Have you ever met Mrs. Rice? I met her at a signing in my state around 1997, when Violin was published. She personalized my copy for me and I thanked her for coming out. Very nice in the few moments I spoke with her.
Yes, Lestat is a wonderful, wonderful figure. It's unbelievable how much those books shaped my world for pretty much the entire decade of the 90's. I was really drawn into them. Looking forward to getting back to 6-7 books I've yet to read (including Vittorio and Taltos).
As far as Interview, the movie: My all time favorite scene was the beginning with the shot coming in from San Francisco bay and the Libera Me song in the background. Very eerie, and very evocative of the despair the characters would feel.