The Academy Awards ceremony is known for excluding names that many feel deserve recognition during the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment of the show (Tonya Roberts comes to recent mind). This year is no different with several articles already written listing missing names at last night’s telecast; names like Bob Saget, Norm Macdonald, and French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who all appeared in films to some capacity.
Author Christopher Rice release a statement shortly after the awards show to point out that his mother, the late novelist Anne Rice, should have been included in the segment for her contribution as screenwriter of the motion picture “Interview with a Vampire,” starring, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and a young Kirsten Dunst, whose turn as the child vampire Claudia earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Anne Rice also had two of her novels, “Exit to Eden,” and “The Queen of Damned,” adopted to the big screen.
“Since the Academy Awards didn’t see fit to recognize her contributions in their In Memoriam segment this evening, I’d like to take a moment to celebrate my mother’s accomplishments in film,” wrote Christopher Rice on his mother’s social media platforms. “She wrote the screenplay for the big screen adaptation of her novel INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, which remained the top grossing R-rated film for many years after its release and received multiple Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe nomination for Kirsten Dunst’s performance as the child vampire Claudia. Her novels THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED and EXIT TO EDEN were also turned into major motion pictures.
“My mother was a great admirer of film and its power and often cited various moves, such as ‘Dracula’s Daughter’, as having been profound influences on her prose,” he added. “She spent years working with Hollywood studios to develop various projects, many of them horror classics from their own library of IP. Throughout much of her life and career, her connection to the entertainment industry remained vibrant and strong. While our family is saddened by this omission, especially in light of the influence and power the film INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE had on so many subsequent vampire projects that followed, Anne’s accomplishments are undeniable and will live on forever among her loved ones and loyal readers.”
Anne Rice, (born Howard Allen Frances O’Brien) passed away on December 11, 2021, of complications from a stroke. Her son broke the news on social media the evening of her death.
The Academy Award’s 2022 In Memoriam included Sidney Poitier, William Hurt, Olympia Dukakis, Dean Stockwell and Betty White, along with filmmakers like Peter Bogdanovich, Ivan Reitman, Richard Donner, Melvin van Peebles, Lina Wertmuller and Jean-Marc Vallee. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was also honored.
The Academy Awards gave special tributes to Poitier, White and Reitman before the In Memoriam segment.
