Vampires are mesmerizing beings. They’re labeled the undead, since technically they are neither dead nor alive. They mostly have a great sense of style and just are hot. Of course there is the whole ick factor of blood-sucking and all, but overall, they bring charisma, charm, lust and seduction to the screen. Many actors have taken on roles as vampires either in TV shows or movies, but right now this is a movies blog so we are going to go strictly film on this one. Now of course it is impossible to cover them all, so I am going to mention some of the most remarkable ones and if you disagree or think I’ve left some important ones out, well- please share 🙂

1) Interview with the Vampire (Based on the novel by Anne Rice)

Tom Cruise as Lestat in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire

The first Vampire I met on screen was Anne Rice’s Lestat, portrayed by the skilled Tom Cruise:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGkBMe3j-Sk [/pro-player]

Now, the trouble with Tom Cruise’s portrayal of Lestat- probably it has to do with the script, I haven’t read the novel, so I wouldn’t know how Anne Rice meant him to be- he brings humor to the story. Lestat isn’t scary. Oh sure, Brad Pitt’s Louis was rightfully scared when Lestat was sucking the life out of him, but Tom Cruise with blond hair and terribly white skin does not equal something of a cold, Scandinavian or in our case a vampiric beauty. Tom is good with jet black, short or a little longish hair like he has in Mission Impossible 2 or Jerry Maguire. Well, I hadn’t initially found Tom’s look funny, I just thought he wasn’t exactly scary or desirable. But here’s what happens: He picks Brad Pitt as his life partner. I have no objections as in picking a guy like Brad to spend eternity with, let’s face Lestat could do a lot worse. But, need I remind you Lestat is a male undead? Sure, a vampire is a sexual being and he could be as gay or as bi as he damn pleases. But a male vampire (Tom Cruise) siring another guy (Brad Pitt) is not exactly a girl’s fantasy. Well, it is not mine anyway. You haven’t picked up on the vibe? Watch closely. Lestat adds a little girl played by Kirsten Dunst to the group and she keeps acting like a total brat. So Lestat gets pissed and threatens her with bringing home a sister. Dad Tom, Mommy Brad – and kid Dunst. One small, weird vampire family. Well, it didn’t hurt that the movie also features Antonio Banderas as a Vampire with beautiful long hair. But mind you, Banderas’ Armand is not nearly as destructively gorgeous as his El Mariachi in Desperado. There’s something wrong with the vampires in this movie. They are pretty. But they are not sexy.

Brad Pitt in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire — Brad Pitt as Louis in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire

Antonio Banderas as Armand in Interview with the Vampire

Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the Vampire: the "happy" family

2) BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA

Gary Oldman as Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula

Now Dracula is the ultimate myth, legend, fantasy. Dracula is the most famous Vampire of all times. Many versions have been written since Bram Stoker’s and many actors have played him. And this one with Gary Oldman is sort of fun. The cast is great. It has Winona Ryder as Dracula’s love/lust interest, Keanu Reeves as her fiancee and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing. The problem is Dracula seems much too much like a cartoon character. The movie was directed by Francis Ford Coppola ,however it more feels like a Tim Burton movie. And I think I would have liked it more if it had been a Tim Burton movie and with Johnny Depp as the Dracula. Gary Oldman is a fantastic actor but this movie is listed as a horror romance whereas the way it has been shot and acted out as a parody. Or maybe it just feels that way because it was short in 1992 and the effects aren’t that good. There is also a very superficial on my part that Dracula is very ugly for the most of the time. You saw the picture above, right?

3) DRACULA 2000

Gerard Butler as Dracula in Dracula 2000

trailer:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oprkYnHObk [/pro-player]

Now, this Dracula is fun. It is not scary or that much exciting, but it is fun. After all, we have young women being trapped,seduced, fed on by Dracula. And Dracula is Gerard Butler. Now, we shouldn’t have any lack of masculinity or charisma issues, right? But there’s something off about this particular vampire. He is supposed to be the perfect seducer. And fine, sure he looks a lot better than most of the people you would meet in a bar- but I am not sure I would have recognized Gerard Butler, had I not known he was in it. This clean- shaven face makes him look too young- and he is kinda young himself- and too innocent. However I was checking out stuff with Dracula 2000 and I came upon his audition, where he looks utterly different. He has long hair, a beard and he looks like he could be the perfect Pirate of the Caribbean- minus Jack Sparrow’s a little eccentric behavior. I am posting the link, but I will put an image just to give you the picture. Butler appears in this video very similar to his image in Attila. And below is how he was in Attila.

Gerard Butler as Attila in Attila. But of course he is not playing a historical hero in the audition- he is darker,much darker- And I think this look could serve him better as a vampire.

Enjoy Gerard’s Dracula audition:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3syqGaPN8&feature=PlayList&p=8981B582471B3361&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31[/pro-player]

4) QUEEN OF THE DAMNED

Stuart Townsend as Lestat in Queen of the Damned

video from the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz1HcYmlBq4&feature=related

I think Stuart Townsend makes the perfect Lestat. Of course I’m biased, not because I’m a great fan of Stuart – I became fan after this movie, but because this movie captures the goth and rock spirit that comes with the vampire territory. Here when Lestat wakes up, he also sort of takes a hard rock band under his wing and becomes their singer. The whole world falls in love with this vampire and his music. Rockstars have tons of groupies and many front men are considered as sex symbols. They have added the dark side and the allure of the vampiric quality and bingo! You have a vampire movie with a really cool soundtrack and a vampire that can really seduce. It is not highly rated but I believe this movie to be very underrated. If you like Vampires and hard rock, you will enjoy this movie.

P.S: I’m not including Twilight because I have already done a number of posts on Twilight and Edward Cullen.

If you want stuff on the Twilight movies and cast:

Twilight Saga and The Rest of The Cullen Family

New Moon Dissected

Pattinson vs.. Lautner

Robert Pattinson isn’t vain. He is British!

Pattinson vs. Edward Cullen: The Cute Robert Pattinson, The Beautiful Edward Cullen

Twilight Movie Review: Twilight Mania

I was actually shocked to find out it was a TV movie. It is a wonderful epic: the cinematography, setting, acting, music… They are all wonderful; with Powers Boothe’ s performance as Flavius Aetius and Gerard Butler‘s as Attila overshadowing the rest as a little, both playing the most charismatic roles as the antagonist and protagonist of the story:

Hun legends tell that a great king would be born and he would rule the world. When Attila was a kid, his family was murdered by the invading forces. He was raised under the wing of his uncle, Rua- King of Huns. He was trained not only to fight well, but to be knowledgeable about the art of fighting as well. As he grew up, he became the greatest fighter of all, with the town witch Galen as his friend and his cousin Bleda as his adversary. Yet according to Galen’s visions Attila would be the big ruler- he is the one the myths were written about. He only had to be patient.

Meanwhile in Rome, the greatest general Flavius Aetius is imprisoned for conspiracy against the queen. However, Attila’s amazing victories on the battlefields give the queen no choice but to set Flavius free, since he is the only strategist that can find a solution to stop Attila and her son Ceasar is useless. So Flavius gets his rank back and as a first thing, he uses his former friendship with Rua. He decides to trick them into battling against Visigoths with the Romans. However Attila sees right through his tricks. This really impresses Flavius and he wants Attila under his command, with Rua’s permission. After all, Bleda has betrayed Attila the worst way. Having realized that Attila is smitten by the red-haired warrior woman N’Kara, one of the war slaves- Bleda takes her as his personal spoilt from the battle. Flavius teaches Attila that war isn’t just about bravery and stamina, but also about “pretexts” and politics. The two men form an alliance that is based on mutual respect and admiration, though Attila is never fooled by a second that sooner or later. He knows one of them will be tempted to or forced to kill the other one.

Flavius plans are considered risky by the queen. Instead of killing Attila, he seems to have made friends with him, and instead of trying to kill him, he is keeping Attila in Rome as his guest. And just like he anticipated, Attila is fascinated by the culture and lifestyle and is taking his time there, until an event back home forces him to come back and claim his position as King…

You may think I am telling too much, but with its duration of 177 minutes, this is by no means a short film and I have only told some parts of the story before Attila becomes King. There’s much plotting and back story I left out, so no worries.

THE ROMANCEs & THE HEROes

Gerard Butler with Kirsty Mitchell

Gerard Butler and Simmone MacKinnon.

It is mostly historically accurate. Of course the target audience is the English-speaking audience so the film is completely in English, and a Scotsman (Butler) playing Attila and an American (Boothe) playing Flavius. The rest of the cast is also pretty international. And of course we have the “witch” factor, and a very romantic story on Attila’s part to challenge the actual historical events. This romantic story has huge impact on the story but of course the romance adds a great deal to Attila’s humanity. And of course, romance is an undeniable element in any epic movie. I guess we will never know if the real William Wallace had such a strong love for his wife, as it was depicted in Mel Gibson‘s Braveheart (1995). And Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy (2004) actually includes three love stories: One that starts everything: Paris’ s (played by Orlando Bloom) love for Helen (Diane Kruger), the one that shows us Hector’s (Eric Bana) character -his love for his wife and family and also the one that romanticizes Achilles (Brad Pitt) – this affair with Briseis (Rose Bryne). But despite the romantic elements, all these movies are not all about romances. They are epic dramas and they have brilliant war action scenes. They include war strategies and perfect battlefield strategies. They inlcude politics, relationships and a huge effort on everyone who’s involved in the film making. Of course, the hero will be portrayed by a masculine actor who is going to be versatile enough to show the conflicting and complicated emotions of their heroic characters. Just like Wallace was successfully portrayed by Gibson and the roles of Achilles was taken on by Brad Pitt. In fact the movies two other leads, Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana are both considered good-looking by a lot of women. It always helps help if the hero has a raw attractiveness that draws all women to them- and the objects of his desires are going to be beautiful. Diane Kruger’s Helen was glamorous; just like as the red head that stole Attila’s heart, Simmone MacKinnon was a good choice. Attractive and talented casting comes with the territory with epic movies. These movies aim and tend to impress and entertain. And the good ones manage to do just that.

Attila, for me, is the single epic movie that I enjoyed just as much as Braveheart. I think it is even more enjoyable than Troy, which I quite liked. However Braveheart tells a more tragic and intense story and it is about fighting for freedom and not just for more land. Therefore it is sadder and more powerful. But strictly speaking of entertainment, Attila is a glorious must- see that was surprisingly made for TV. It probably would do well at the box office.

P.S. The actor playing Bleda (Tommy Flanagan) is also Scottish and he has a small, but important role in Braveheart.

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Other Gerard Butler Posts:

Gamer

Law Abiding Citizen

5 Reasons to Love Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler Hosts Saturday Night Live