The first season of AMC’s ‘Interview With the Vampire’ builds a textured and vibrant world, only to watch
it burns and bleeds.
Anne Rice’s beloved story of long-dead vampire Lestat (Sam Reid) and her latest creation, Louis (Jacob Anderson), tells of a relationship baptized in blood, fueled by passion and gutted by betrayal. Thanks to the series’ teams of artisans, the bond of Louis and Lestat lives and dies (and lives again) according to a visually coherent language that freezes around one thing: color.
Set designer Mara LePereSchloop and costume designer Carol Cutshall spent days with fabrics in hand, curating the series’ color palette, which moves Rice’s story to 19th-century New Orleans in the early 20th century and in the city’s red light district, Storyville.
“Even though we’re dealing with places like brothels, we thought of these spaces as sepia or black-and-white photographs,” says New Orleans resident LePere-Schloop. “So when we walk into Lestat’s townhouse – this immersive, colorful space with the art nouveau influences he brought from Paris – it’s like stepping into a new world. It’s parallel to the transformation of these vampires. Their sensory experiences go into overdrive.
At first, Cutshall dresses Louis as the beating heart of the story, whose amber color changes as Lestat’s grip tightens around him.
“When he’s in his element, he gets warm and golden,” Cutshall says. “That’s why when Lestat finds him, it’s like a moth to a flame. He shines in this gritty world.
To ensure their love dances above the humanity around them, Cutshall put on background extras in colors that made them look like sweaty cattle, while the special effects makeup team d ‘Howard Berger gave them a
grimy shine.
“Our vampires aren’t freaks and pale makeup,” Berger says. “They are the most beautiful people on Earth and we made everyone look a little disheveled.”
But soon, more icy colors and striped patterns seep into their wardrobe as Louis begins to feel like a caged animal in his affection for his creator, lover and abuser.
Even their house comes to reflect their suffocating dynamics. LePere-Schloop was initially unaware of the
the townhouse she created for Lestat would become a victim of their violence at the end of the season. But as they cohabit and create a companion in Claudia (Bailey Bass), shared coffins and romantic overtures give way to decades of clutter and resentments that begin to creep up the walls.
Claudia Textile Sketch – Interview with the Vampire _ Season 1, Gallery – Photo credit: Carol Cutshall, Costume Designer, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire/AMC
Carol Cutshall
“Everyone thinks it’s really hard for anyone in the art department to destroy sets, but honestly, I love it,” says LePere-Schloop. “It becomes this organic thing, it has a life cycle.”
LePere-Schloop and Cutshall weren’t the only ones to be led by color. Berger’s team has prepared a shade of blood for every occasion, including human blood, band-aid blood to cover actors, ingestible “mouth blood”, washable blood, and vampire blood made from pearl essence to sparkle.
While LePere-Schloop and Cutshall indulge in the tangled opulence of Lestat and Louis, subtly speak volumes when it comes to blood. “It was a very elegant bloodletting,” Berger says. “It was not a gorefest. It is vital. That’s what blood is to our vampires.
