Aaliyah Lives On In Her Latest Role © GeneGeter.com

By Gene Geter Aaliyah may be gone, but she still lives through her music videos such as "More Than A Woman" and "Rock The Boat." Word is, she has enough material for another album, yet, it's still a mystery if her footage will remain in the upcoming film, "The Matrix Reloaded." In the meantime, Aaliyah can be seen in "Queen Of The Damned," which opens at theaters nationwide February 22. Aaliyah had admitted time and time again that she had a likeable dark side. She liked getting scared and she loved Stephen King books. She expressed once how she would had loved to have been Jodie Foster in her all-time favorite movie, "Silence Of The Lambs." "Queen Of The Damned" must have really appealed to her. Following is a previously unpublished interview about the movie. Gene: "Queen Of The Damned" is based on Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles"? Aaliyah: It fuses two of her books, "The Vampire Lestat" and "Queen Of The Damned." Gene: Is it a sequel to "Interview With The Vampire"? Aaliyah: No, it's not really a sequel, but part of a series from the "Chronicles." Gene: Tell me about the movie. Aaliyah: It tells the story of Lestat played by Stuart Townsend. He's really the star of the film. You see him become this rock star and his music awakens Akasha, who is the queen which I play. She's the original vampire, the mother of all vampires. Very evil, very powerful. She's bit of a brat because in her time, even though she's a queen, they were very young in Egypt. She's in her early twenties and she's always gotten what she wants. She's this very regal, statuesque being, but she's crazy. And she loves who she is. She loves being a vampire and she feels all vampires should live openly, do what we wanna do. The other ancient vampires don't agree and that's why they want to stop her. Gene: So it's very different from "Interview With The Vampire"? Aaliyah: There's a lot more action. Lot more blood. [Laughs] Lot more blood in this one, but it's a really cool flick. Gene: I had seen photos of you from this movie on the internet especially one with you and Townsend in a tub of roses. Aaliyah: I don't want to give away everything, but that's the scene, my little love scene. I had to get over my shyness very quickly. As much as this character is crazy, she's very sexual. You'll see. Gene: It seems like you had a lot of fun. Aaliyah: I had so much fun, but it was a big challenge. I love vampires, always loved them since I was little and Akasha was perfect. It was a dream come true to have this role. Not only she's a vampire, but Egyptian. My apartment is decorated with a lot of Egyptian artifacts. It took a lot to bring her to life. She needed an accent so I had to work with an accent coach for a month to come up with one for Akasha. I did another month of rehearsals in Australia just working with dance coaches in how she should move and wire work to make her fly which was really a lot of fun to do.