Interview with the Vampire Page #5

LOUIS:

(in a whisper)

Have you ever been caught?

LESTAT:

Of course not. It's so simple.

You almost feel sorry for them.

Now watch me. This is called the

Little Drink. You take it

whenever you wish.

Music rises and becomes faster as Lestat embraces dark

girl, startling her with sudden kiss on the neck, hiseyes closing for one minute, and then leaving her dazedbefore she even knows she's been bitten.

Lestat embraces a red-haired yellow-skinned girl, turningher in a wild embrace, and giving her the same "littlebite." Then goes to an elderly quadroon, a chaperone, andflirting with her, takes "the little drink" from her.

Lestat backs up next to Louis. Lestat is dazed. There

is a faint sheen of blood on his lips.

LESTAT:

Oh, it takes skill, and restraint!

But it's worth it. It's fun.

Louis is suddenly drawn to a victim.

Toinette, a beautiful girl with cold eyes, who has beenstaring at him all this while. Very pale, very calculating,

and very luscious.

Louis is dazed with hunger. Moves towards her, embraces

her and leads her into -

ALCOVE:

lighted by candles.

Louis kisses her lips and then sinks his teeth in herthroat. The swoon takes him into the realm of light andmusic only.

Suddenly Lestat pulls him away.

(CONTINUED)

24.

CONTINUED:

Toinette lies against a chair, dead.

LESTAT:

You need a little practice.

Louis stares at the body.

LESTAT:

But never mind. She was a

merciless little schemer. The

town is thick with them.

Lestat leads Louis out into the night.

LOUIS:

But how do you know? All I tasted

was... innocence.

LESTAT:

From her thoughts. Couldn't youread her thoughts?

Louis shakes his head.

LESTAT:

You can't hear anything they'rethinking?

LOUIS:

No. I hear no thoughts from

anyone.

Lestat considers, then shrugs. He throws his arm over

Louis's shoulder and they walk together.

LESTAT:

The Dark Gift is different for

each of us. But one thing istrue of everyone. We become more

powerful as we go along. You'll

learn to pick the evil ones.

LOUIS:

Yes, I see things in the faces ofmen and women...

LESTAT:

Oh, I'm not the right hand of God,

mind you. Nor the local constable

or judge. It's just thatevildoers are easier. And theytaste better.

25.

EXT. GIANT OAK TREE BESIDE COLONIAL MANSION

Lestat leads Louis with preternatural ease up high intothe tree, then onto the gallery of the mansion. Theypeer through glass doors into huge library.

LOUIS:

You hoped I'd be better all this,

didn't you?

Lestat interested in the library inside.

LESTAT:

I didn't know, to tell the truth.

And you're doing very well.

Lestat easily pries open the door and enters. A man dozes

by the fire in a chair. Lestat moves all around him

soundlessly, and smiles as he takes books: Tristram

Shady, Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders. He tosses a

volume of Byron to Louis, who catches it easily, wary ofthe sleeping man, who never stirs. They leave, the manstill dozes.

INT. POINTE DU LAC - LOUIS'S PARLOR

Lestat sits paging through his new books.

LESTAT:

Wonderful new novels from England.

Remember, you can move easilyaround them without making a soundthat they can hear. Look, he

never even read any of thesebooks, he never cut the pages.

Louis follows Lestat out onto the gallery of Pointe DuLac. They look out over the river.

LOUIS:

But what are the rules? What is

it we can not do? What are we,

really?

Lestat looks at the river:

LESTAT:

What in the world makes you thinkthere are any rules for anyone,

Louis? We're vampires, I've told

you. You must find your own wayon the Devil's Road, as I did.

26.

EXT. STREET

Louis and Lestat argue as they hurry past riverfronttaverns and lighted colonial houses.

LOUIS:

But surely you must know somethingabout the meaning of it all, youmust know where we come from, why

we...

Lestat in rage comes to a halt.

LESTAT:

Why? Why should I know thesethings? Look.

He points into the tavern.

LESTAT:

Does anybody in there know theanswers? Go to the priest. Ask

him!

LOUIS:

But the vampire who made you.

What happened. What did he tell

you? There must be some purpose.

LESTAT:

(laughs in spite

of himself)

Purpose? Louis, what purpose wasthere to your life last week, orlast month, or last year?

Lestat rushes along, impatient, hating this discussion.

LOUIS:

I cursed God that he took my wifeand my child from me. But I

never doubted...

Loses conviction. Louis questions himself silently.

LESTAT:

Shall I make up stories for you?

LOUIS:

No. But you must have learntsomething from the one who made

you.

LESTAT:

I learnt less than you've learntfrom me. I wasn't given achoice, remember?

(CONTINUED)

27.

CONTINUED:

He comes to a halt before a little theatre. Sounds of

LAUGHTER, CATCALLS, CLAPPING from inside. Posters

announce a Shakespearean play by English actors.

Lestat caught by the SOUND moves inside.

INT. SMALL WOODEN BUILDING

Smoky footlamps reveal crude Macbeth and Lady Macbetharguing with each other. Crowd talks, eats, drinks,

yells for more action. Actors ignore them.

CLOSE ON LESTAT:

With Louis beside him.

LOUIS:

How did it happen? Where?

EXT. WOODEN BUILDING

Lestat angrily shoves Louis back out into the night.

Louis is vulnerable.

LESTAT:

Listen, my beloved fledgling.

I'll say this once and once only.

I've no secrets to tell you. I've

never laid eyes on God or theDevil. And pity the Devil if Iever do. You have received from

me all I have to give!

Louis is wounded, but quiet. Lestat goes on morepatiently.

LESTAT:

The one who made me was mad.

That's what often happens to theold ones. He'd lasted a few more

hundred years than most of them.

And he wanted an heir before he

burnt himself on his own pyre. He

left me there to witness it.

Newborn. There was no one there

to guide me as I've guided you.

Louis tries to accept this, bowing to Lestat's anger.

Lestat walks on and Louis follows.

Lestat talks as we see:

28.

ENGLISH STAGE:

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth engaged in conversation.

LESTAT (V.O.)

You want to know how it happened?

I was an actor. Oh, nothing so

very great. Just the boulevards

in Paris, but if you'd come fromthe provinces as I had, theyseemed splendid enough.

INT. BOULEVARD THEATRE (PARIS)

Lestat as a human (far less lustrous) plays Lelio in theCommedia. He bows and introduces himself to the audience.

We can not make out his words, only that he is making themlaugh. He pretends to be choking on the smoke from thefootlamps. Then goes back into character. More laughter.

LESTAT (V.O.)

You might say he picked me for myyellow hair. Or perhaps becausein my country youth, I'd been agood hunter. And we must be goodhunters, we vampires. We must like

the hunt, or we can't survive.

CLOSE ON LESTAT:

Transfixed on the stage.

HIS POV - MAGNUS

An old male vampire heavily cloaked, with a face almostlike a skull, peering from the audience at Lestat.

LOUIS (V.O.)

So it's passed on, one to another,

century after century. And he

left you no secrets except thatfire can destroy you. And so can

the sun.

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