Interview With The Vampire star thinks Anne Rice would have some "confronting notes" for him

Interview With The Vampire, based on Anne Rice's 1976 book about melancholy bloodsuckers stalking the night, is one of the best shows on TV right now, and Sam Reid is one of the best parts of it. As Lestat, Rice's most famous character, he is dangerous, vulnerable, sexy and charismatic. You never know quite what's going to happen when Lestat is onscreen. I credit a lot of that with the producing talents of showrunner Rolin Jones, but much also comes down to Reid, who is giving us an interpretation of this charater for the ages.

And he needed to, because Lestat already had a big following before the show began, both from the books and the 1994 movie where he was played by Tom Cruise. Speaking to Fault Magazine, Reid said he was "definitely" fearful of taking on such a well-established character. " It’s a surreal experience taking on a role that already exists in people’s minds," he said. "Fear can be helpful though; it makes you approach a thing with caution. I spent a lot of time looking at fan art before we started filming the first season and trying to gauge how he existed in people’s minds. I would cross-reference that with interviews with Anne Rice about the character. That was an interesting process; her original vision developed into something quite different through the eyes of her fans and, at times, I would find it a bit confusing trying to reconcile that. In the end, I had to let go of trying to define him too much as he is lots of things to many different people."

That slipperiness of identity fits into the theme of the show, where Lestat is but one character in a long tale narrated by people who may be molding it to their advantage. In the upcoming third season, based on Rice's book The Vampire Lestat, Lestat himself will get to narrate things, which I'm very much looking forward to seeing.

I'm also interested in the bit about Anne Rice's view of Lestat changing as she interacted with her fans. Rice's Vampire Chronicles had a big fandom in the days before the internet, and Rice was engaged...in a manner of speaking. It's interesting to hear that Reid looked at fan-art of Lestat before taking on the role, because Rice was famous for clamping down on fan projects, which drove a lot of fan works underground during the time her books were at the peak of their popularity. "I would have loved to have had the opportunity to talk with Anne Rice about him," Reid mused. "I’m sure she’d have had a long list of confronting notes for me."

Again, I think the show has taken a smart tack when it comes to its approach. Who's to say that Louis' version of events as narrated in seasons 1 and 2 is correct? Who's to say Lestat's will be in season 3? You could call AMC's Interview With The Vampire show legal fanfiction, but can any adaptation help but bring a new perspective to the material? Would Anne Rice like the interpretation or shoot it down? All of these questions are baked into the show's foundation, and it's the richer for it.

It's also fabulously entertaining, and I wait with bated breath for the new episodes, whenever they come. Unfortunately we don't have a firm release date as of yet, but it sounds like we'll be waiting until 2026.

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