Robert Downey, Jr. to play Lestat??!

Apparently, a new movie based on Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles books are in the works (rumor is it's The Vampire Lestat), and Robert Downey, Jr. is in talks to play Lestat de Lioncourt, the narrator for most of the books.

The Vampire Lestat is the second book in the series, and is written as Lestat's response to Interview with a Vampire, the first book. If you're kinda confused, This One will be about Tom Cruise, because the Previous One was about Brad Pitt.

Neither is in their original hair color in this picture.

As mentioned earlier, Lestat was formerly played by Tom Cruise in IwaV, while Stuart Townsend took on Lestat in Queen of the Damned. And as much as Downey Jr. can do Cocky And Brash, I'ma have to do a Rorschach and say, "No".

Between Cruise and Townsend, I've always preferred the latter (despite him not being blond), because he's just one of those guys who can never look old. Acting and movie aside, he always comes to mind when I read the books.

[The fact that he's cute didn't hurt :)]

BloodyDisgusting also reports that Anne Rice approves of the casting rumor, and she is totally supportive of Downey Jr. being Lestat. And addressing the 'age' argument, she even goes to say (and I quote), "A twenty year old man in the 18th century is the equivalent of an older man today."

Wat.

So, is she saying that a 20-year-old man back in the 1700s is as mature as a present man in his 40's, or that a man in his 40's today has the maturity level of a 20-year-old dude from three hundred years ago?

By 'age', we mean 'appearance', not maturity. Yes, Downey Jr. is a very good actor, but unless he gets major, major plastic surgery (or they give him major, major CGI and make him look like Patrick Stewart in Wolverine *blanch*), no freaking way this is gonna work without the writers tweaking a few crucial bits of storyline.

Fun Fact: If Downey Jr. does take the job, he'll be the third actor who isn't a natural blond, to play Lestat.