New Anne Rice Adaptation in Development

For movie-goers who have missed seeing the works of Anne Rice and one of her most popular characters Lestat, flash across our screens, you may get another chance since the last adaptation in 2002’s dreadful Queen of the Damned.  Straight from The Hollywood Reporter comes news that mega producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s production company Imagine Entertainment has optioned the rights to Anne Rice’s Tale of the Body Thief, which continues the story of the vampire Lestat and is the fourth book in her best-selling Vampire Chronicles series. There were previous rumors of an attempt to adapt the story in 2007 by United Artists film studio.

Tale of the Body Thief recounts how after centuries of being alone, Lestat yearns for more so he decides to switch bodies with a psychic for a day, only hitch is the psychic has decided to inhabit Lestat’s body permanently. With the help of his friends, Lestat now in a mortal body must find what was taken from him.

Fellow mega producers Alex Kurtzan and Roberto Orci (the team behind the Transformers franchise, the most recent Star Trek film reboot, TV’s Fringe) are on board for the development as well as screenwriter Lee Patterson. Imagine Entertainment will partner with India’s Big Reliance Entertainment to fund the acquisition.

It is doubtful Tom Cruise will be able to reprise the role of Lestat (he was the first incarnation of Lestat in Warner Bros. 1994 adaptation of Interview with the Vampire) so who could follow in the shoes of Cruise and Stuart Townsend (who played Lestat in Queen of the Damned)? Current hot properties Channing Tatum or Ryan Gosling who broods all too well? Throw out your dream casting below!