Norm Macdonald gave Interview with the Vampire a review on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update that fit into a single punch line: “This week I saw Interview with the Vampire. And here’s my review: Um… not gay enough!”
The 1994 film cast Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt as Louis, 2 vampires whose life together gives the joke its setup. Lestat turns Louis, and their relationship stretches across decades of shared domestic life, jealousy and emotional dependence. With Claudia, a child vampire, they form a household that invites the reading of 2 men raising a daughter.
Anne Rice’s 1976 novel gives the blood exchanges an erotic charge, making the bond between a vampire and the person he turns part of its sensuality. The film carries that desire through its performances and gothic atmosphere while leaving Louis and Lestat’s romance in subtext. Rice later acknowledged the relationship’s romantic and sexual nature, and the television adaptation made their sexuality explicit.
The film opened widely in the U.S. on November 11, 1994. Yesterday marked its 32nd anniversary.
