After a Star’s Death, a Delicate Marketing Task

How do you market a ghoulish movie about the Mother of All Vampires who “takes pleasure in only one thing ... destroying life” when your young star is herself dead?

This was the dilemma confronting Warner Bros. with its horror picture “Queen of the Damned,” based on the Anne Rice novel. The death last summer of the star, R&B; singer-turned-actress Aaliyah, necessitated that the studio regroup and consult with the singer’s family on the appropriate marketing strategy.

Aaliyah’s death has had other unintended consequences. It has brought two fan subcultures crashing together: one is obsessed with an allegory about vampires, death and sexuality, and the other is consumed with the actual death of a promisingly talented, beautiful young woman. Neither camp particularly understands or likes the other, and their war of words has been raging over the Internet for months.

“What could we do with [the marketing campaign]? Nothing but go forward and hope for the best,” producer Jorge Saralegui said. “Is it ghoulish? It can certainly be seen that way. It’s certainly tragic and weird and upsetting to some people. The main thing was that her family was comfortable with it.” Aaliyah’s family was not available for comment.

“Queen of the Damned” is the third installment in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and the second feature film based on those books. The first, 1994’s “Interview With the Vampire,” received mixed reviews. In “Queen of the Damned,” the Vampire Lestat (played by Irish newcomer Stuart Townsend) has risen from a decades-long slumber determined to step out into the light. He reinvents himself as a rock star of the 21st century. But his music awakens the sleeping ancient Queen Akasha (Aaliyah) in her crypt beneath the Arctic ice. Akasha rises and tries to rule the modern world with her malevolent power.

That may seem like a strangely concocted tale to anyone who hasn’t read the novels, but it’s faithful to what Rice wrote. Her followers are as devoted and uncompromising to the story of these seductive vampires as J.R.R. Tolkien’s fans are to hobbits and elves and J.K. Rowling’s are to wizards and Muggles.

As was the case with the murder of Tejano singer Selena, Aaliyah’s death on Aug. 25 in a plane crash catapulted her to near mythic celebrity status. Her last album, “Aaliyah,” had been released in mid-July, debuting on the national pop chart at No. 2 according to SoundScan. The album slid heavily in subsequent weeks, but the week after her death, sales spiked 595%.

Because Aaliyah played the crucial title character, the studio had almost no choice but to play its marketing campaign straight as a vampire-horror movie with the 22-year-old actress the biggest selling point. Plans before she died had called for her to record a duet with Jonathan Davis, lead singer of the rap-rock band Korn, who composed the film’s soundtrack. Although the studio tried to avoid exploiting the star’s death, the movie has undoubtedly benefited from the ensuing publicity.

“With her death, she became even more famous,” Saralegui said.

Not releasing the $35-million movie was never seriously considered, Saralegui said, but marketing executives agreed not to refer to her death in the campaign.

Under the circumstances, marketing a movie about a 6,000-year-old vampire who lives to slaughter mortals and drink their blood became a tricky business.

Theatrical trailers and television spots show Aaliyah’s character, Akasha, slinking seductively toward Lestat, coyly calling out to him. The film also has some “Matrix”-style martial arts moves and fast action cuts. But the cold reality of Aaliyah’s death and the fantasy death world of vampires seem to collide when a voice-over says Akasha craves “hell on Earth” and sucking the life out of humans. Magazines such as Fangoria have gone so far as to put Aaliyah on their cover, promising a “sexy preview and pix.” In the photo, she is wearing fangs and blood is smeared over her mouth.

“We wanted to remain true to the movie and her character in the movie,” said Dawn Taubin, president of domestic marketing for Warner Bros. “That would be the most respectful to her. It’s basically a horror film.” But the marketing was only one in a series of challenges with “Queen of the Damned.”

Adapting an Anne Rice novel to the big screen is a difficult task particularly in getting the outspoken novelist to sign off on any changes. Rice, who was consulted but did not write the screenplay, did not approve of the first draft. She let the world know it by putting her opinion on her Web site. That unleashed a torrent of critical e-mails from loyal Rice fans.

To avoid a major backlash among Rice fans, Saralegui decided to engage in online discussions about the movie, the screenplay and the decision to cast Aaliyah. He had no idea what he was getting into. Since December, the bleary-eyed Saralegui has spent an average of two to three hours every day, including weekends and holidays, answering questions.

“I don’t think any producer in a Hollywood movie has done this,” Saralegui said. “Her fans are very passionate and very possessive. I’m doing it honestly just to generate goodwill. I wanted to give them the opportunity to talk to me about it. I’ve been talked at a lot, but that is the way it goes.... I had no idea it would be this much work.”

As for her casting, since Akasha came from a mythological place in ancient Egypt, studio executive Lorenzo di Bonaventura suggested that Saralegui and director Michael Rymer consider Aaliyah, whose label was Virgin Records. The role, they thought, could be perfect for an actor of color. Aaliyah had made a big impression with her debut in New Line Cinema’s “Romeo Must Die.” She had been cast in Warner Bros.’ “The Matrix Reloaded” but died before filming was completed. Studio executives and Rymer were impressed with Aaliyah’s reading and took a gamble in casting her as the lead.

This was a risk, considering the last time the studio dealt with an Anne Rice novel it took a lot of heat for casting decisions. In 1994, Rice said stars Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt’s “mom and apple pie” persona didn’t mesh with the European, impish, proud, semi-androgynous Vampire Lestat she created in “Interview with the Vampire.” Rice said Cruise was “no more my vampire Lestat than Edward G. Robinson is Rhett Butler.” When the movie was released, she changed course and said Cruise and Pitt had done a decent job.

This time, Rice has said she is pleased with “Queen of the Damned,” which she saw on DVD with Rymer in her New Orleans home. She also praised Aaliyah.

But the studio unwittingly angered some of her fans by casting an African American. They maintain that in the novel, Akasha is described as “white as marble.” This has pitted some Anne Rice fans against Aaliyah fans, each defending their side with equal ferocity.

“Akasha ... is EGYPTIAN (in origin) ... not colored/African American,” declares one typical Rice fan on the Web site. “I know at some point she stayed in the sun to tan herself, but she cannot go from pearly white to a mocha color.”

Aaliyah’s fans are quick to respond, charging that racism and ignorance are causing some of the novel’s devout fans to lose sight of Aaliyah’s performance. In fact, most of these people have not seen the film because it opens today.

“Aaliyah deserves the role more than everyone else,” wrote one fan. “She is #1. I can’t express in words how much I miss her. She is truly one in a million. I luv and miss u babygirl!! r.i.p.”