, and the author dismissed it. It starred Aaliyah in the title role as the vampire queen Akasha and Stuart Townsend as the vampire Lestat. The project was also Aaliyah’s final film completed before her death August 25, 2001.

“I didn’t care for the movie Queen of the Damned at all,” Rice reflected in 2009.

“I begged the studio not to make that movie. I told them that the readers really didn’t want that movie, what they wanted was a was a movie based on The Vampire Lestat, the second book in the series. And the studio went on and made the movie—and the movie was not really based on my work. They used the names of the characters, but they replaced original material with material that they had written for them by a scriptwriter. And the movie was a great disappointment to most of my readers. I still get letters to this day asking me why I let it happen, and of course I couldn’t control it. There was nothing I could do. They had the right as a studio to make that movie and there was nothing I could do to prevent it.”

Anne Rice’s opinion of the movie The Queen Of The Damned

Queen of the Damned - Trailer F1

Lestat (2005)

The first-ever Broadway musical from legendary pop songwriters Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin was Lestat, a musical drawing on story material from all three best-selling novels Interview With the Vampire, Queen of the Damned and The Vampire Lestat.

Before production, Elton John created a set of full production demos of the songs used in the original musical.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin's only musical written together, “Lestat.” These demos were recorded in 2005.

During the show’s pre-Broadway run at The Curran San Francisco in December 2005, Lestat broke the ticket sales record previously held by Wicked.

Following the musical’s New York premiere in April 2006, Anne wrote a glowing recommendation of the production:

“I’m overjoyed to report that I was there on opening night, stunned and amazed… The ambition and the achievement are enormous here. There’s no doubt in my mind that readers far and wide will love it and embrace it, no doubt that Lestat has moved from literature to legend in a divine theatrical incarnation in my own time.”

Unfortunately, critics were not as please with the show. Lestat closed a month later.

“On the musical, Lestat,” told her Facebook followers in 2010, “I don’t know if there will ever be a revival, but I hope so. I think a revival in New Orleans would be terrific, and could run forever. Whether the cast album will ever be released, I don’t know. The musical was terrific, and its closing as it did was a tragedy for me. I loved it.”

The Future of Anne Rice’s Vampires on AMC Networks

Here is the complete text of the entire press release announcement:

IN A MAJOR ACQUISITION, AMC NETWORKS ANNOUNCES IT HAS PURCHASED THE RIGHTS TO THE ICONIC WORKS OF ANNE RICE

The Company, Which Operates TV Networks Including AMC and BBC America and Targeted Streaming Services Shudder, Sundance Now, and Acorn TV, Will Now Hold the Rights to the Major Anne Rice Literary Catalog – The Vampire Chronicles and The Mayfair Witches

NEW YORK, NY, May 13, 2020 - AMC Networks today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Anne Rice’s major literary works, The Vampire Chronicles Series and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches Series, encompassing 18 titles, including such beloved and celebrated works as “Interview With The Vampire,” “The Vampire Lestat,” “The Queen of the Damned,” and “The Witching Hour.”

AMC Networks will hold the comprehensive rights for this world renowned and globally coveted intellectual property to develop for its own television networks and streaming services under the AMC Studios umbrella, as well as external partner licensing, with Anne Rice and son Christopher Rice serving as executive producers on all series and films. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Together, The Vampire Chronicles and The Lives of the Mayfair series have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.

Rolin Jones (Perry Mason, Friday Night Lights), who recently signed an overall development deal with AMC Studios, will be directly involved in developing projects based on the Anne Rice catalog for television.

“There is no shortage of content in today’s competitive environment, but proven IP that has captivated millions of fans around the world is something very special and rare, and that is what Anne Rice has created,” said Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios. “These remarkable stories and characters are massive in their appeal and we are privileged to take over stewardship of these legendary works and collaborate with a talent like Rolin Jones to find ways for new generations of fans to experience these worlds.”

“It’s always been my dream to see the worlds of my two biggest series united under a single roof so that filmmakers could explore the expansive and interconnected universe of my vampires and witches,” said Anne Rice. “That dream is now a reality, and the result is one of the most significant and thrilling deals of my long career.”

The Anne Rice catalog that AMC Networks is acquiring is The Vampire Chronicles Series: “Interview with the Vampire,” “The Vampire Lestat,” “The Queen of the Damned,” “The Tale of the Body Thief,” “Memnoch The Devil,” “The Vampire Armand,” “Pandora,” “Vittorio the Vampire,” “Blood and Gold,” “Prince Lestat,” “Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis,” and “Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat;” The Lives Of The Mayfair Witches Series: “The Witching Hour,” “Lasher,” “Taltos;” and The Vampire Chronicles/The Lives Of The Mayfair Witches- Crossover Novels: “Merrick,” “Blackwood Farm” and “Blood Canticle.”

“AMC Studios is responsible for creating some of the most iconic television series of the modern era and has, at times, single-handedly defined this era we call ‘peak TV,’” added Christopher Rice. “All the members of Team Anne, including my long-term producing partner, New York Times Bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, are both thrilled and comforted to know that some of our most cherished kin, from the vampire Lestat and the witch Rowan Mayfair, to the paranormal investigators at the Order of the Talamasca and the powerful spirit Lasher, are now safely in the hands of these vastly accomplished innovators who possess both global reach and deep reservoirs of experience.”

Anne Rice is a New York Times Bestselling® author of over 30 novels. Her first novel “Interview with the Vampire” was published in 1976 and has become one of bestselling novels worldwide and was the basis for the internationally acclaimed 1994 motion picture, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas.

A New York Times Bestselling and award-winning novelist, Christopher Rice has collaborated with Anne Rice on multiple novels. Together with his producing partner, the New York Times Bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, he runs the podcast and video network, TDPS.

AMC Networks, the company that made “walkers” a worldwide phenomenon, is amping up its supernatural arsenal with the addition of the iconic witches and vampires of Anne Rice. The acquisition marks the company’s latest investment in independently owned intellectual property, including “The Walking Dead,” where the company holds the rights related to the wildly popular TV series, which is the #1 show on cable television, as well as a majority stake in Agatha Christie Limited through Acorn TV, which manages the IP and publishing rights to Christie’s famed mystery fiction, including Miss Marple and Poirot. Anne Rice and Christopher Rice are represented by CAA, Janklow & Nesbit Associates, and attorney Christine Cuddy.

About AMC Networks

Known for its groundbreaking and celebrated original content, AMC Networks is the company behind the award-winning brands AMC, BBC AMERICA, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, and IFC Films. Its diverse line-up of popular and critically-acclaimed series and independent films include Killing Eve, Better Call Saul and The Walking Dead, which has been the #1 show on cable television for nine consecutive years, as well as Portlandia, Brockmire, Love After Lockup, and the films Boyhood, Death of Stalin, and many more. Its original series Mad Men and Breaking Bad are widely recognized as being among the most influential and acclaimed shows in the history of TV. The Company also operates AMC Studios, its production business; AMC Networks International, its international programming business; the subscription streaming services Shudder, Sundance Now, Acorn TV and UMC (Urban Movie Channel); and Levity Entertainment Group, the Company’s production services and comedy venues business.