The Ideal Lestat, And Other Occurrences

To my delight this week, SFX.co.uk reported that Anne Rice's The Tale Of The Body Thief has been optioned for a film by Ron Howard. Body Thief is, after The Queen Of The Damned, my favourite Lestat novel, and it got me thinking: who would best play the brat prince a third time around? Tom Cruise embodied the role incredibly in 1994's Interview With The Vampire, while Stuart Townsend fared less well in the dodgy Queen Of The Damned adaptation. Below are a couple of suggestions for the film's producers, off the top of my head, along with more news from the web this week.

Tom Hiddleston

(Thor, War Horse, The Avengers)

He pretty much nailed "villainous" in Thor. Plus, cheekbones.

Michael Fassbender

(Fish Tank, Inglourious Basterds, Shame)

Anyone who saw him as fallen angel Azazeal in Hex (a fairly early role) will know he can pull off seductive immortal rather well.

Robert Sheehan

(Misfits, Killing Bono, Season of the Witch)

Stay with me, here. Lestat is a spoiled, selfish braggard, is practically indestructible and lives without consequences. Tell me that doesn't remind you of a certain Misfit...

Ezra Miller

(Californication, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower)

Youthful and incredibly exotic-looking, Miller proved he can go to some pretty dark places in We Need To Talk About Kevin.

Vincent Cassel

(La Haine, Irreversible, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Mesrine)

Alright, so he is perhaps a little old to be playing Lestat, but put him in the right light and Cassel would effortlessly exude the decadent Frenchness that saturates the iconic character.

• In other book-to-film related news, Billy Connolly has joined the cast of The Hobbit.
• Valentine's Day approaches, and in anticipation Flavorwire have compiled a list of books to never, ever give your sweetheart.
• Granta have revealed the latest entry in their online New Voices series, dedicated to emerging talent: Runs Girl by Chinelo Okparanta.
• Are you a writer? Are you in love with Ryan Gosling? Somebody out there must have guessed there's a pretty big overlap in those two demographics, and came up with the genius Twitter account @GoslingLitAgent.