Anthony is a 22-year-old actor from Georgia who was reportedly in the running for the highly anticipated role of Lestat in 'The Queen of the Damned'.

He met with casting directors in Houston in July, but the meetings were kept extremely quiet. I only came to learn of them through an anonomous source. As with all rumoured candidates for Lestat, there was much mystery surrounding Anthony's selection - he was one of several actors were have apparently been tested for the role, but now a final decision has finally been made...

Unfortunately, he did not win the role. However, he is a true Chronicles fan, and continues to watch this site with interest! Be sure to look out for mention of him in the upcoming movie, "Batman Beyond"...

'The Anthony Kirkland Jr Voting Booth' ran from 1st - 22nd August, 2000, and received a massive 2492 votes. Overall, there was considerable support for Anthony's selection for the role.
The questions and final tallies were:

Question 1 - How strongly do you agree with the possible casting of Anthony as Lestat?
1) Strongly agree   1758   71%
2) Agree   21   1%
3) Slightly agree  7  0%
4) Disagree  692   28%
5) Undecided  14 1%

Question 2 - How well do you think he would fit the role physically?
1) Sufficiently   1765  71%
2) Quite well   24  1%
3) Not so well  686   28%
4) Undecided   17 1%

Question 3 - In general, do you think he would be an appropriate choice?
1) Yes   1775   71%
2) No  690   28%
3) Maybe   19   1%
4) Undecided  8   0%

On 22. August, he posted this message in the Discussion Forum:

"I just wanted to take the time to look at the final results of my poll and tell you how very very thankful I am that they showed me in favor of over 70% last time I checked!! That means a lot to me! As far as my not getting the role, I knew that was happening, but I could not mention it and now that an actor the caliber of Stuart Townsend has achieved the great chance to try and fill the shoes of an acting great, Tom Cruise, I think he can come close, but Tom as Lestat is legendary. I hope that Stuart did take the time to read the chronicles while he was being considered for such a large role because he should be aware of the fact that "The Vampire Chronicles" fans are going to be listening carefull to every word and people remember bad things more than they remember good things. I wish Stuart the best of luck in his efforts and I am looking forward to seeing the film on the very first day that it comes out! You will all be happy with the script I know and I hope Townsend can bring it to life! Thank you very much VampVan for allowing my name to be on your website and I will keep in touch about future projects. Everyone feel free to e-mail me and I will respond to all e-mails! Keep an eye out for WB's Batman Beyond that is in Preproduction!"

Thank you again everyone!

Anthony Kirkland Jr

"Do you like being food for the immortals!"

While in the running for the part, Anthony also e-mailed me these messages:

"I guess you could figure out who this is, but I just wanted to say thank you for all that you have personally done for me and a definite thank you to the people who have voted for me to get the role. I have not been officially signed on, but WB is looking hard at the fan sites about me and so far there have been none but you! They would love to put a "no-name" actor in there instead of a Wes Bentley or a Stuart Townsend because of the overhead involved in signing those well known actors. Last I checked I was up in the polls, but it was really close!

E-mail the casting agency in Australia, e-mail Warner Brothers. Tell them how you feel -- they are listening and I am thankful. If this does happen to fall through which is one of my biggest fears then I will keep you in mind for possibly promoting my next film I may be starring in but right now this one is still a go!"

"As you can imagine I can't really tell you much because I'm supposed to be a "mystery"... They will be happy with my though. I'll put my entire heart into it. I'm the only candidate (I'm told) that has even read the Chronicles.  I'm the President of my fraternity at my college which is neat. For the first time yesterday someone recognised me from your web page and said they would love to see me in the role.  My family doesn't even really know this.   They know I was in Houston, but nothing more! I like all kinds of music--from Limp Bizkit to Backstreet Boys to 3 6 Mafia to New Kids on the Block.  Guess I should start liking Korn huh!?!?!?  Let's see, as far as acting I can't really tell you that--mainly stage and a little bit of "blair witch" type stuff... I approached them. GOT LUCKY"

"I really love the Chronicles.  I didn't begin reading them until after I watched Interview.  I am such a big fan of Tom Cruise and he did the role of Lestat so well that when I read Vampire Lestat and QotD I could actually see him doing the things that Anne wrote for him to do!  Anne is an exceptional writer with descriptive skills that are absolutely unreal.  As far as why I think I would do a great job. . .is this!  I would not choose something like an Anne Rice novel based script as my first film because there are so many fans of Mrs. Rice out there who will be listening for every word and watching every action.  Even though I have not seen the actual FULL script, I know that it does do the book as much justice as it can in a 2 hour 45 minute film.  I do not doubt that even Anne Rice herself will be satisfied with my work in this film and I would never let the fans of such a timeless masterpiece like the Chronicles down."

Anthony has also informed me that if you would like to e-mail him personally, feel free to contact him at:
a_kirkland_jr@hotmail.com