LOS ANGELES -- Geffen Pictures said Friday that Tom Cruise, among the most 'bankable' stars in Hollwyood, has agreed to perform the lead role in 'Interview With the Vampire.'
The film, scheduled to begin production Oct. 18, in New Orleans and London, will also star Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Stephen Rea and River Phoenix.
Warner Bros. will distribute the film worldwide.
'Interview,' based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Anne Rice and part of her series of Vampire Chronicles, is being directed by Neil Jordanand produced by Stephen Woolley and David Geffen.
The screenplay is by Jordan, who won the best screenplay Academy Award this year for 'The Crying Game,' and Rice.
Cruise worked for Geffen in the 1983 hit 'Risky Business,' which elevated Cruise into a star. He has since been in 'Top Gun,' 'The Color of Money,' 'Days of Thunder,' 'Rain Main,' 'Far and Away,' 'A Few Good Men' and 'The Firm' and is currently working on the movie 'Legends of the Fall.'
The announcement gave no details about Cruise's fee, but he is one of a handful of A-list stars -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson and Eddie Murphy are the others -- able to pull in $10 million-plus for doing a single movie.
There are about 50 stars currently able to command a fee of $2 million or more per film, but Cruise's films have been among the most consistently profitable. Even 'Far and Away,' which received a massive panning from critics, topped $50 million in domestic ticket sales.
Four Cruise films -- 'Top Gun,' 'Rain Man,' 'A Few Good Men' and 'The Firm' -- topped $100 million each in domestic grosses.
