#interview w the vamp

[jinjurloaf]

if I had spent-too-long-underground unshowered freak rat with dry skin and bare feet armand I would never fumble him. what a beauty

[cherrycruise]

happy halloween ♡🦇

[vamppish]

i can't believe it's only just occurred to me now that the iwtv intro sounds like a string orchestra tuning up because the performance is beginning. i was just too fixated on the way the screen yawns open and splits like a wound but of course it's red curtains lifting

[girderednerve]

notes! from vampire show!

i don't know what exactly were show choices & what was book stuff, because the last time i tried to read an anne rice novel i was in the fourth grade, my father confiscated it (on grounds that it was 'seditious & salacious'? still confused by this decades later, like, sure, salacious i grant, but seditious? how?), & then when i stole it back to finish it i got so bored that i gave up about two-thirds of the way through, so my recollections are. vague. sort of apropos, perhaps!

my very favorite thing on this show are the scenes where the actors are visibly speaking but we can't hear what they're saying; there's such a neat closed loop between the church conversion scene in 1x01 & the reunion scene in 2x08, but there are other moments too that i like a lot (an unvoiced 'i love you' from lestat in s.1, i forget when, this is what happens when you slam through a show; of course of course of course the last exchange between claudia & madeleine). & then there's the one we see silently & then are told about, refracted through an altered memory—daniel's lifeline, given to him by a burned louis. there's something so deeply sweet about it that i kind of lost my shit, louis still bloody from his recent suicide attempt, daniel manipulated close to that edge, & louis handing him back the best defense that he could muster against armand. like it matters to me both that louis wanted to save his life & that the way he chose to do it, the narrative he gave daniel, was built from what daniel said himself. i mean obviously it's also louis' fault that he's in that situation, which is kind of the show's whole like, relational ethos, i think, & the persona that daniel builds his life around has deep limitations, but it's no less a gift. the other related scene is that september 8, 1973: armand operating as a mouthpiece for lestat, faithfully taking dictation until he doesn't; his insecurity there is so much more interesting with more context! lestat's desperation is of course very fun

the rashomon thing going on in s2 worked so well for me in part because it runs next to the cartoon parody in the théâtre & the immense performances in the framing interview narrative. we are interested in the process of recollection & artistic reframing! we are curious about whose interests these processes might serve! we are thinking about power & about complicity, sometimes in vulgar ways (camp?). ben daniels fucking ate in those scenes can i just say. i love dramatizing the experience of remembering, or remembering when you knew something; i spent a few years convinced that i didn't know about something that constantly happened in front of me, because i was living with someone who made the language to describe it impossible [sidebar i am talking about parental alcoholism in a way that makes it sound much more procedurally interesting than it was! it's my blog & i'll lie if i want to]. louis' sense of limitation about his artistic talents as a photographer was really sharp; i think there's something going on there i haven't quite teased out, but the read from jacob anderson there, unashamed of all his years of violence but really embarrassed about any impression he might have given that he was trying to pass himself off as a great artist, is so good—sincere & vulnerable, grounding. the problem of redaction: armand's direct edits to louis' & daniel's memories, louis' deliberate distortions in the first interview, his mistaken recollections (claudia's dreams, especially) in the second, the pages cut or torn from claudia's diaries. i liked the instability of louis' remembered/haunting image of lestat, & that the moment that dissolved him was louis' realization? insistence? that the lestat following him is under his control. poignant. before that it only mostly worked for me, although i love a ghost (due south!!), & sam reid is so funny (eating the photo especially, but several other moments too).

claudia is so fucking great & both of her actresses crushed the fuck out of that role. i have less to say about her because she makes me so fucking sad. i love that her journals are physically present, and i think the art department did a really good job with them as objects: her handwriting, her little arrows & notes, the way the covers change as she ages, from cute ribbons to plain & practical black staple-bound pamphlets. but they also remind us that she's never exactly speaking for herself: she's being interpreted, she's being read, she's spoken for, spoken about, not spoken to, & she's silenced. i love that louis worries about her dreams, her secret & inaccessible self! she didn't ask to be there & she's fighting her way into personhood, structurally unable to win. but she sort of wins anyway, right: she haunts, just like she promised, which is so weak it feels bad to observe but is still something. thinking about my undergrad latin class where we read ovid & the professor observed that thisbe has the longest speech in the whole metamorphoses by a woman, & it's a suicide note. what can you do with limited means? it's hard to be a woman. anyway i loved her so much (screaming at louis in her horrible dress!!!!) & i loved madeleine! i liked the parallel between louis making madeleine for claudia & lestat making claudia for louis: feeling obligation, then seeing a beloved person through her eyes (claudia bathed in light, which actually i thought looked kind of dumb but we did get it; louis saying 'she called me an angel'). i liked madeleine's frankness, her laughter, the brief moments where she & claudia were happy together, also of course madeleine's 'not yet' answer to louis' 'romantic?' question. the menstrual blood scene! concise & effective! claudia's desire for womanhood & companionship, her physical desires for blood & sexuality, bam right there in like ninety seconds. 'i'm leaving a trail, like gretel!' blammo that's television

there was a bunch of over-bright lighting & lengthy fades in s2; is this a reference to period cinema or something? it didn't quite work for me but it was Doing Something so i'm not exactly mad. while i'm talking about visual style there were some excellently framed shots (armand-as-rashid between daniel & louis in s1, against the windows, stands out; the closing shot in s2, stark & sad). i like the cities-as-fangs title card but it got a little dry, & the typography is still so so silly, but then again they're trying to make a cable tv franchise so what can i say about it. it's good to stay humble. everyone loves a little soupçon of the cw's vampire diaries? same with some of these music cues, they were simply not 4 me

acting 😭 sam reid & jacob anderson have unreal chemistry in my opinion. sam reid physical presence wild? like i am thinking about lestat walking backstage for his big reappearance in 2x07, in silhouette tossing his jacket behind him, but of course there were lots of smaller gestures i liked a great deal (hands! especially in s1). speaking of gesture i liked the parallel in s1 around the 'cloud gift': we see it first before louis' turning, when lestat first bites him & their feet leave the floor after lestat's teeth make contact (i was like 'buffy joke???' about this when it happened; reminded me of tara & willow floating over the dance floor at willow's birthday party, iconic moment in gay tv in my uninformed opinion), and then of course it's set against the horrible moment in 1x05 when lestat drops louis. what do we know, when did we know it, what power do we have, how do we use it? lestat going off-script in the horrible show trial to shame that homophobic soldier was really fun for me personally but also it felt strange to have the argument hinge on patriotism? i think there's a reading there about honesty which is probably less annoying, but obviously lestat was just pulling out whatever would hurt. guy of all time. his little face journey in magnus' old lair!! i love to have fun!! i loved jacob anderson's little action hero bit with the motorbike & the machete. was delighted when i realized that armand is actually taller than he is, because they'd managed to make it seem the opposite.

assad zaman is fabulous but i can't figure out what i think about armand. will meditate upon it. top ten scene for me is the madeleine/armand conversation, though; bitterness, survival, a little of that cold remove around true desire for connection. great blocking also.

costumes are legendary in my opinion, whoever did them absolutely should be getting emmys about it; the 1x07 party costumes, obviously, were standouts, but all of their outfits are so sharp. claudia's overalls were poignant to me, strangely modern & a little ageless; lestat with an undershirt tucked into tailored trousers with some kind of like, fancy beltloop situation? louis' parisian workwear! lestat's robes! the hats! so thoughtful & precise, really excellent stuff.

[zinzinina]

hi! are you ok with people making podfic of your work? [specifically 'in you, i taste god' im on my armand podfic kick right now 😂 [toby_du_coeur on ao3]

Hello, yes absolutely! This is so sweet and I would be absolutely honoured ❤️ thank you so much for reaching out to ask as well aaaah x

[mermaidsirennikita]

I really like The Interview With The Vampire adaptation they are making and omg I hope they get to make the Queen of The Damned

IWTV is my favorite TV series a the moment--one of my all time favorites, tbh. And this is coming from someone who was not going to watch it because I disliked the book and the 1994 movie (which I'd rewatched fairly recently for the first time in a while when the show premiered--and I'd had fond childhood memories of it, so I was kinda shocked by how BAD it is?). So when I tell y'all I'm happy to be proven wrong when I think something is going to be bad.... I mean it lmao

I know that a lot of fans are worried about s3 right now, and not without reason; but based on the way AMC seems to be viewing Anne Rice adaptations and its relationship with Rolin Jones, my PERSONAL theory is that they may be hurtling towards a situation wherein the Rolin vampire stuff is essentially one series with different titles or subtitles. So s3 may be "The Vampire Lestat, or Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Lestat" (Jesus that's a lot).

And that may be how they'd roll out QotD. Again, I'm kind of not a fan of the books lol, but I do think there are some stories in the series that could be adapted into super compelling TV, and QotD is one of the ones I see reeeeally being cool.

Akasha is also one of the only non-Louis Lestat paramours I'm interested in, soooo lol

[reanimatedgh0ul]

this is gonna be gray ghost in this new idea i have for another vampire au

[boxylic]

IT WAS ABOUT LESTAT LMAO

[flirting-with-suicide]

I cannot fix him and that makes him all the more attractive. Please i am begging you to ruin my life.

[blueiight]

Loumand pet peeve is they are both wearing shoes in the penthouse. Like you're black and brown cultured folks, why are you wearing shoes in the house?!?!?!?!?

Can't believe production is making this error and preventing us from seeing toes.

lolll real asf to me idt a big error sm as it is theyre old as fuck, the penthouse could be but a temporary spot& not a place they may allow themselves to think of as home [rmbr armand telling daniel “dubai is but a child”, referring also to how young this tourist citystate is .. much like another city we spend a lot of time in s1 ;^)] ,, they could also b trolling daniel & daniel is like thinking to himself why would a black vampire wear shoes in his home, thats not on black twitter or w/e his journy sources is for the blacks™️ & that motivates louis to be a bit extra rude to dan that day.. tbf we do see louis take his shoes off when he in the white light artificial tree claudia memorial room cuz i remember them toes digging in the fake sand in the szn1 finale

[jinjurloaf]

need to know armand’s take on airfryers

[local-limebug]

everything i know about interview with the vampire (amc), from someone who has not watched interview with the vampire (amc) and has only consumed it via mutuals rb'ing gifsets but plans to watch it soon

this is my pre-gaming for watching this show. dipping a metaphorical toe into the fandom. i haven't read the books either.

there are 3 vampires: lestat, louis, and armand

armand's name may or may not be amadeo?

lestat and louis had a daughter named claudia

claudia was unhinged (which is fair. i would be too if i was stuck at age 15 forever)

claudia had a girlfriend named madeline

claudia and madeline died together (without even having kissed each other. true love? sapphic teenagerism? perhaps both)

claudia's death caused lestat and louis to break up after like a century of dating or something

armand killed claudia?

there was a play involved in claudia's death...? i am incredibly confused about this one

either it was a play or an execution

the love triangle seems convoluted

armand is in love with louis and lestat is also in love with louis and lestat & armand have definitely also fucked each other

louis should just get the hell out of there actually. free my boy louis !!!

the interview is being done by daniel molloy who is bi (?) and definitely into that kinky shit

daniel molloy fucked either louis or armand in his youth (during the 80s maybe?). possibly he fucked both. the human pet of the marriage

daniel's memories got messed with to... forget fucking the vampires? idk. p sure armand did it though

that seems to be the consensus for most things in this show

armand did it.

claudia died? armand did it. daniel's memory got wiped? armand did it. louis stubbed his toe? armand probably did it.

armand needs to be sent to vampire jail this guy's a menace

also lestat had a midlife crisis after louis left him for armand and became a rockstar. i hope they release his songs on spotify as marketing. i wanna hear it

BONUS: lestat's album flops? armand did it.

anyway now daniel is old and interviewing armand and louis in dubai?

armand eats suicidal ppl?

daniel causes armand and louis' marriage to fall through

that's louis' 2nd failed marriage

surprisingly not his fault either time i think

armand turns daniel into a vamp

this is signficiant because armand has never turned anyone into a vamp

armand is going to fuck that old man

that old man has kids apparently

and swore someone out on live tv

BONUS 2: daniel got turned into a vampire? armand did it.

seriously what the hell is armand's problem (said affectionately. i have a feeling he's gonna be my fav when i watch)

does lestat know daniel?

claudia may or may not return from the dead

if she does i'll blame that on armand too

is armand french or not? he lives in dubai. has a french accent (?) but also not.

lestat is french. louis and claudia are american.

surprisingly, the americans are the nicest of the bunch. rare american W

also can lestat fly? did he throw louis from like... a 4 story height? ppl on twitter were mad abt it like last year

are there any other characters in this show except the ones i've named. it's been 2 seasons. 6 characters cannot be all there is.

[vamppish]

if u live in aotearoa btw u can watch interview with the vampire for free on TVNZ......i NEED iwtv to not get cut like hannibal did from TVNZ..........there's captions too for pretty much every episode except one or two.........

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Mid-Season Teaser!

Not ME salivating over another IWTV teaser, spending a dang hour fangirling frame by frame over less than a minute of footage. Certainly not EYE. (I blame @thedaswolves)

That familiar blue-screen news segment we saw in Ep4--I can't wait to find out what it was reporting.

Chile, lemme find out DanLou is canon, with those bedroom eyes.

Louis' VOICE. 😨 The way he's screaming; I can't--Jacob's the goat of putting every negative emotion on the planet into his voice.

Did Armand initially want Daniel killed cuz Louis did the interview (breaking Rule 3 about writing the history of vamps)?

It seems Armand kicks Louis out so he can screw with Daniel--I mean with Dan's MIND, you pervs!

"I serve a God" chic, coming to a Dubai penthouse Spring 2022~!

"You'll NEVER make it up to me"--OOF!

OF COURSE he knows; Louis already warned him.

Armand's been in his Grovel Era all this time; "Vintage Lioncourt" indeed! 😅

Is that the same outfit Les wore the night of their "anniversary," when Lou broke up w/ him, then came back w/ Claudia, wanting a baby?

If so, then which scene is this revisiting, that Louis will regret--leaving Lestat (Les has tears in his eyes)? Or coming back w/ Claudia (I'm scared it's the latter)? 👀

There's a crack in the wall like an impact crater--what's going ion in the living room!? Is Loumand fighting!? Omg! Cuz their argument in Ep4 sounded CRAZY; you know those two have TEMPERS. 👀

Wtf is Santiago doing? This is definitely the same scene where he's zooming thru the sewer, so I wonder if he's tryna jump Armand, then Armand does a wee little taste of the Killing Gift on him to make him spasm and put him back in place.

We are NOT gonna be okay, omg. The coven's abducted him & Claudia & Madz. I am SHAKING.

The Trial finna be SPICY.

S01E05, here we go....

That's DELAINEY, lfg!

The gutteral way she screams "OF YOU TWO!" is giving Jacob a run for his money--PURE RAGE. She's so SICK of Loustat, it's palpable.

Yes and no, love.

This ain't funny at all, I'm near tears.

That's the front of the Theatre behind him.

And the marquee falling down as the whole building goes up in flames; you love to see it.

THE HYPE IS REAL.

[whatshehassaid]

Louis in 1973 at Daniel’s tape recorder: THAT FUCKING BLOND BITCH IS A FUCKING IDIOT HEAR THIS MOTHER FUC-

Armand: I WANT THAT INSIGNIFICANT MORTAL TO HEAR ME *immediately turns Daniel after he hasn’t turned anyone ever*

Daniel on live television: HEY YEAH ASSHOLE I INTERVIEWED T W O VAMPIRES ARMAND HEY LOOK - VAMPIRES ARE REAL HEY ALL YOU VAMPS COME GET ME

Daniel to Louis on the equivalent of Vampire live radio five seconds later for everyone to hear: HEAR THIS ARMAND YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE…. (hey… uh louis… have you uh… by chance heard from… my maker at all…. that you aren’t in contact with…….. *rubs back of neck*)

[vampire-sugar]

A day later, can finally attempt at putting my thoughts about the s2 finale into words. I fucking love this showwwwwwwww. Louis de Pointe du Lac the character that you are. I love this show so fucking muchhhhhh. Louis finally grieving Claudia proper, setting up a shrine for her and Paul, wearing color, wearing yellowwww, smiling, “I own the night”. The reunion scene—-still have not recovered, I actually cannot talk about it.

I initially didn’t like having Armand not be the one to have saved Louis at the trial, bc babes I thought u were obsessed w him, but that makes a lot of sense actually especially after reading the cast interviews. I think Assad said this, Armand had fully chosen the coven over Louis, bc he is deeply insecure and the coven was the safe choice, so his plan was for Louis to die with Claudia all along. I think since Louis was saved, he changed his mind and revived him. Maybe it was the dinner scene when Madeleine affirms that Louis does love him, says “why don’t you want him to know how much you love him” or smth like that, it takes Armand by surprise maybe, and he begins to regret his choice. So he takes his chance again when Louis is saved. And that is when he becomes truly and freakishly obsessed with him imo. Also the scene where Louis is crying out in rage and grief locked in the crypt and Armand is just listening and taking his time before deciding to let him out is soooooo Armand in San Fran leaving Louis writhing in pain from his burns. Using Louis’s pain as extra time to figure out how he can turn it and use it to his advantage. Does that make sense??? Armand is so fucking sick and twisted man I fucking love this showwww.

And howww did they make such a devastating episode so fucking funny, like “Siri pause”, Daniel vamp reveal, Louis rolling the windows down in the uber and breathing the city in like a “where are you going?” “home” way like I exhaled through my nose at that but I also got fully fucking punched in the chest at him speaking to the driver in his Nola accent like maybe I am not ready to talk about the finale actually like I still need to process a lot of it.

Maybe at some point I will become sane enough to write coherently about my love for this show in general but for now just wow. Best show ever.