AMC’s television series is a faithful adaptation with its own identity
By Rachel Walz
“Interview with the Vampire” is a classic 1976 vampire novel that put author Anne Rice on the map and started the ‘Vampire Chronicles” series. The 1994 film is a gothic horror with a star studded cast that left big shoes to fill. The “Interview with the Vampire” series on AMC, however, does its best to fill them, and in many ways outclasses the film.
The series is a modernized retelling of the same basic plot as the original novel and film. Reporter Daniel Malloy interviews the vampire Louis de Pointe du Loc about his life and undeath. Immediately, there is a modernization to this version; rather than the book and film’s twenty-something ‘boy’, Daniel Malloy here is a man in his late sixties suffering from Parkinson’s, played by Eric Bogosian. Bogosian is excellent in the role; his sarcastic comments and deep voice immediately invoke Anthony Bourdain, and give some comic relief to the gothic horror.
Louis’s background is also updated; rather than a white plantation/slave owner in colonial Louisiana as in the film and book, he is a Black Creole brothel owner in New Orleans in the early 1910’s, played by Jacob Anderson. Louis’s charm and good looks attract the attention of the seductive and mysterious Lestat de Lioncourt, played by Sam Reid. After Louis witnesses and is blamed for his brother’s death, he becomes depressed and seeks either death or redemption. He visits a church and prays for forgiveness, but Lestat kills the priests and offers Louis ‘the Dark Gift’ of vampirism. Louis accepts, becoming both a vampire and Lestat’s lover.
The show makes it rather clear that Louis and Lestat are romantic partners, not just vampiric ‘companions’, a more than welcome change. The books are written to imply a romantic relationship, but there is room for plausible deniability until much later in the series. The film leaves much of the romance to subtext; again, a strong suggestion of romance, but not directly addressed as such. Here, the show has Louis and Lestat as undeniably romantic partners; Louis outright acknowledges himself as gay, and Lestat is shown to be bisexual. The growth in civil rights and acceptance is also commented on by Louis, as he has borne witness to this growth first hand.
The relationship between Lestat and Louis is best described as a beautiful disaster, however; Lestat becomes controlling, cruel, and violent. Louis considers leaving Lestat, but he encounters a young girl named Claudia burning to death, and begs Lestat to give her the Dark Gift and to raise her as their daughter. The three live in bliss for a while, but Claudia becomes dissatisfied; her mind grows older, yet her body is perpetually that of a young teen. Worse yet, Lestat’s darker tendencies resurface, forcing Louis and Claudia to either leave Lestat, or destroy him.
The second season, adapting the second half of the novel, focuses on Louis and Claudia exploring Europe in the twilight of World War II to find other vampires. Their journey leads them to their encounter with the Theatre Des Vampires, a Parisian coven that disguises their feedings and vampiric nature as merely theatrical production. Louis also meets his new romantic partner Armand, leader of the Theatre coven.
This series does an excellent job at both updating and adapting the novel. It is not a 100% accurate retelling; far from it. What it does do is adapt the core heart of the novel while still having its own identity and updating more outdated aspects. Sam Reid is even more enjoyable as Lestat than Tom Cruise’s take, and Jacob Anderson’s Louis is much more fleshed out and charming than Brad Pitt’s. Their chemistry is undeniable, and their romance comes across as toxic yet true. For fans of Anne Rice, of vampires, or of queer series, this is a series worth sinking your teeth into.
‘Interview with the Vampire’ is streaming on AMC+, with the first season available on Netflix. Season 3, adapting “The Vampire Lestat”, is set to release in 2025.
