Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) in AMC Networks’ “Interview with the Vampire” is almost beyond description.
An immortal vampire hundreds of years old, he is terribly lonely, unable to share, unintentionally yet compellingly charismatic. He is the epitome of unrestrained love and yet treats humans the way a cat is around a mouse before killing it. He dismisses his aristocratic background, yet can’t help but embody it. Equally cruel, condescending, passionate and loving, he is a terrifying monster and an irresistible lover.
It’s what makes him so transfixing to Louis de Pointe du Lac (“Game of Thrones'” Jacob Anderson), his undead protégé and seemingly eternal soul.
“I feel like he’s shaking. He changes all the time and that’s never a thing,” Reid told TheWrap in an interview, later adding, “The relationship between Louis and Lestate is central to that series. And they always come back to each other and they destroy each other and make sure that, in fact, from Season 1, it’s established that they’re in this romantic relationship.”
Based on the seminal book of the same name by Anne Rice, the sprawling series (which has already received an early renewal of Season 2) spans centuries, set in Jim Crow-era New Orleans in the early 20th century by Louis and Lestate. An excavation of the sensual romance of K and pre-modern-day memories as told to veteran journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Written, executive produced and shorn by Rollin Jones, the contemporary adaptation of the gothic classic stays true to the original text, while redefining some aspects of it, such as exploring the dynamics of racial power between duets, and Claudia (Bailey Bass). ), the aging of Louis and the daughter of Lestat.
Read on for TheWrap’s Q&A with Reid, where he delves deeper into the psychology of his character and the seductive, enduring nature of vampire stories.
This interview was condensed for brevity and clarity.
TheWrap: First, can you talk about how you heard about the role and the process of getting it?
SR: I read books as a teen, I’ve been a huge vampire fan – all kinds of vampire media and books and movies – my whole life. I didn’t know if I would ever get a chance to be honest, but I read that they were turning it into a television series and I was hoping I would get a chance to audition for it. I put down a tape, I was sent the script and I thought it was extraordinary, and Rollins did such a wonderful job of translating Anne Rice’s mood into her script.
I remember the audition they sent there [were] Lots of parentheses ‘in French’, but all lines were written in English. And I thought, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it in French,’ and I studied French in school, but I didn’t really pick it up for a long time — I wasn’t very good at it, I really Didn’t pay much attention, which was a really frustrating thing for me at the time. But my sister speaks French, so I spent a lot of time with her and on Google Translate and tried my best to translate Rollin’s beautiful dialogue into French and then learn it. And that took forever, but I laser-visioned it to make sure I got it right.
Sent the tape and met up with Rollins and we chatted about Lestat and where it was going and then we read the chemistry with Jacob on Zoom, which was a weird experience… because of the time zone. It was challenging, so I didn’t meet anyone in person until I moved to New Orleans.
I tried studying French for, like, six months before I gave up, and I found your French was really good, so I was going to ask if you were fluent.
I’m still taking French lessons and piano lessons and things that are very important aspects of character but yeah, I was definitely coming into it quite fresh.
You’ve been into period pieces before, but was there any kind of research into this mythical world or training for ‘Vampire 101’ prior to filming?
It was actually books. Whenever I had a question or was confused about how to watch a specific scene, I would just go back and try to find a similar scene or scene because every time [Lestat] Speaks, he is talking about his entire existence, which is beautifully laid out on this extraordinary roadmap.
What was important to tell about this character, his motivations, and what is his essence?
I think he’s shaking. It changes all the time and it is never a thing. Rollins manages to uncover this in two ways, as a pervasive point is revealed in all the books, which is that it is the narrators who narrate the books. [and] Go back and look at history points from a different point of view or a character has changed… and so he brings that dynamic back to the show by asking Molloy to question Louie. There are elements of what’s real, what’s memory, so it seems to me that Rollins does such an amazing job of actually encapsulating that specific thing that Anne Rice’s universe has.
There’s also a luscious, vicious sensuality to all of her work, and the way she describes things, dresses and takes the time to really be present in her character as well. If you’re immortal, you have to try to make the best of every night, but sometimes a lot doesn’t, so after you’ve had a kill, you just sit and look at the wallpaper, or you sit and Let’s see the details on a piece of cloth.
And yet, of course, because AMC [has] Right to the entire ‘Vampire Chronicles’ series, the relationship between Louis and Lestat is at the center of that series and they always come back to each other and they destroy each other and make sure that, in fact From season 1, it is established that they are in this romantic relationship, which allows us to take the show further.
In addition, there is a power dynamic between Louis and Lestat, with the latter being a veteran vampire and, more broadly, Jim Crow’s background in the early 20th century. How do you see their love story, and is it even a love story?
Sure, I think it’s a love story. Lestat is very powerful, and he has lost a lot of the most important people in his life, some of them whom he has turned into a vampire and they still leave him, because he is not a straight man. And so he’s trying to find a relationship that can last, but he’s especially in love with Louis, and he sees her and he sees her strength and he sees the complexity of this man and How is he working in this world, putting aside what is. He wants to share his immortality with her, but he doesn’t understand it – there’s a whole bunch of elements that Lestat doesn’t understand because he’s no longer bound to humanity. He is above this in his mind. It’s a huge dynamic between the two of them because he doesn’t understand the things that Louie needs – even as a vampire, he’s still marginalized. Lestat really needs to learn from Louis and grow from him. He doesn’t, but he should.
Lestat has this aristocratic, even superior, air about him. Do you think this symbolizes himself as a character, or rather a larger character trait for vampires, who can clearly do things that humans can’t?
Anne Rice was very clear about her backstory: she grew up in an aristocratic French family. They were very poor aristocrats, but he still grew up in a world of courts and air and glory, but he’s also an actor, so he’s very performative in his nature, that’s why you don’t really know he What is he doing because a lot of time he is spending on just one show. He is not being truthful. He’s deliberately trying to seduce, he’s intentionally putting air and grace and food out of things, which is probably covering up too much of his darkness. There [are] things internal to him apart from the Just [being] A vampire, I would say.
He’s always playing about that line, ‘I can actually swim through space.’ He has so much power that I really, really don’t need to assert myself at all.
How much is that display hiding their loneliness and the sadness you describe?
100%. With Louis, he wants her to love him for himself, so he hides a lot of his powers. He doesn’t really show her what he can do, and he’s a pretty powerful vampire by this point. This is an unsafe place for him. A lot of things have been taken away from him, but he has the ability to endure and make the most of the situation, so he is a very proud monster. He wants the best for himself and he wants to enjoy it and he doesn’t want to feel like a monster – he wants to feel like a god.
The show is, of course, based on Rice’s seminal work, but why do you think the vampire lore continues to resonate with audiences?
First, vampires – it’s built within their DNA to crave love and longing for a significant other, you have Nosferatu and you have Dracula. People love a good love story, and it becomes even more insatiable if you extend it to centuries and eternity. Why do I think [Rice’s] The books are so incredibly popular that – just like Mary Shelley with “Frankenstein” – you put forth the psychology of the monster, that’s the point of view. So they are human, because a human is interpreting the perspective of a demon. So it may reflect all these questions we ask ourselves: Am I a good person? Is this the right thing to do? Am I normal, am I right?
“Anne Rice Interview with the Vampire” premieres its first two episodes on October 2 on AMC and AMC+.
