How AMC’s Interview With The Vampire will expand on Lestat

AMC is readying a new series based on Interview With The Vampire, the landmark 1976 book from author Anne Rice that was eventually turned into a landmark 1994 movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as sexually fluid bloodsuckers who spend the centuries moping through their melancholy un-lives. Rice released a follow-up, The Vampire Lestat, in 1985, officially kicking off a Vampire Chronicles universe that is beloved to this day.

The extended universe is definitely attractive to AMC, which is hoping this first series leads to several spinoffs. But Interview remains Rice’s most popular story, and the wicked Lestat her most enduring character. Tom Cruise played him in the original movie, and now Australian actor Sam Reid will play him in the AMC show.

Reid told ComicBook.com that he is “super familiar” with Rice’s books. “Huge fan of the books, huge fan,” he said. “When I read that it was going to be made into a TV show I was just really hopeful that I had the opportunity to audition for it. So yeah, huge amounts of pressure because you feel that pressure to make sure that you live up to the character in the world that you love so much. I mean, there’s a huge amount of pressure because they’re so loved these books and this world that she created but also the pressure that you put on yourself to live up to them as well is full on. But what an extraordinary opportunity and gift and privilege to be able to be a part of it.”

Interview With The Vampire will work in elements from The Vampire Lestat

The pressure is definitely on, in part because the show is changing a lot about the books, which is making fans (okay, making me) nervous. Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat’s relationship begins a couple centuries later than it does in the book, and Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) — that’s the interviewer who interviews the vampire — is older, and is actually interviewing Louis for the second time in his career. That’s an odd one.

“I love the film. I love Tom Cruise’s performance in the movie, too,” said Reid. “But what we get to do is, when Anne wrote the second book, she sort of broke the character open a little bit and you understand a little bit more, brings in more backstory. And so, that’s what we’ve done.”

"I get to bring in all these fantastic elements that she sort of talks about in the books that you don’t really get to see in the movie because there’s only two hours and because it’s more based on that original book and we’re sort of looking at the whole universe. So, it’s super exciting."

Now, that actually sounds more amenable to me; if they’re making a whole TV show out of Interview With The Vampire, it would make sense to include some of the backstory we get in The Vampire Lestat, since the title character is such an important part of the plot. I’ll remain optimistic…

Interview With The Vampire premieres on AMC on October 2.

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