Analysis of the Lestat-Louis Relationship in 'Interview with the Vampire', Exercises of Music

Download Analysis of the Lestat-Louis Relationship in 'Interview with the Vampire' and more Exercises Music in PDF only on Docsity!

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

by Anne Rice Based on the novel by Anne Rice April 1992 Second Draft

FOR EDUCATIONAL

PURPOSES ONLY

FADE IN:

EXT. DUBOCE STREET HILL SKYLINE (SAN FRANCISCO) - NIGHT

INT. BAR (SAN FRANCISCO) - NIGHT

UNDER CONTINUOUS ROARING ROCK MUSIC -- we see, but do not hear: YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN talking in groups or couples, some dancing, as lights flash. Punk hairdos, heavy makeup. Chatter. DAVID MALLOY, aged 25, well-dressed, leans close to a uniformed police officer, holding a mike to the officer's lips, as the officer talks. The wire from the mike leads to a small recorder on the bar. Malloy also wears one earphone plug connected to this recorder, which he holds to his left ear. CUT TO: ANOTHER PART OF BAR - BOOTH Malloy interviews two beautifully-dressed women, who obviously flirt with him, as they answer his questions, lean forward, talk into the mike. Malloy finishes his drink, puts the recorder in his pocket, takes out a cigarette, looks for a door. EXT. ALLEYWAY - MALLOY Cigarette on lip, stumbles in darkness, amid garbage cans and debris, fumbling for lighter, then finally lighter flashes. LOUIS is REVEALED for one instant only an inch from Malloy, his hand on Malloy's shoulder. Faces almost touching. Malloy stumbles away in shock. Louis recedes more slowly into shadow. MALLOY I'm sorry! I didn't know... you were there. He struggles to make out the figure but can't. Smokes nervously. LOUIS I know.

CONTINUED:

MALLOY

This is where you live? LOUIS It's just a room... MALLOY So how shall we begin? (playfully, almost teasing) What do you do? LOUIS I'm a vampire. MALLOY Ah, and you mean this literally, I take it. LOUIS Yes. I was waiting for you in that alleyway. You or whoever came out of that doorway. And then you began to speak. Malloy laughs goodnaturedly. MALLOY Well, what a lucky break for me. LOUIS Perhaps lucky for both of us. Still in shadow he turns from the window and approaches the table. LOUIS I want to tell you my story. All of it. I'd like to do that very much. I'm glad we've met. Malloy is uneasy as he studies the shadowy figure, fascinated but afraid. MALLOY You were going to kill me? Drink my blood? LOUIS Yes, but you needn't worry about that now. I told you in the alley to go on. I was letting you pass by. I let a lot of motals pass by.

CONTINUED:

Louis stands opposite, hand on the chair. Malloy is riveted. MALLOY Oh this is one I have to hear. You believe this, don't you? That you're a vampire? You really think... LOUIS (patiently) We can't begin this way. I'm going to turn on the light. MALLOY But I thought vampires didn't like light. LOUIS We love it. I only wanted to prepare you. Louis pulls the cord of the overhead naked light bulb. LOUIS'S FACE appears inhumanly white, eyes glittering. Inhuman or not alive. The effect is subtle, beautiful and ghastly. MALLOY Good God! He struggles to suppress fear and understand. LOUIS Don't be frightened. I want this opportunity. The light appears to go out by itself and suddenly Louis is in the chair, dimly lighted by the nearby lamp and the tape recorder has been turned on. The cassette is turning. MALLOY How did you do that! LOUIS The same way you do it. A series of simple gestures. Only I moved too fast for you to see. I'm flesh and blood. Only not human. (MORE)

CONTINUED:

LOUIS (V.O.)

I had only just lost my wife in childbirth. She and the infant had been buried less than half a year. Inscriptions on the high rectangular tomb show the names: DIANNE DE POINTE DU LAC 1763 - 1791 INFANT JEAN MARIE 1791 Louis in mix of anger and sadness pushes away the vines already covering the head stone and stares bitterly at the inscription which he touches with his fingers. Takes a flask from his pocket, takes a heavy drink. He sits, exhausted, against the grave, as if close to his wife and child. Face tender and sad. INT. DINING ROOM (POINTE DU LAC) - NIGHT Table set with candelabra, gorgeous China. Louis in soiled shirt and boots, sits at the head of the table, staring at a plate full of steaming food. YVETTE, pretty Mulatto slave, pours his glass full of wine. LOUIS (V.O.) I had everything a man could ask for. Yet a darkness had come that would not lift. YVETTE Please, Michie, eat your supper. Please. We pray for you every day. Louis doesn't move. Yvette takes his linen napkin from the ring and tries to put it in his lap. He takes her wrist firmly. Rises from table. LOUIS (patiently) I know, ma chere. I need time. EXT. RIVERFRONT STREET (NEW ORLEANS) of gunwale sidewalks and loud, crowded riverfront taverns full of ruffians.

CONTINUED:

Louis in ragged lace and dirty brocade coat walks drunkenly along the sidewalk. As he enters a crowded, smoky little tavern and blunders into a card game, flat- boat men and one FANCY-DRESSED GAMBLER eye him as a mark. He lays his money down on the table. They deal him in. LOUIS (V.O.) Perhaps if I'd had time, I would have come to my senses. Who can say? I might have married again. As it was, I courted death, taking every risk that I could. As the men play cards two tavern waitresses approach -- TERESA and SUZANNE. Suzanne throws her arms around Louis, and exchanging glances with the Fancy-Dressed Gambler, puts a powder into a drink of whiskey which she pushes toward Louis, eyeing him stealthily. Teresa watches all and looks down at Louis' hand of cards. PAN OVER tavern scene -- Indians, men of color, black African freedmen, sailors and wenches. LESTAT, a hooded figure in the corner, smiles from beneath the shadow of his hood. Gleaming blue eyes. CLOSE ON - LESTAT He approaches the table as: Louis lifts the glass of drugged whiskey. The hooded and cloaked figure of Lestat knocks it out of his hand, bumping into Suzanne and knocking Teresa roughly to one side. Louis rises, drunk, outraged. LOUIS How dare you, monsieur. Louis pulls out a pearl-handled pistol. Teresa clings to him. Others gasp and give way, though eager to see what will happen. Lestat, face half-covered by the hood but eyes gleaming, backs away through the crowd, eyes riveted on Louis, smiling. The crowd closes indifferently. Louis is slightly dazed by Lestat's eyes. Then shudders, loses interest, sits down and picks up his cards.

CONTINUED:

Rain falls. He looks up in it and lets it drench him. Over his shoulder, we see Lestat approach, hood still shadowing his face. ANGLE ON LESTAT'S BLUE EYES Lestat's hands clamp on Louis's shoulder and then Louis stiffens, cries out and freezes, as Lestat's teeth go into his neck. Louis slips from Lestat's grasp, unconscious in the mud and rain. INT. ROOM (SAN FRANCISCO) Malloy and Louis facing each other. MALLOY That's how it happened? LOUIS No. That is how vampires drink blood. The Dark Gift of transformation requires a good deal more as you'll see. Besides, this vampire wanted something from me. He came back for it the following night. INT. LAVISH FRENCH-FURNISHED BEDROOM AT POINT DU LAC (NEW ORLEANS) Louis is delirious in four-poster bed, shrouded with mosquito netting. Female slave Yvette bathes his face with a rag. She is crying. Other slave women hover in shadows. Overseer, a Quadroon male, stands weeping in door. Yvette puts out all candles save one by the bed. LOUIS My poor Yvette. What will become of you -- all of you -- if I die? YVETTE You won't die, Michie. We need you. You won't leave us here.

SAME SCENE - LATER

Louis alone. Candlelight flickers on face of bisque virgin. Louis tosses and turns, dreaming, murmuring incoherently. Then he opens his eyes. Lestat, exquisitely dressed in French clothing, stands beside the bed smiling. In the light of the candle, we see that he is not human; skin too white; eyes too bright. It is more subtle than earlier electric light shot of Louis. Lestat looks amiable, even mischievous, but impossible -- an angel or a monster. Louis rises, grabs for his pistol from the table and cocks it. LOUIS Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house? LESTAT (looking around the lavish bedroom) And such a beautiful house. Yours is a beautiful life. Louis takes aim and FIRES. The BULLET passes through Lestat's slightly raised hand. It leaves a bloody wound. Lestat winces, studies the wound. It begins to heal as we watch. Louis reaches for his sword, hanging over the end of the bed. He struggles to get up. LESTAT You're not afraid of anything, are you? LOUIS Why the hell should I be? I warn you again. Get out! LESTAT Are you going to put that sword through me, too? Ruin my beautiful clothes? Louis rises up, jabs the rapier at Lestat who effort- lessly knocks it from his hand. It "appears" across the room on the floor.

CONTINUED:

LESTAT (V.O.)

Vampires, that's what we are. Creatures of darkness, only we see more clearly in that darkness than any mortal has ever seen! Dead men and women float in the water. Louis is amazed. Dead woman and dead infant float by. A giant dead oak floats by. Lestat holds the wheel steady. Lestat points to the horizon of white clouds stacked high under the moon. The two speak together but we do not hear their words. EXT. PARISH GRAVEYARD (LOUISIANA) - NIGHT Louis and Lestat stand before the tall crypt of Louis's wife and baby. Sounds of WIND. Lestat leads Louis from the graveyard into a dreamlike swampland. DREAM SEQUENCE thickens as we see HAZY fragments suggesting possibility: A) Louis, beautifully-dressed, dancing with a woman. B) Louis and Lestat together riding horses fast through the night. LAUGHTER, MUSIC, HEARTBEAT INTERMINGLE. PAN OVER an audience of bejeweled and wigged spectators all clapping and cheering. Return to: INT. LOUIS'S BEDROOM Louis sits against the bedstead staring intently at Lestat. Silence. FOCUS ON LESTAT seated on the bed. Then: LESTAT You have to ask me for this. You have to give your full consent, do you hear?

CONTINUED:

LOUIS

Give it to me! LESTAT (seductive) Vampires. We slay our brothers and sisters. LOUIS I want it! LESTAT And thrive on their blood. LOUIS Give it to me. Lestat bends close as if to drink Louis's blood. Louis does not shrink back, but stares into his eyes. Lestat draws back, stands up, leaves through French doors, then says: LESTAT Tomorrow night. I want you to prove yourself. I shall give you the choice I never had. (looks outside) The sun's coming. Watch it carefully. If you join me tomorrow, you'll never see the sun again. Louis sits dazed staring at the empty French windows. The sun rises over the swamplands and the plantation. Sun fills the room, striking water pitcher, glass, mirror. INT. RIVERFRONT TAVERN (NEW ORLEANS) Crowds of gamblers and revelers carry on at tables and makeshift bar. Suzanne is slipping a poison into a man's drink and then helps him stagger into: EXT. ALLEYWAY There she robs the man and lets him fall down dead in the mud.

LOUIS

backs up as Lestat rises and descends the steps so fluidly he hardly appears to move. Light from lantern illuminates Louis as: LOUIS You are the devil, aren't you? That's who you are. LESTAT (gently) I wish I were. But if I were, what would I want with you? LOUIS I can't go through with this. LESTAT You're perfect for it. You're bitter, and you're strong. LOUIS But why do you want me? LESTAT Because you're as strong as I was... when I was alive. And besides, I like you. I like your conscience. You remind me of... myself. Louis takes out his flask and drinks. Fearlessly, drunk- enly, he turns and heads slowly for the nearby swamp. EXT. PARISH CEMETERY - GRAVES OF LOUIS'S WIFE AND BABY Louis stops in front of the crypt. Leans his forehead against the stone. Lestat appears beside him, radiant, beautiful. LESTAT You really want to be with them? LOUIS Yes. I killed that tavern girl. I deserve to die. Lestat in quiet rage, raises his right fist and shatters into large fragments the rectangular marble face stone, revealing two coffins on the upper and lower shelf. Insects swarm from opening.

CONTINUED:

The upper coffin slides out, cracks open, revealing half- rotted body of a woman, holding an infant, no longer recognizable as individuals, a tangle of gruesome, rotted flesh, hair, eaten away lace, insects and worms crawling over it. Louis gasps and bends closer taking in the full horror. LESTAT It's not your wife and child, Louis. It's death. Just that simple. Think and choose. It happens to everyone. Except us. Lestat stares at him, smiling, becoming a hazy dreamlike vision, and then hyperclear. He draws closer and closer. We hear the FLASK fall and BREAK ON paving STONES. Louis is again spellbound. Sound of HEARTBEAT. Lestate appears angelic in his radiance. LESTAT (V.O.) (patient and persuasive) We shall be this way, always. Young as we are now. I'm so lonely for a companion... But you must ask. Do you want to or no? Louis's senses are confused. He is entranced. LOUIS (tentative and then sure) Yes. Yes! Lestat embraces Louis obscuring his face. HEARTBEAT grows LOUDER. DRUMBEAT comes, OUT OF SYNC, but almost together. LOUIS'S POV The moon, the clouds, the sky, and fragments of earlier visions, blurred figures are glimpsed, with earlier dream images. LAUGHTER and MUSIC rise and fall under the UNSYNCHRONIZED SLOWING BEAT of the HEART and the DRUM. BACK TO SCENE Lestat lets Louis fall down beside the broken crypt.

CONTINUED:

Louis stops, hand going around his waist as he feels a cramp of pain. LESTAT Your body's dying, pay no attention. It will take twenty minutes at most. Louis is horrified, but the beauty of moon flowers and banana trees continues to distract him. The sky is violet, flooded with luminosity. Again he feels pain. LESTAT Come, you're going to feed now. LOUIS I want a woman. Lestat laughs and the laughter echoes like bells in Louis's ears. LESTAT That doesn't matter anymore, Louis. You'll see. Come... LOUIS'S DAZZLED POV - SWAMP Small high ground. Camp of runaway slaves. Several share a bottle of rum around the fire. Male slave rises, a gorgeous hunk of flesh in the firelight, simply beautiful (Razor Rudduck) and goes into swamp to relieve his bladder. LESTAT (O.S.) They're all beautiful now. Men, women, the old, the young... simply because they are alive. BACK TO SCENE Louis sees. The slave comes nearer. Louis pushes past Lestat. Lestat is surprised but amused and proud, and folds his arms to watch. Louis sees the tiny crucifix on a chain around the slave's neck. Stops. Lestat snatches the crucifix off the man and throws it away, urging Louis towards him.

SLAVE'S POV

Two gleaming white beings stand before him with devil's eyes. BACK TO SCENE As the slave tries to bolt, Louis embraces him easily then his teeth into the powerful neck. They are new fangs, he has to really bite into the victim, but he is ravenous to do it. Holds tight to the man as he drinks. LOUIS'S POV Trance as he drinks the blood. ECHO of Lestat's LAUGHTER as the swoon thickens. Distant firelight gets brighter and brighter. INT. POINTE DU LAC - NIGHT Main floor parlor and dining room with floorlength windows to porches on all sides. Building for all its high ceil- ings is crude. Furnishing is lavish Parisian Louis XVI. Lestat plays the harpsichord rapidly and exuberantly... an improvisation on Bach as Louis -- skin whiter, eyes brighter -- wanders from room to room, dazzled by the candles, the light on the furniture, the petit point tapestry of the chairs, the draperies. Before a mirror he stops amazed to see his reflection. In the distance, over the MUSIC, Lestat laughs. LESTAT Yes, that's you, my handsome friend. And you'll look that way until the stars fall from heaven! Louis draws closer to the mirror, and sees his small, now fully-developed fangs. He runs his tongue over them. LESTAT Those will make it easier next time to neatly puncture the flesh. We are well mannered immortals, always remember. WILD MUSIC. YVETTE the mulatto slave, stands still in alarm on the porch gazing at Louis as he stares into the mirror.