I read some of her early books, before they started getting stupid and just a vehicle to show off her latest interests. Lestat was her favorite character across the novels. Even though Interview is about Luis, Lestat is still the center of the her vampire universe. She had a knee-jerk reaction to the overly-popular Cruise being chosen for the role, especially since she wanted Rutger Hauer (who is a much better actor than Cruise). She later realized Cruise actually did pull it off fairly well, at least wasn't the disaster everybody expected. But they were all out-acted by Kirsten Dunst who played Claudia, the child vampire.
Dunst was ok, but I think her performance has been way overrated because she was a kid doing adult material. I liked the art direction, photography and score (a replacement score, done in like ten days), but the movie was a snore.
I thought that was Cruise's best role by far. It was the only time I've seen him really "act" rather than just playing Tom Cruise.