Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire premieres on AMC on October 2, 2022.
Apart from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Anne Rice’s 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire is arguably the most influential inspiration for modern vampire canon. AMC’s two-episode premiere Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire makes an excellent argument for its continued relevance, serving both as a retelling and a sequel to Rice’s literary debut, showing a deep understanding of the source material even as it rewrites the story to deepen its central conflicts.
The show imagines that the young journalist, referred to only as “the boy” in the book, never published the interview he conducted with weary vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) in 1973. Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), an isolated old man, is given a second chance to tell the story of how a New Orleans resident met the seductive French vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and became a creature of the night.
Not only have times changed, but so has the story itself. Some of the lines are straight from the book, but the show takes great liberties with the plot. The timeline advances and Louis went from being a white plantation owner to a Creole owner of a brothel in New Orleans’ Storyville red-light district. The queer subtext has also evolved into a fully fledged homosexual relationship between Louis and Lestat.
These descriptions provide a rich basis for further developing the setting and the characters. Series creator Rolin Jones previously worked on Boardwalk Empire and his version of Louis shares much in common with Michael K. Williams’ Albert White. Both are black men who managed to gain wealth and prestige in a segregated city by becoming second-in-commands to powerful white men. While they have brought wealth and prestige to their families, they also struggle with the limits of what they can achieve.
Lestat thrives on this turbulence, with Episode 1 focusing primarily on the protagonists’ exciting courtship. Oppressed in every way, Louis hides his sexuality and is constantly forced to contain his anger and disappointment at how he is being belittled by the men he works so hard to impress. Lestat flaunts his money and vampiric skills to show Louis how little power they actually have. The show takes a light touch with special effects, making these powers shockingly subtle. During a poker game, Lestat appears to continue in polite conversation, but he slows down time so he can simultaneously have a private conversation with Louis and manipulate the cards to give him a winning hand.
Lestat offers Louis a behind-the-scenes look at another way of life – or unlife – that seduces him in every way imaginable. The show borrows from the eroticism of vampire stories with explicit sex scenes, while also exploring the inherent power imbalances between the two that result from Lestat’s age and abilities, as well as the privileges he enjoys simply for being a white male. Lestat tries to cheer up the always brooding Louis with opera tickets, though they’re more of a gift for himself. It’s not because Louis doesn’t like the music, it’s because he’s angry that he has to pose as Lestat’s servant to get into the separate theater.
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Yet the love between them feels real, a dynamic that unfolds by adding humor to the series’ drama and horror. In a beautiful setting, their coffins are shown side by side after they argue, Lestat’s disembodied voice begs Louis to talk to him because he doesn’t like going to bed angry.
These characters were played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the 1994 film Interview with the vampire, and it’s a testament to the show’s cast that their performances don’t feel like a downgrade in any way. Reid hits on Lestat’s swagger while also seeming to channel a bit of Mads Mikkelsen’s Hannibal while he indulges in luxury and despises everyone around him save the man who piqued his obsessive interest. Anderson deserved more screen time as Gray Worm game of Thrones and his soulful and passionate performance in Interview with a Vampire shows how wasted his talent was. A monologue in which Louis confesses the lies he tells himself and his fears about Lestat could easily come off as an overblown cliché, but Anderson’s delivery is electrifying.
Borgosian is the show’s third star, taking over the role previously played by Christian Slater. This version of Interview with the Vampire does significantly more with the framing story, with Daniel constantly going against Lois’ reports. As Lois gushes over the indescribable joy of experiencing a vampire’s enhanced senses for the first time, Daniel dismisses it as like any other high. When Lois describes the terrible temptation of feeding on a newborn, Daniel urges him to get straight to the point and tell him whether or not he ate the baby. Borgosian’s dry delivery adds humor to the scenes and puts a clever twist on the audience’s substitute as he asks questions with analytical detachment.
Daniel seems to know Louis almost as well as Lestat, baiting him with his stubborn refusal to be shocked or impressed, despite the vampire working hard to do both. Although the show is accessible to newcomers, it’s worth reading the book or watching the movie first just to see how much the writers transformed the characters, letting Louis indulge in the vampiric nature he once loathed . His chic skyscraper home in the United Arab Emirates is an almost as lavish setting as the production version of New Orleans, manned by so many servants that it suggests a disturbingly vast infrastructure the vampire has built to meet his needs to satisfy. An extended dinner scene in which Louis enjoys several courses of blood while Daniel looks on has the same blend of decadence and ferocity as one of Hannibal’s dinner parties.
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