Daniel Day-Lewis turned down ‘Interview With The Vampire’: “He didn’t want to do a vampire film”

nme.com:

Daniel Day-Lewis turned down a part in Interview With The Vampire according to an interview with its director, Neil Jordan.In a new interview with Variety to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film, which starred Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst, Jordan revealed that Day-Lewis was considered for the part of Lestat – which eventually went to Cruise.He explained: “Daniel was mentioned by the studio, but I never felt he would do it.

I did sent him the script, and unsurprisingly, he said he didn’t want to do a vampire film. So there were reams of people that were mentioned.“Anne’s [Rice, author of the book on which the film was based] particular favourites were great people like Rutger Hauer and Jeremy Irons, but we went through the normal casting process, and then Tom Cruise was suggested.

I went and met Tom twice, and then thought I could get something really great going here. I’d always admired Tom as an actor, but apart from the fact that he was the biggest star around at the time.”Day-Lewis confirmed recently that he would star in a film directed by his son, Anemone, his first role since he announced his retirement from acting in 2017 ahead of the release of Phantom Thread.

For this, Day-Lewis received an Oscar nomination.Speaking with W Magazine at the time, Day-Lewis opened up about his decision to retire. “I dread to use the overused word ‘artist,’ but there’s something of the responsibility of the artist that hung over me,” he explained. “I need to believe in the value of what I’m doing.