FEBRUARY
2001
27th February, 2001
Brand new official photos today!!!
Just when I thought things were
quieting down, I stumble across even more amazing movie images! Today I discovered FOUR
brand new colour photos from the film. These are definitely the best pictures we've seen
so far. Click on the photos below for larger images and explanations.
These pictures were all posted online earlier today (26th in the US) and are definitely official. The photos were originally submitted at the new-look CountingDown QotD Page by Timbo from the USA. He was also the first person to claim that the release date of QotD has been pushed back to January 2002 (at the earliest). Looks like Timbo has some great official sources! Hopefully, we may hear more from him soon? :)
Source: Copyright 2001
Warner Brothers Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures. Photos by Jim Sheldon.
Secondary source: Countingdown.com, courtesy of Timbo.
22nd February, 2001
Well, things have been extremely quiet on the QotD
front this week. Unfortunately, movie news will probably be rather hard to come by in the
following weeks. Filming has been completed and the movie is now in post-production. This
means that there will probably be little more than rumours and speculation concerning the
film until WB finally release some much-awaited information! We're still waiting on the
opening of the official site (queenofthedamned.com). As was reported in my last update, it
seems the film's release may be delayed until next year. If this rumour is true, we might
be in for a lengthy wait! Or maybe not. We'll have to wait and see...
In
the meantime, why not check out some history concerning the actual novel itself? This film
will be very different to the book, but it's still useful to
know the general background of the characters. Although the title character is Akasha, I
believe that the central character of this film will be Lestat. And it just so happens
that I've recently come across a fantastic resource for all things Lestat! It's called the Lestathenaeum (love
that title!) and is "For the appreciation and veneration of Anne Rice's
Vampire Lestat." It features all kinds of interesting Lestatian info, including
quotes, history, pictures and much much more! The site is run by Danielle who is obviously
a great fan of the Brat Prince himself!
At the Lestathenaeum, Danielle has also compiled a fantastic QotD Movie Survey. I've been meaning to do one of these for months! However, this survey pretty much captures what we're all thinking about at the moment. It's very well thought out with some great questions. Danielle is thinking of putting together a general consensus of all the results once enough people have responded. If and when this happens, I will be sure to mention it right here! :)
15th February, 2001
More exclusive prop pics today!!!
Yes, I'm very proud to present even
more QotD prop pics! *grins* These were all used during the LA shoot and will soon
be featured on my up-and-coming 'LA Locations' page. Once again, extra special thanks go
to Roxanne for the following images. At the moment, they are exclusive to the QotD Movie
Site. Of course, many of the prop images recently featured here have been popping up all
over the internet (with and without permission!) But remember, you saw 'em here first,
folks! Thanks again, Roxanne, for choosing to share your photos with this site! ;)
Click for larger images and descriptions
These photos feature the actual Vampire Lestat CD design that will be used in the film. These images include both the front and back covers as well as the CD itself. The final pic features a bizarre-looking doorknocker. I wonder whose house this was used on?! We'll have to wait and see!
An official Warner Brothers site featuring QotD movie info? We've
been waiting so long for this! No, the official 'Queen of the Damned' website is not
online just yet... However, with very special thanks to Debbie
Campbell, I have now discovered another official site that features information
about all of WB's upcoming films, with the added bonus of revealing when movie stills and
production notes are set to be released. This site is intended for the limited use of
movie site owners. When movie info is actually released, it is transferred to the public
site - Warner Brothers Online. This public site
currently has no info concerning QotD. However, I can now reveal the following preliminary
information:
WARNER BROS. MOVIES 2001
FOURTH QUARTER
Queen of the Damned - TBD
Supernatural adventure. This adaptation of Anne Rice's best-selling novel follows the
legendary vampire Lestat, who has re-invented himself as a rock star in the contemporary
American music scene. His music wakes Akasha, the queen of all vampires, and inspires her
to want to make Lestat her king. Akasha's malevolent power is so great that all the
immortal vampires must stand against her if they want to survive. Meanwhile a young London
woman with a fascination for the dark side falls in love with Lestat.
- Official
Website - Coming Soon
- One Sheet - Coming Soon
- Start of Production - Coming Soon
- Title Art - Coming Soon
- Production Notes - Coming Soon
- Photo Book - Coming Soon
Yes, everything is still 'Coming Soon', but it gives us an idea of what to expect... This is the only info available so far. However, Debbie and I will be checking back often! Be sure to keep an eye on Debbie's QotD Movie Cast Site, as well as right here, for all the future developments! :)
It has come to my attention that there is yet another rumour
circulating regarding the film's release date. You may remember how I reported a while ago
that the film was tentatively set for a 5th October release in the US, and a 1st November
release in Australia. However, according to the WB information above, although QotD is
still listed as a 4th Quarter, 2001 release, the official release date remains TBD (to be
decided). Furthermore, the rumour is that all release dates may have to be pushed back to
January, 2002 (at the earliest!) If true, this means the film will be in post-production
for almost an entire year! Just how much work needs to be done to the film is unknown. But
this release date is a bit worrying, and kinda annoying as well. It means we're looking at
a possible 2002 release!!!
10th February, 2001
Aaliyah has spoken out about her
role as Akasha in the latest edition of the Australian magazine, 'TV Hits'. Her interview
can be found in the March 2001 edition, issue number
151. The magazine also features some pics of Aaliyah, but these are not from the film. Special thanks to Amy for typing out the following transcript for me:
Interview With a Vampire
Aussie visitor Aaliyah reveals
exclusively to TV Hits that she's sinking her teeth into a horrifying new role.
"Aaliyah is an unusual name. What does it mean and how is it pronounced?"
"It's Ah-lee-ah. It's Arabic and means the highest, most exalted one."
"What do you think of Australia?"
"Oh, it's wonderful! I've been filming "Queen of the Damned" in
Melbourne."
"You're a vampire in "Queen of the Damned"- why did you pick this
blood-sucking role?"
"I've been a lover of Vampires since I was a little girl. Any vampire film, I was
there to see it! I also love Egypt- my place in New York is decorated with Egyptian stuff-
and my character, Queen Akasha, is Egyptian. So when I read the script, I totally fell in
love with it and had to have it!
"Do you play a goodie or a baddie?"
"Definitely a baddie! My character has an insatiable taste for blood- she loves all
kinds of blood. She's pretty crazy, definitely!"
"What sort of preparation do you undertake to play a vampire?
"Of course, we don't know if vampires really exist, so it's not like I can call a
vampire and hand out with him, even though I like to believe they exist! I'm such a lover
of vampires, but as I've always been a night person it was easy for me."
"You don't like mornings?"
"I've never been a morning person, I've always been a night owl. I think I'm a bit of
a vampire in real life!"
"What's your favourite vampire movie?"
"I have to say, one of my all time favourites is "The Lost Boys". That's
definitely number one! I was in love with Keifer Sutherland (from the film) when I was a
little girl."
"Will you sing a song on the "Queen of the Damned" soundtrack?"
"There's been talk, but nothing's confirmed. Plus I have to release my third album
next!"
Lena Olin has also spoken out about the film in
an article entitled "Olin explores the dark side in 'Damned'"'. This was
published in Daily News, LA Life on Thursday, 8th February (Special thanks to Annie for scanning the article for
me!) Lena makes some interesting comments
about the Death Valley Concert, and also reveals some information about make-up... To view
the interview, click here.
A new
phone message from Anne was finally posted on her official
website this week. The message is dated 27th January and, as always, can be heard on
her US phone line. Alternatively, you can view the entire transcript here. Unfortunately, Anne mentions very
little about QotD. Her comments are as follows:
"QUEEN OF THE DAMNED - they are working on the director's cut. I don't know anything new on that except that it might be released during this year."
It seems Anne has been told that filming is complete. As far as I know, the film is now in the cutting room. Australian filming wrapped in December, as did Aaliyah and most of the cast. Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau and Vincent Perez all went on to shoot some scenes in LA, and filming continued there throughout January. It now appears the film is now finally 'in the can' and yes, all going well, it will certainly be released this year!
Lots of websites to recommend today:
Vampire Chronicles Online
Coven is an up-and-coming fansite that has information on anything and everything to
do with the Chronicles. The site looks amazing so far, with some great graphic design.
This is definitely a site to keep an eye on! :)
A special mention also goes to the band Angry Buddha who, in
collaboration with vampire-chronicles.com, has started work on 'The Vampire Project' - a
collection of vampire-themed songs inspired by the making of QotD. For more information,
visit their official site.
The QotD Movie Cast Site is a
fantastic source of information about casting, the Chronicles, and a whole lot more! It is
a fantastic resource for online fans. The site owner is currently trying to track down
more official pics from Warner Brothers, so watch this site!
- A Dream of Waking is a brand new
site featuring some fantastic pictures of some famous cemeteries around America. It
includes a page dedicated to the Lafayette cemetery that is to be featured in QotD. Of
course, they used a fake cemetery set here in Australia as a substitute, and it will be
interesting to see just how accurate this set looks in comparison to the real thing!
- QotD on the Hollywood Stock Exchange! Yep, QotD in the stock market... well, kind of! Here people can "invest" imaginary money (H$) on upcoming films and stars. They are then rewarded with more imaginary money by how well it does at the box office. I first discovered this site several months ago, and QotD stocks were about $2. The stock price is now a more impressive $29 (Special thanks to Alex Lum for the notification!) Watch out for future developments on this movie stock market!
Yes,
QotD is finally beginning to receive some much-needed publicity! This past week has proven
to be most beneficial for this website. Links and positive comments appeared on the movie
sites Dark Horizons and IGN FilmForce, among others. As a result, my daily
hits doubled and, on Wednesday, I reached a new site record of 800 hits! My total hits
have now passed 76,000, and next month this site will be one year old. All this has given
me the motivation to get a whole load of updates happening! Today I've posted:
Script Pages - Yes, as promised, the next installment of the unofficial script can be found here.
Script Suggestions - Two more submissions have now been posted on this page.
Personal Script Analysis - It's finally being updated again! I have now added my comments on pages 19 - 30, with more on the way over the coming week... I'm hoping to get this section up to date very soon.
Michael Rymer Interview - This interview with journalist Andrew L. Urban was first mentioned here back in November. It is still the best QotD interview available to date. It is in Real Audio format and can be found on the popular movie site, UrbanCinefile. To make it easier, I have now transcribed the entire 15 minute interview here, and a permanent link to this transcript can be found on my Movie Info page.
Miscellaneous Articles - I have now added several more articles to this page, including today's TV Hits interview with Aaliyah.
New Banner! If you would like to link to this site, please feel free to use the following banner:
4th February, 2001
Lestat on the cover of 'Rolling
Stone' magazine? You'd better believe it!!! *grins* With extra
special thanks to my new LA contact, Roxanne, I am proud to present this exclusive picture! Yes, this is the 'Rolling Stone' cover that is (hopefully!)
set to appear in the film. Some of you may remember that the magazine is featured in the
unofficial script... By this stage, Lestat has risen to worldwide stardom as the lead
singer of Satan's Night Out, and he is rather perplexed by an article about himself in
this publication... This scene can be viewed over at my 'Unofficial Script' pages - Section 5, p. 74.
I think the cover is very effective and, when we read it closely, we can see subtle (and not so subtle!) references to the film. Click here for a larger image, plus my interpretations of the headlines!
This is the most amazing picture of Stuart Townsend as Lestat I've seen so far. It is an intriguing image. Lestat is in full 'rock video' make-up, hence his face being painted entirely gold. You may remember the Variety article I posted in last month's News Updates which described how "The Irish actor painted his body silver, stuck long nails on his fingers and squeezed his frame into snakeskin pants for a simulation of a rock video..." I commented on how this new Lestat image would take some getting used too... Well, it seems Lestat has a tendency for body painting! I think this 'golden' image could look great on the big screen. Now I can't wait to see how the rest of him looks! :)
The prop photos continue! Again, extra special thanks
to Roxanne for the following images:
From left to right, these props are: 1) The full Rolling Stone cover; Lestat on the front, and an advertisement for the Death Valley Concert on the back. 2) A 'Vampire Lestat' album promotional poster. 3) A 'Vampire Lestat' souvenir box. 4) A 'Vampire Lestat' logo t-shirt. 5) A ticket to the Death Valley Concert! (Click for larger images and descriptions)
I first mentioned the green, red and white 'Lestat logo' back in my October, 2000 updates. This logo was displayed during filming outside of Storey Hall which doubled as the entrance to the Warner Brothers headquarters in London. Inside, they filmed Lestat's one and only press conference (for more info, visit my Locations page). I predicted it would probably be the actual logo used throughout the film, and it seems I was right! :)
I have now started work on a 'Los Angeles Locations'
page based on some fantastic new information provided by my two new LA contacts, Dana and
Roxanne. Turns out some of Lestat's mansions scenes were filmed at their friend's house!
What luck! *smiles* I first mentioned this news in last months updates,
and now I have lots more onset experiences to report! Also, if anyone else in LA has been
lucky enough to observe any QotD filming, feel free to e-mail me...
1st February, 2001
Although the rumour has apparently been circulating
for a while, it has now been confirmed that Aaliyah has been cast in both 'Matrix'
sequels. She is set to start work on the second film in March. For more information, check
out the news at IGN
Coming Soon and Coming
Attractions. And it turns out that CHUD were the first to scoop
this info back on 7th December, 2000! (Special
thanks to Alex Lum for the notification) The
following article is probably the most comprehensive and can be found at MTV.com:
After her star-making turn in "Romeo Must
Die," Aaliyah's burgeoning film career continues to gather momentum. The
singer/actress has just signed on to appear in a pair of sequels to the 1999 box office
smash "The Matrix," the first of which is scheduled to start filming in
Australia in March.
Aaliyah has been cast as a character named Zee in the upcoming "Matrix" films,
according to her acting reps at Creative Artists Agency. She joins a cast that includes
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie Ann-Moss — all of whom will reprise their
roles from the first film.
Actress Jada Pinkett, who's married to rapper/actor Will Smith, also will appear in
"The Matrix 2," which is being written and directed by the same creative team
who masterminded the original film, brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski.
"The Matrix 2" and "The Matrix 3" are tentatively due in the summer of
2002 and the summer of 2003, respectively, although "The Matrix 2" may be pushed
back until Christmas, according to a publicist for Warner Bros. Films, which is
distributing the sequels.
For the "Matrix" movies, Aaliyah will return to the land down under for her
second film project in the past year, as "The Queen of the Damned" — in
which the singer stars as a 6,000 year-old vampire named Akasha — was also shot in
Australia, from October through mid-December.
The singer wrapped her part in "The Queen of the Damned," which also stars
Stuart Townsend as the vampire Lestat, shortly before Christmas and has since returned to
work on her long-awaited third album, the follow-up to 1996's One in a Million.
The as-yet-untitled Aaliyah record, on Blackground/Virgin Records, which features a guest
spot from DMX and production work from Timbaland, is now due April 24. Among the new
tracks expected to appear on the record are "Loose Rap," which will be the first
radio single, and "Steady Ground," a song that Aaliyah's reps at Blackground
Entertainment said features a "heavy" string arrangement.
The singer and Timba collaborated on her "Try Again" single, featured on the
soundtrack to her cinematic debut, "Romeo Must Die." The song has been nominated
for a Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Grammy, competing against Erykah Badu
("Bag Lady"), Toni Braxton ("He Wasn't Man Enough"), Kelly Price
("As We Lay") and Jill Scott ("Gettin' in the Way").
Aaliyah is scheduled to report to the set of "The Matrix 2" in March, but she's
not expected to start filming her scenes until mid-April. The Wachowski brothers still
plan to shoot both "The Matrix 2" and "The Matrix 3" back-to-back, so
the singer will likely be working in Australia on the projects through the late spring or
early summer.
"The Queen of the Damned," based upon the third book in author Anne Rice's
"Vampire Chronicles," is due on screens October 5.
—David Basham
It seems that Warner Brother's first official colour photo of Lestat and
Akasha has begun to be circulated in their press release packages! This photo first appeared as an exclusive at Coming Attractions. Today I discovered that the
same picture has also been sent to the Mothership website. It came as
part of a Warner Brothers PR package along with pics from two other upcoming releases,
'Swordfish' and '13 Ghosts'. Even the people at Mothership were surprised at recieving the
pic, as 'Queen of the Damned' isn't set to be released until sometime after the other two
WB titles. Still, this is good news for the promotion of the film. Things are finally
getting underway! Let's hope there's more photos soon and, if we're lucky, the official
website won't be too much longer! :)
As reported in my last update, a
supposed copy of the 'Queen of the Damned' script is currently being sold on eBay. I
had my reservations to begin with but now, over the last couple of days, site visitors
have pointed out to me an odd coincidence... The person selling the script claims to only
have a partial copy consisting of 'about 55%'. In my Unofficial
Script section, I have currently posted 70 pages of my 134 page copy... and that too
is around 55%!!! Hmmm... strange but true. There has been no bids made yet, and the price
remains at a very low $6.99. Yesterday, potential buyers could buy the item before bidding
began for $99.95 (!) Today, this price has dropped to $29.95. Anyways, make of all this
what you will. I just wouldn't want any of you paying for what you can read right here for
free!
