Trivia / Queen of the Damned

• Ashcan Copy: Anne Rice and Warner Bros. clashed over the creative direction of a sequel to Interview with the Vampire and pre-production on this film took so long that the rights were about to expire and return to Rice if a film didn't enter production by a certain date. As said date approached, a script was cobbled together from both The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned and Rice was shut out of the production.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Aaliyah starred in the film because she was a huge vampire fan, as well as being fascinated by Egyptian mythology.
• Billing Displacement: Aaliyah gets top billing despite not appearing until nearly an hour into the film. Of course the film was primarily marketed around the fact that this was her last starring role before her death.
• California Doubling: The concert scenes are set in Death Valley, California, but were actually filmed in Werribee, Australia.
• Disowned Adaptation: In contrast to the previous adaptation, Anne Rice felt this one was a disappointment that "mutilated" her work.
• Franchise Killer: While the film did moderately well, the poor reception caused plans for a third film to be stalled and as a result, Warner Bros.' film rights ultimately lapsed with Universal Pictures gaining it in 2014 before Anne Rice regained it in 2016.
• In Memoriam: The film is dedicated to Aaliyah, who played Akasha, after her death from a plane crash.
• Looping Lines: Aaliyah's brother, Rashad Haughton, helped with overdubbing her voice following her death due to their similar voices, special vocal technology was also used to make his voice sound more feminine.
• Non-Singing Voice:
  • Lestat's singing was done by Korn's Jonathan Davis.
  • Aaliyah's brother Rashad Haughton dubbed some of her ADR after her death. Special technology was used to make the voice sound more feminine.
• The Other Darrin: Stuart Townsend replaced Tom Cruise as Lestat after the latter declined to reprise his role.
• Posthumous Credit: Aaliyah, who played Akasha, died on August 25th, 2001 in a plane crash after shooting a music video in the Bahamas, a year before the film's release.
• Star-Derailing Role: The one-two punch of this movie and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen utterly demolished Stuart Townsend's film career and he has since stuck to television.
• Throw It In!: According to director Michael Rymer, all of the dialogue said by Jonathon Davis in his cameo as the ticket scalper who Jesse runs into was all improvised on the spot and the amused reaction by Marguerite Moreau is noticeably genuine.
• What Could Have Been: Wes Bentley, Josh Hartnett and Heath Ledger were considered to take over as Lestat.

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