Why did Tom Cruise not play Lestat in Queen of the Damned?

Answer 1

Neil Jordan, the director of Interview with the Vampire, did not go on to direct Queen of the Damned. Australian born Michael Rymer, famous for the Battlestar Galactica TV series, took on the role of the director of the sequel. Tom Cruise was not asked to reprise his role as Lestat as he was deemed to old to play a rock singer as described in the book Queen of the Damned. Michael Rymer & Jorge Saralegui choose actor Stuart Townsend to play Lestat. The script mixed parts of the books The Vampire Lestat & Queen of the Damned together, although taking creative liberties and not telling the stories accurately. It was mainly the script that caused the movie to fail. Audiences were disappointed by the loss of Tom Cruise, but loyal Vampire Chronicles fans went to see it regardless. Stuart Townsend, in my opinion did a great job despite the terrible script. He is a great actor and did what he was paid to do. In my opinion, young R&B star Aaliyah was miscast as Akasha. Its a shame this was her final film, I would've liked to see her as Zee in the Matrix Reloaded, but sadly her death prevented that. The only thing I liked about this movie was the chemistry between Townsend & Marguerite Moreau (who played Jesse).

In 1994 Tom Cruise was 32yrs old when he filmed Interview with the Vampire. In 2002, at age 40, Cruise was only 10yrs older than Townsend who played Lestat in Queen of the Damned. I find it very ironic that Tom Cruise was eliminated from this film claiming he was "too old" to play Lestat, but then at age 50 Adam Shankman cast him to play a rock singer in Rock of Ages.

Whether or not Cruise had been cast to reprise the role of Lestat it couldn't have saved the film. It wasn't the fault of the actors/actresses, but the sloppy script they had to follow.