ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIP SERVICE WEB MAGAZINE
Anybody disappointed that the casting for Interview with the Vampire, at least in the case of Armand, did not follow the description set forth by Anne Rice in the obscenely popular novel? Show of hands? *crickets* Yeah, me neither. Sure, Armand was supposed to be a lovely boy with a Botticelli face and sweet curls, but who can begrudge another opportunity to watch Antonio Banderas smolder up the screen with his über-sexy self? He imbued Armand with a deeper, darker menace and a man’s sensuality. Win and win and big fucking win in my book. Yeah, I’ll admit, menace is a bit creeper coming from a boy with the countenance of an angel, but I’ll take brooding, simmering, sexy menace instead any frick’n day of the week. Banderas’ Armand represented a guilty conscious turned outward with unfiltered zeal. He was a very good boy turned very, very bad and we loved every second he was on screen.