[Editor's note: The following contains some spoilers for Interview with the Vampire.]
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, airing on AMC and available to stream at AMC+, tells a story of epic love that is at times poetic and decadent, but also cruel and lonely, in seemingly equal measure. As a Black man in 1900s New Orleans, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) dreamed of more than his position in society would allow, which made the offer of immortality presented to him by Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) impossible to resist, but being intoxicated by the man and the powers wasn’t enough to fill the pain of regret and desire for atonement that could haunt him forever.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars Anderson and Reid talked about how showrunner Rolin Jones’ pilot script won them over, the beauty of the words of Anne Rice, how they approached their characters, doing the interview portion at the end of the shoot, how Louis and Lestat would describe their relationship, what it was like to shoot the sequence at the end of episode two, and how they feel about working in their coffins.
Collider: I love this show. I was one of those people that was really not sure what to make of the existence of this show, as I’m sure many people are feeling, but now having seen it, I think it’s absolutely beautiful and poetic. It’s so not at all what I expected, and I love everything about it.
SAM REID: Oh, great. That’s so good to hear.
When the possibility of being a part of this project came your way, what was your reaction? Did you wonder why? Were you intrigued and wanted to know more? Especially when a revisiting of something comes your way, do you tend to be more hesitant or more curious than you normally would be about a project?
REID: I was super curious. When I read that it was getting made, I really hoped that I would get a chance to audition for it. When I read the script, very early on, I just thought, “This is exactly what I think it should be.” And then, I just thought [showrunner] Rolin [Jones] had found the essence of Anne Rice’s writing so beautifully. So, I was just excited, really.
JACOB ANDERSON: I was less familiar with Anne Rice’s writing. I’d seen the film when I was a teenager, a long time ago, but I also had that thing, at the beginning, of slight skepticism and thought, “Why are they remaking that film? Why are they making that film into a TV show?” And then, I read Rolin’s script, the pilot script, and was like, “Hang on. I feel watched. I feel understood, on some level.” Then, I read the first book, and then the second book, and I felt sad for myself that I’d been deprived, or had deprived myself, of such beautiful writing and such a beautiful world that I think would’ve helped a lot, when I was growing up.
So you found out you’d be playing these characters, and know that you could be bringing these characters to life for what could be awhile, so that means the decisions that you make, early on, really count because you’ll be living with them for some time. Once you did find out that you had gotten these roles, where did you start? What was the first thing you did, on your path of finding your characters?
REID: I went back to the books, always. I was always going back to the books and rereading, and had to make sure that I could speak French and know the piano basics. I had to start those early. But in terms of Lestat, he’s an oscillating character. He’s quite different, in a lot of different circ*mstances. He’s different, in the books. He goes through a huge emotional journey, and he changes quite significantly. He’s being seen, initially, through the eyes of Louis, so he changes a lot. He is mercurial, I suppose. And so, you don’t want to put too much pressure, to set anything in concrete at all, because you need to be able to change, and he needs to be able to change. It is just beyond exciting, as an actor, to have the opportunity to play this kind of creature, that can evolve and adapt, and does so over centuries and centuries.
ANDERSON: For me, there were things that helped and things that made it slightly harder, in that we shot the interview at the end, so I could use all of this memory and could remember how things felt or how things looked to have a more concrete picture. But then, something that was kind of difficult was that you do have to make decisions that then inform things later. Because we’re meeting Louis now, in present day, there are things that had to be absolutely concrete. But then, Daniel Molloy says it, “Memory’s a monster.” Because I was reading the scripts, it wasn’t a surprise at the end, but you can choose those moments where you’re like, “Maybe this is the unreliable version of events. Maybe this might not have been how Louis responded in this moment.” I think that’s part of the fun. A lot of Anne Rice’s writing is characters going, “Well, maybe it didn’t happen like that.”
It’s even brought up to Louis that maybe he’s remembering things in the way that he’s choosing to shape them, instead of entirely accurately.
ANDERSON: Yeah, that’s so true. It’s such a human instinct. We are the hero in our own stories, which is not true. It’s never true.
Hypnotic, mesmerizing, and decadent are words that I would definitely use to describe the vibe of this series. The dialogue in it often sounds like poetry. What’s it like to get to work with, embrace, and really live in these words? Do you have to find a rhythm to make it easier?
REID: It’s so easy because it’s so beautifully written. It’s just insane. When you’re given such an extraordinary script, you look at it, and you’ve learned it because it’s so beautiful. We were so careful with it, and didn’t want to change anything that Rolin had written. It’s exactly what he wrote. It’s amazing. You can’t really ask for anything better, as an actor. It’s an utter gift, really.
ANDERSON: I second that. There’s not a lot more I could say.
There’s so much dialogue sometimes, and it’s just so beautiful to listen to, which I don’t think I’ve ever said about a show before.
ANDERSON: Yeah, it’s amazing. And you want to do it. I’m not saying this to brag, but I learned all of the interview. Sometimes people would be like, “You don’t need to learn that. Why did you do that? You didn’t need to do that.” But I did because it was fun. It’s like storytelling.
Sam, how would Lestat describe his relationship with Louis? And Jacob, in comparison, how would Louis describe his relationship with Lestat? Do you think they see it differently?
REID: I think that Lestat would probably say there are a few more sweeter moments between the two of them than maybe Louis remembers. I think Lestat loves Louis deeply. He loved him from the very beginning, as soon as he sees him, and he would do anything for him. And I think that’s how he would describe his relationship with Louis. He just wouldn’t admit the negative parts, even though they do exist. He would omit anything negative, if he were to describe their relationship.
ANDERSON: Yeah, I think Louis is the same. Louis doesn’t admit the negative, but this version of Louis, or certainly Louis at this point in his life, is more nuanced about their relationship. I think he does remember the romanticism of their relationship, but there’s a bit of a “can’t live with him, can’t live without him” kind of thing from Louis’s perspective, as well. He’s difficult to live with, impossible to live without. Maybe not impossible, but difficult to live without.
One of the scenes that really most stood out to me was at the end of episode two, where Louis is still in denial and there’s that whole sequence of Lestat playing the piano, singing, and trying to seduce him with blood, and then this man on the couch and them both feeding on him. What was it like to shoot all of that? Did that feel like quite a significant sequence to do?
REID: Yeah, because if you look at it on the page, it’s this beautiful script. But then, when you actually look at the actual elements that have to go into play, like playing piano, singing opera, speaking Italian, doing a stunt with a blood rig, and I have to lift the guy, there are a lot of elements that have to be broken up to actually make the whole thing work. It was quite challenging. But like I said before, it’s an amazing opportunity and it’s the kind of thing that you dream about, as an actor, being able to do. It’s really fun.
ANDERSON: I just had to read a book and watch you do that. It was hard. No. There’s so much in that scene, for everyone involved. There’s so much going on.
REID: Yeah, because you see the dynamics between the two of them. Rolin’s drawing out Louis’ humanity, having too much compassion for the victims, and Lestat’s humanity existing in art and his appreciation of music. And then, there’s the very Rice-ean conversation of, “You have to embrace what you are. You are an apex predator. You are a killer. You can kill, like the hand of God. This is an extraordinary thing, so do it with the most panache you possibly can.”
ANDERSON: And Louis is like, “I’m not feeling that right now.”
REID: These two characters are approaching the world from two very different points of view, but they still love each other, and they’re drawn or tied to each other through this vampire bond.
It must also be bizarre to have a job where you have to do scenes in a coffin. What goes through your head, in those moments?
ANDERSON: You’re the first person to ask us about the coffins, actually.
REID: They were real coffins. They’re really, really heavy coffins. To open them, they had to be pulled on these weighted ropes. They’re very heavy. It’s actually quite relaxing.
ANDERSON: My coffin is very uncomfortable. Bailey [Bass]’s is really nice. It’s like memory foam, bouncy and comfortable. But Sam got locked in. They couldn’t get him out.
REID: Yeah, it’s probably not the best because they have to be lifted up on ropes. It’s weird because they’re so heavy, but they’re kind of like sensory deprivation tanks. It’s so dark in there that all you can do is just close our eyes and relax.
ANDERSON: We had little speakers in them, so we could talk to each other and hear each other. That’s how thick the coffins are.
Yeah, I can’t imagine they make them very easy to get out of, from the inside anyway, because that’s not something you would normally need to have to do.
REID: That’s true.
Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire airs on AMC on Sundays and is available to stream at AMC+.
