Interview with the Vampire paved the way for vampire movies and set a standard in the creepy, dreary and grotesque. But it looks like it also pioneered the way movies use makeup as well. The makeup techniques used on set were like nothing else seen on a movie set before, just the thought of them would make you turn upside down...which is not far from the truth actually.
The cast of the horror film had to become real-life vampires... well not really but pretty close. Imagine the shock on their faces when they were told they had to get their vampire makeup done...for hours...hanging upside down.
The reason for having the cast hang upside down, fittingly for a vampire movie, comes down to blood. If the cast were suspended upside down the blood would rush to their heads and their veins would be visible. This would then help the makeup artist in drawing the vampire veins on their face.
The cast would have to hang upside down for thirty minutes and then the artists would trace the veins. If the blood drained too quickly, the cast member would have to repeat the process for another half an hour. The traced veins made for a horrifying ultra-realistic translucent look to the vampire faces.
Michele Burke, who was not new to vampire makeup, was the Head of Makeup on the Anne Rice adaptation. She also did the vampire makeup effects for Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, which involved just as many hours in the makeup chair as did Interview with the Vampire.
She took to Instagram to talk about her experience. Accompanied with a great shot of Tom Cruise, who played Lestat, surrounded by the makeup team in full vampire makeup, she said, "This is one of my absolute most favorite on the set photos. It really says all about what I do as a makeup artist on set in collaboration with "the team". I'll have to say it, "it took a village of very talented artisans" to create Lestat on Interview with the Vampire". I was the Makeup Department Head. Keep in mind that many others are not even pictured."
In an interview with Refinery29 Burke talked about the vision they had for the vampires. "There was a different sensibility with Interview with the Vampire," Burke said. "We were creating a vampire of substance that would mingle among people at night, but look worldly."
Even though the makeup was a defining aspect of the film, Brad Pitt, who played Louis, was not a fan of the extensive makeup, and has often said he hated doing the movie. But it would have cost $40,000 for Pitt to leave the movie, so he endured it.
Burke snagged two Academy Awards for Best Makeup before taking on Interview with the Vampire, one for Quest for Fire in 1981, and then for Bram Stokers Dracula in 1992, so it was fortunate that the film was able to have such an experienced artist on the team. Stan Winston's visual effects in Interview went on to be one of the most successful vampire movies ever.
The technique, although strange and unusual, went on to be extremely effective in transforming the cast into terrifying vampires. The veins looked so authentic that you can hardly tell the difference. It just good none of the cast passed out.