JANUARY
2001

30th January, 2001

Fantastic prop photos today!

With extra special thanks to Duane Fernando, I now have some fabulous images of several props that were used during the Australian shoot! Duane was an actual extra on the set, and I have been told that these props are authentic and were obtained from an 'official source'. I think they all look great! Check out the following links for the full-size pics and descriptions:

- Iron Cross (used in the cemetary scenes)
- Daggers (including one of Marius's!)
- Tombstone (from the Paris cemetary)
- Skull (from Lestat's mansion)
- Plaque (from the Layafette cemetary)

It has come to my attention that a person is currently auctioning what they claim to be the final shooting script for 'Queen of the Damned'. The auction is taking place at eBay and, as of writing this, still has 5 days and 21 hours to go. Click here to visit the relevant page (special thanks to Lisa for the notification!)

I cannot confirm whether or not the script is genuine. However, I am rather sceptical for a number of reasons. First of all, the opening line of the description is "Wow! This is the script they are shooting in Australia right now!" However, Australian filming wrapped last month. Secondly, the person claims this is "only a partial script because that is all that exists right now (contains about 55% of the movie, as of last Friday night's wrap)". This is rather strange as filming began several months ago, and you'd hope they would have completed more than half the shoot by now!

Despite my reservations, I'm not sure of the script's authenticity. The person claims that they got the script from a reliable source on the set so, who knows? My version of the script is complete and nearly a year old, and I've heard from people on set that this is basically the shooting script. However, we can't be sure and, naturally, I'm curious about this one. Perhaps whoever ends up purchasing the script can e-mail me and tell me more about it? :)

25th January, 2001

Warner Brothers have released the first colour picture of Lestat and Akasha!

Click for larger image

This fantastic pic is courtesy of Warner Brothers and was posted today by Corona's Coming Attractions. This is the third official photo that has been released so far. Two other black and white images were published by 'The Age' newspaper late last year, and these can be found on my Cast page. However, this is probably the best image we've seen so far! Not only is it in colour, but we finally have a decent image of Lestat! Some of you may remember my description of him in my Death Valley Concert write-up, and this is what I was trying to describe! I can confirm that this is exactly how Stuart and Aaliyah looked at the concert (although in this pic Stuart is wearing a different coat).  What do you think? :)

The great pics continue below... First, there is MerryRat's sketch from the Death Valley concert. A sketchpad was a great idea on the night as cameras were prohibeted. The sketch is of Lestat with the camera behind him. A 'filler' band for the night, Immaculata, is also on stage. It was most probably drawn while a crowd reaction shot was being set up (click for larger image).

Also, using the Marguerite photo posted in my 16th January update, Myst has created a speculative image of Jesse with her trademark red hair:

And now, thanks to Christine, we have even more great Marguerite pics to take a look at. The first set of images are from a website called 'Off the Lip', and the last two are from the official site of another Marguerite movie, 'Rave MacBeth':

It turns out that the three Death Valley concert stickers mentioned in my last update aren't so rare after all! The 'V.' stickers weren't official merchandise. Instead, they were simply promotional stickers for Motorola's new mobile phone, the v2288 (http://www.v2288.com.au). However, 'TheVampire Lestat' sticker was definitely official, and everyone got one of those! :)  (Special thanks to Alex Lum and MerryRat for the notification)

Australian filming of QotD wrapped last month. However, shooting currently continues in LA, and finally I have some overseas location news to report! Very special thanks go to Dana for contacting me and sharing the following information:
"I have been a fan of Anne Rice for a long time and was thrilled to find out that they were making the movie. I was even more thrilled to find out that all the scenes in Lestat's Mansion would be shot at a friend's house. I was just there today with my friend Roxanne (she introduced me to the owner of the house) ... we were there on the set and saw both Stuart Townsend and Vincent Perez ... They shot the scene where Marius comes to see Lestat after having risen from his sleep...   It was great, the set, the props, the wardrobe... everything!"

It seems this will be Lestat's Hollywood mansion in the film! I've been wondering about his mansion, as I had a feeling it would be located overseas. As we know, many Australian buildings were used as substitutes for other overseas locations, such as the WB press conference and the vampire club. However, in the script, Lestat's mansion is clearly located in LA, and I'm glad to hear that an actual LA mansion will be used, as it will hopefully add to the authenticity of the film.

Finally, some publicity is starting to circulate concerning the film! Along with today's official pic, three Stuart Townsend articles have been posted online recently where he talks about QotD. View them all on my Miscellaneous Articles page, or click the following links. These are:
- Stuart Townsend plays The Vampire Lestat...  [Showbiz Ireland]
- Stuart Townsend Rocks!  [Empire Online - UK]
- All About Stuart  [MovieMate]
(Special thanks to Alex Lum, Jay and Corinna de Regt for the links!)
Some of Stuart's comments are quite interesting, some are amusing, while others are rather strange... Basically, you have to read to believe (or disbelieve, as the case may be!)

20th January, 2001

As mentioned in my last update, Lena Olin appeared on 'The Rosie O'Donnell Show' on 17th January. However, I have been told that there was absolutely no reference to Queen of the Damned! Instead, Lena concentrated on promoting another movie, Chocolat. Apparently, there were no questions about Lena's future films. This is unfortunate news, as there has been hardly any promotion of the film so far, and this would have been a great opportunity! (Special thanks to Jennifer Hoover, Amy Winslow, Lois King, Vampire Chick and Tamiko for the notification!)

Due to his extremely late casting, a reliable source tells me that Paul McGann's work on QotD took only three days. This seems like a rather small amount of filming time, but I'm guessing it was rushed through because of time restraints. The role of David Talbot is small, but also quite important. He is featured at the beginning of the film where he warns Jesse not to persue Lestat. David also plays a pivotal role in the very final scenes of the film... but I won't go into that just yet! ;)

The IMDb now lists Manex Visual Effects (MVFX) as the special effects company for the film. This company has provided effects for such high-profile flicks as The Matrix, Mission: Impossible 2, Deep Blue Sea, Starship Troopers and, funnily enough, Aaliyah's first film, Romeo Must Die. As I reported earlier this month, Queen of the Damned looks to be quite 'effects heavy' and we can look forward to some great visual sequences in the film!

Pictures of three rare stickers from the Death Valley Concert can now be found online at Dark Horizons (19th January update). These stickers were given out in select souveneir bags only and, personally, I did not receive them. However, I have heard from people who did and an account can be found at the end of my Death Valley Concert page.

EMPIRE magazine has published a small article concerning 'Queen of the Damned'. This magazine has been a popular British publication for years. However, there is now a brand new Australian version, and the premiere issue is out now. The Aussie website is still under construction, and so here is a copy of the article: (special thanks to Anne Paton for sending me the transcript!)

"EMPIRE" magazine
January/February 2001
Issue 01

The Queen Of The Damned

Stars: Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah
Director: Michael Rymer

The *Interview With A Vampire* sequel has kept the Melbourne film industry busy with goths turning up for concert scenes all over town (with tastefully written banners saying stuff like "suck me Lestat"), while local actors like Claudia Black and Tiriel Mora bite into small parts. Funnily enough Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt have been spotted around some locales being used by the film crew at that time - making some suspicious there may be a secret cameo or two, though Black officially denies it. A lot of filming has taken place in an abandoned Nestle factory, a facility you could squeeze all of Sydney's Fox Studios into and still have a lot of room to spare. Nevertheless, numerous reviews of the script indicate that fans of the book may be disappointed as there's been some changes. For example the very serious Armand (Antonio Banderas in the first film) is now more of a "teenage rebel" than a brooding master of the dark. The most interesting sounding scene? When the Queen (Aaliyah) rises from the dead and appears at Lestat's rock concert causing mass mayhem and lots of teenagers trampling on each other - now that's entertainment.

By Garth Franklin

Please note: As I clarified last year, the rumours about Tom and Brad were quite false. 'The Age' newspaper confirmed that this information was not true and the 'sightings' were only unsubstantiated rumours.

The Filmnet Daily Newsletter has published an interesting little article about cinematography which contains some very positive comments about Ian Baker's work on QotD:

Filmnet Daily (Edition 4.001)
Mon 15th January, 2001

Queen of the Damned gets Kodak Cinematography Attachment

For the third successive year, the Entertainment Imaging group at Kodak has offered the Kodak Cinematography Attachment through Film Victoria.

The latest successful applicant, John Radel earned the opportunity to work alongside world famous cinematographer, Ian Baker, on the high budget international production, Queen of the Damned. Radel describes the experience as, "a once in a lifetime opportunity that allowed me to learn far more than I ever expected. It was interesting to see how Ian Baker worked tirelessly with the producers, actors and an extremely large crew to bring everything together and ensure that the call sheet was shot on schedule each day. I couldn't have asked for a better production or cinematographer to work with - it was a dream come true"

Forming part of Film Victoria's Industry Development Initiatives Scheme, the Kodak Cinematography Attachment provides the successful applicant with an invaluable opportunity to learn from industry professionals and, in the case of Queen of the Damned, experience a production environment that is world class. Radel recalls, "It was fantastic. We shot everything from green screen effects to explosions and night shots all in widescreen anamorphic format.".

(For more information about the Kodak Cinematography Attachment, visit the Kodak Website)

As promised, I have now posted more script pages. I aim to add weekly script updates from now on.  I also plan to start work again on my 'Personal Script Analysis' very soon, as I have quite a few things to say!

16th January, 2001

  With very special thanks to Amy, I now have another photo of Marguerite Moreau to add to my Cast page! :) Despite extensive searching, recent pictures of this young actress have been rather difficult to find on the internet... until now! The following pic can be found on the official site of her upcoming movie, 'Wet Hot American Summer'. This is the best photo I've seen so far although, in QotD, Marguerite does have Jesse's trademark red hair...

Earlier this month, I pondered over the Australian release date for the film. Two dates had been listed on two separate sites. These were 4th October and 1st November.  I favoured the earlier release date for all the obvious reasons... However, it seems that 1st November, 2001 is actually the more likely of the two. Two resources have now listed this date - The Age and Village Roadshow. (Special thanks to Alex Lum for helping me out with this!) It turns out that 4th October is an older release date... Therefore, as of today, I am tentatively treating 1st November as the Australian release date. However, as Garth from Dark Horizons warns: "In any case it'll likely change again - in any one month there's more than 50-60 changes in the Aussie film release schedule." The US release date also tentatively remains as 5th October, 2001.

Anyone who watches 'The Rosie O'Donnell Show' - take note! This Wednesday (17th) she will be interviewing Maharet herself, Lena Olin! Knowing Rosie, she is bound to ask questions about 'Queen of the Damned'! Rosie is a great Anne Rice fan and loved 'Interview With The Vampire', so it's only natural that she'll be interested in this movie too! We do not get 'The Rosie O'Donnell Show' down here in Australia on commercial TV (I'm not sure about cable?) so, unfortunately, I will not get a chance to see it... If anyone happens to watch and Lena does talk about the film, please e-mail me! :) (Special thanks to Jennifer Hoover for the notification!)

Some of you may have noticed that I removed 'My Opinions' page from my site a few weeks ago... Well, I am pleased to announce that it's back! It still looks the same, but I have updated my thoughts and added a lengthy section to the end about what to expect from this film. Feel free to take a look! Also - drum roll please! *smiles* More script is finally on its way! I am planning to add more pages later this week... Yes, it's coming, and hopefully I can get things rolling again real soon!

11th January, 2001

This site has won another award! :)

Very special thanks go to Blackcat for awarding 'The Queen of the Damned Movie Site' with 'The Best Dark Site Award'. It will now be permanently displayed on my main page. 'The Best Dark Site Award' is one of several awards that can be found at Blackcat's Anne Rice Site. This is a great site that includes sections on the vampires and witches, as well as Anne and her newest book, Merrick. There is also a section about the film that features my absolute favourite picture of Stuart Townsend... And, if you like the above award, be sure to check out the 'Win An Award' section too!

I have now begun a brand new 'Miscellaneous Articles' page. This page will feature a variety of different articles about the film and I plan to add more very soon... The first article to be posted is called "The Resurrection of the Undead; With their eerie ability to change according to the times, vampire films return. In a sense, they never really went away." Yes, believe it or not, Queen of the Damned is featured in there! The article discusses and compares vampire films and perceptions of modern times... I found the comments about the QotD film quite amusing. My favourite lines?
"Queen of the Damned" also seems poised to lure the girl-power generation that has made "Buffy" and its spinoff, "Angel," cult hits for the youth-skewed WB network. Surround Lestat and Queen Akasha with dense, dark music provided by industrial rockers Korn, and Anne Rice's characters are once again ready to infuse fresh blood into the vampire tradition.
Other notable sections include:
- Wes Craven (director of Dracula 2000) stating that Dracula is "the James Bond of evil." (!) Chronicles fans may be familiar with this comparison, as Lestat has been referred to as the 'James Bond of vampires'...
- Steven Katz (writer of Shadow of the Vampire) comparing the release of both 'Interview With The Vampire' and 'The Vampire Lestat' with the AIDS epidemic.
- The comment: "At the end of the night, there's a vampire for every demographic, a Dracula for each generation."
- The 'Vampires Through the Ages' section which lists the 'evolution' of vampire films...
Yes, this is a must-read for movie fans, Chronicles fans, and anyone interested in vampires in general!
(Very special thanks go to Jennifer for searching through the archives and sending this article to me!)

9th January, 2001

After last month's release of the first two official photos from the film, it seems that more screenshots will soon be on their way! :) Debbie Campbell reports:
Things were quiet in work the other day so I decided to do a bit of research enquiring about official pix from 'Queen of the Damned'. Imagenet haven't received any but they gave me the press number for Warner Bros (in Britain). I was told by them that they had no note of any official British dates, and therefore they would not have any pictures either. So they told me to phone the Head Office in Burbank, California. So, I did this, on behalf of one of the magazines we do, and was officially told that pictures are not ready to be released for at least another month. They told me to phone back then and they would Email some in advance :o)

Research has always been the key to finding out more about the film, and this is a great example of how it can pay off! Well done, Debbie! As always, keep an eye on Debbie's QotD Movie Cast Site for these screenshots plus much more. Let's hope we see more movie photos next month... And yes, thanks to Debbie, I will also be posting the screenshots here when the time comes!

The IMDb now has 'Queen of the Damned' listed as being in post-production. This indicates that all filming has been completed, and coincides with the above news that more screenshots will be available soon *fingers crossed!*

As was mentioned in my last update, many of you may have experienced difficulties in accessing my site over the last few days... I am pleased to announce that this Geocities problem now seems to have been resolved and, as far as I can tell, this site is back to normal! :)

6th January, 2001

Two new QotD articles today! The first is called 'Sequel With The Vampire'. Click the link to view the scanned article from the English magazine, 'SFX'. It was a December special edition called 'The Unofficial Buffy Collection' and included information about all sorts of vampire movies and series. (special thanks to Linda for this article!)

The second article was found at the Variety website. Special thanks to Alex for taking the initiative to search the site! He wrote to me explaining that, inspired by Sera Adora's tale sighting of a QotD mention in "Variety" (see last update), he checked the Variety website and found they had a special free trial membership offer (unfortunately, this has now expired). He signed up and found this great interview with Stuart Townsend! The link still appears to work but, just in case, here is the full transcript (the article was listed under 'Film News' and posted on 24th October, 2000):

STUART TOWNSEND

By Nick Madigan

Home town: Howth, Ireland

Training: The Gaeity School of Acting in Dublin, after which he and some mates formed a theater company "because we couldn't get a job."

First paying job: The play "True Lines," created after seven weeks of intensive improvising in a small provincial theater

Impressed by: American movies like "Angel Heart" and "Jacob's Ladder"

The future: "I'll always return to the theater, to the simplicity of acting. Film is very fragmentary, but the theater is where you really test yourself. You get complacent otherwise."

"My brain is completely fried," Stuart Townsend groans after his first all-night shoot for "Queen of the Damned" on location in Melbourne, Australia. "I've got to get used to this."

That's putting it mildly. Townsend, fresh off a nine-week run opposite Helen Mirren in Nicholas Hytner's London production of Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending," is facing another two weeks of night shoots, then two weeks of days, followed by another three weeks of nights. "Well, it is a vampire movie," says Townsend, who plays the fanged Lestat in the adaptation of Anne Rice's novel. The part -- last interpreted by Tom Cruise in 1994's "Interview with the Vampire" -- does have its rewards. A few days earlier, 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 in which Lestat becomes "a vampire rock star."

"I loved it," Townsend says. "That's always been a desire of mine, especially after watching 'Goldfinger' as a kid."

Growing up in Howth, a small fishing village near Dublin with no moviehouse, Townsend raided the only video store in town until he'd seen everything it contained. "It was a sad day," he recalls.

Things brightened when he met a girl who was taking acting classes and joined up. Later, he and fellow thesp John Crowley won an award for writing the play "True Lines," which they performed at the Dublin Theater Festival and the Bush Theater in London.

Townsend's film work -- often playing the romantic lead -- includes "Under the Skin," "Shooting Fish," "Resurrection Man," "Wonderland" and the upcoming "About Adam," which has him back in Dublin, seducing a torch singer played by Kate Hudson.

Down Under, Townsend pauses to consider his good fortune. "It's a dream come true and all that," he says. "It's a crazy life, it's adventurous. You get thrown to the other side of the world for four months at a time. Very strange."

My favourite part of the interview is highlighted in red! :) This 'silver Lestat' will appear in one of Lestat's rock videos, but I'm not sure which one. Several videos are featured in the script and appear on television sets in various scenes... He definitely didn't look like this at the Death Valley concert! This 'silver Lestat' image will take some getting used too, I think! It kind of makes you wonder what else they've done to Lestat throughout the film?!

Another tidbit of information that was found at the Variety website was that Manex Visual Effects (of "The Matrix" fame) are doing the visual effects for the film according to an article on their new CEO. The film is apparantly quite "effects-heavy".

Contrary to my last update, it seems that the Australian release date for the movie is still in question! Just a couple of days ago, The Age listed the date as 1st November, 2001. However, it has now been brought to my attention that Dark Horizons has the film listed for a 4th October release, the day before the US!!! (thanks again to Alex for the notification!)

The Dark Horizons release date can be found through 'Movie News - Dates & Boxoffice - Australian Film Release Date Schedules'. The site is a very reputable one but, like I've said before, these things have a habit of changing several times throughout the year. All dates are only tentatively set until a couple of weeks before the actual distribution of the film. In regards to the Australian release of 'Queen of the Damned', we now seem to have two dates nearly a month apart! I am hesitant to favour one over the other, but I have to admit that 4th October sounds right. After all, we did get 'X-Men' the day before the US, and I'd like to believe this was because it starred my favourite Australian actor, Hugh Jackman! :) It's a similar case with QotD as it was mainly filmed here... However, as always, this is just my personal speculation and all release dates remain unconfirmed!

Finally, a quick apology to anyone who has experienced difficulties accessing this site over the last day or two. Some people, including myself, have found pages loading with errors or, even worse, not loading at all! Yes, it seems that Geocities has been telling some of us that my site no longer exists! Of course, this isn't true and is purely a Geocities problem. The QotD Movie Site has now been operational for nearly 10 months at this address, and I've never experienced any problems like this before. Hopefully, this is just a temporary setback. In the meantime, remember that if you ever have problems accessing the site, just press your 'refresh' button a few times and the pages should load. If anyone experiences further problems, please e-mail me and I'll see what I can do!

4th January, 2001

The Australian release date has been announced!
1st November, 2001

While the US date (5th October) was revealed some time ago, this is the first we've heard of the Australian date. While I must admit I was hoping for a release a little closer to the US, a month later isn't *too* bad considering some movies take forever to reach our shores! I'm sure that fellow Australians will be pleased to hear this date has been tentatively set. Yes, as always, the dates are still tentative for both Australia and the US. Release dates have a habit of changing several times as the 'big day' draws closer throughout the year... Still, it gives us a good indication of how long we have to wait until 'Queen of the Damned' finally hits the big screen! And so the countdown begins...

We're only 4 days into the new year, and already 'Queen of the Damned' has been labeled one of the 'Top 40 Best Movies of 2001'! Well, according to The Age, at least! The Melbournian newspaper today published an article listing a whole heap of movies to watch out for this year, and 'Queen of the Damned' was right there amongst all the much-hyped titles! It was listed between 'AI: Artificial Intelligence' (Steven Spielberg's next), 'Ocean Eleven' (Steven Soderbergh's next) and the first installment of the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. However, the write-up for QotD was... for lack of a better word... flimsy... (!) (For a transcript of the entire article, click here)

Queen of the Damned

Stars: Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah Haughton, Vincent Perez, Hugo Weaving

Director: Michael Rymer

Plot: The vampire Lestat is back, this time as a rock star.

Buzz: The biggest production ever shot in Melbourne could see Victoria renamed The Garden Lestat.

Opens: November 1

Okay, there's a couple of things to clarify here! Yes, Hugo Weaving is listed as a 'star'. However, I am 99.9% sure that this is absolutely false. Most of you would have noticed Hugo on my Cast page. While it's reportedly true that he was indeed offered a role in QotD, he apparently declined. Furthermore, this role was supposedly Marius, a character that has been officially filled by Vincent Perez. As far as I know, no QotD cast list on the net has credited Hugo, and so I have no idea how this rumour resurfaced. As always, I cannot 100% deny this claim. However,  Hugo is currently busy working on upcoming films such as 'Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring' in New Zealand and, soon, the 'Matrix' sequels in San Francisco and Sydney. Therefore, I maintain that this casting info is false. Also in the 'Buzz' section - "Victoria renamed The Garden Lestat"?!?! Um, I don't think so!!! Besides, despite being shot in Victoria, the film is actually set in LA! ;)

An article on QotD in Variety magazine? Sera adora reports:
"Yesterday I was holding a copy of Variety, it was some kind of Warner Bros/Village Roadshow special (actually I have no idea what kind of edition it was) and it had Queen of the Damned on the cover. Just the name, so there had to be some article about it. So I tried to find it, just saw ads and no QotD, and then the guy that worked at the store said it was no library and that I had to stop reading all the mags. Since the mag was at least 3 times the price as it's supposed to be I couldn't afford it. So maybe anyone else can see what the article was about..."
If anyone else does happen to find this article, please e-mail me!

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