#understanding that is SO important to louis’ story

[adam-stanheights-right-hip-bone]

I never want to see any of you mfs implying that Louis isn’t one of the few vampires made out of love ever again. Did we watch the same show? Are people skipping the end of the very first episode and calling it a day?

[limonjarritos]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU GUYS DON'T LIKE HARU?! Who else does it like her?

[anchorandrope]

I need to know why L's sisters are always the ones making trouble on social media and looking for attention. I really don't understand why them

Look, im going to give you an answer from PR because that's my life so why not lmfao. And since i've worked with one influencer recently, i have no doubts regarding what is happening at this point with louis' sisters.

Im going to try to explain this as short and succinctly as possible. and im really sorry to say this but this is how things work in real life, i beg you to leave your parasocial relationship with louis aside for three seconds to think coldly about the situation, because i know perfectly well how some of you take every statement made related to louis. several statements can exist at the same time, not everything is black and white, etc. thank you...

Some of you may ask, why always the twins? and there is, actually, an answer to that question. The answer, believe it or not, is not because Lottie is older than the twins. Partly her age is related, but it is not the reason itself... let's see:

Lottie started working as Lou Teasdale's assistant during the OTRA Tour, and since then and thanks to her, she got in touch with many important job opportunities that another teenager who does make-up well wouldn't have.

She has been in Fashion Week, worked for Selena Gomez, etc. Everything from a very young age. Today, she doesn't live exclusively from social media, as many believe. Her income is not only from "being an influencer", she has her brand tanologist, she published a book.... In Lottie's case, social media is a fundamental communication tool that allows her to obtain opportunities that generate income, but it is not her entire income per se.

On the other hand, Daisy and Phoebe were too young to take advantage of job opportunities at that time (1D days) because they were kids... they, again it may not seem like it, didn't have the same level of important job opportunities as Lottie had at such a young age. Lottie was at Fashion Week when she was 17... the twins are still very young and their proper working careers are just starting.

Phoebe and Daisy started their modelling careers in 2020 and to this day, they are involved in social media, promoting products (swaps) and modelling in small photo shoots. They haven't really had a big job opportunity like Lottie has had.

Unlike Lottie, they did not have the same visibility from the start and their income comes exclusively from social media. Modelling and swaps/promo are things they do through social media, their working tool is Instagram/TikTok. They need that platform for their income.

Now, if you have social media accounts set up as public and as a content creator you will know this, but for those who don't: those who create content on social media in this way (influencers, among other cases) have their own tool that helps them most to calculate how much they will earn and that is metrics. The famous "professional dashboard/insights" from Instagram for example.

To hire an influencer (in addition to doing a previous investigation of who you should hire) you should ask them for their metrics so that you can reach an agreement on the amount of money for that exchange/interaction/etc. A fixed base number is set, but depending on the reach, the more money they receive is directly proportional to the amount of interactions and views that post has had. Like on instagram if you share the post as branded content, the company you tag can see your metrics.

The fact that the twins are the ones who post content that they know people will go to their stories/posts/comments to see or will make them follow them on their social media is not a coincidence because the amount of people who interact with them (whatever the reason, as your personal reason is not seen on a metric lol) is what generates them revenue, quite literally.

Yes, it can happen that once in a while as something "casual" because they are people, but not as a generality and even less so when a few days later they do another promotion or they are in one. What is going on and whether it is right/morally correct or not are two different questions, by the way.

This is what happens, welcome to the world of influencers! It doesn't matter if you agree or not, if you like it or not, or whatever, those are your personal opinions (which are perfectly fine, we all have them) but... that's how it is. lol.

I personally don't think it's right to use babygate as a method of generating interaction, and just as I brought it to the attention of the clark family, I will bring it to the attention of the tomlinson's. the child is a huge victim of this, everyone is violating his right to privacy and honestly its disgusting to see after like 9 years. It seems to me that gaining interactions (that lead you to gain money) with such a horrible situation and with a child seems to me something that people should be ashamed of, to be honest. Beyond babygate, imagining that larry and babygate never existed, it's wrong to do this, it goes way beyond fandom, which i think is something a lot of people don't truly understand.

if you really want the twins to stop posting this kind of shit, im sorry to inform yall that the only solution to the problem is going to be to stop following them, stop looking at their stories, stop liking and viewing their posts, stop commenting, etc. any viewing/interaction is reflected in a metric, check it out for yourself (besides there are more metric apps than just the ones IG/Tiktok gives you). If you spread a screenshot taken by someone else or stuff, you are not interacting directly with their account, so it's not the same ofc, but if someone doesn't understand how it works, they will go and see it for themselves and and they will generate interactions. It's impossible not to have them on the radar, i know, so at least i ask yall to focus on what's really important, and not on every idiotic thing that happens, because that way they just make it worse, literally.

[pleaseinsertwittyurl]

There are always 2 sides.

The discourse around Louis and Lestat being a victim and abuser and nothing more drives me insane.

Something i don't think enough people remember is that the very same reason the fight began in 1×05 (lestat grabbing claudia by the throat when she tries to "take louis away") we see Louis himself do to her in 1×07 when she tries to get Louis to burn Lestat.

They BOTH would harm her rather than live in a world without the other. They are both guilty of abusing her and each other.

There is an implication that a good deal of time passed between Louis and Lestat meeting and the church. Louis expresses that he shares himself with Lestat in a way he only had with Paul. I would assume that goes both ways, to a degree. We know Louis knows at least enough about Nicki to discourage Claudia poking that wound. He also clearly knows that the threat of leaving is his most powerful weapon against Lestat.

Mental abuse is abuse. And Louis abused Lestat mentally for years. Shaming him, ridiculing him, shutting him out, manipulating him into making Claudia (a traumatic moment for him, whether Louis understands the depths of it or not) by promising to give him what he's being denying him, promising to never put him through what he fears the most.

Louis admits to purposely making Lestat suffer. He admits he was warned that Claudia would suffer and he wanted her anyway because he needed to feel redeemed. He is not innocent. He is not a trapped, weak victim. He made choices to hurt both Lestat and Claudia time and time again.

Does this justify Lestat's actions in 1×05? Obviously not. But we now know Louis was not willing to stop the fight. He taunted Lestat the same way he taunted the Alderman. He was unleashing years of frustrations just as Lestat was. His priority was not to protect Claudia, it was to hurt Lestat, consequences be damned.

I hate the drop scene as much as the next person and Lestat has admitted he will never earn forgiveness for what he did. But if you view Louis as some squeaky clean victim who was manipulated, trapped, and abused by Lestat you are missing so much of what this show is conveying.

We will always tend to paint ourselves as the hero of our own story. It is hard to accept your faults or that you hurt people you love. It is much easier to shift that blame on to someone else, to frame them as the villian. But life is not usually that black and white. Claudia had harsh words for them both in her diary, even before they got to Europe, for a reason. They both made hurtful mistakes with her, both treated her like a pawn in their relationship instead of a person, both harmed her, took away her choice, never prioritized her.

That is the great tragedy. That she never had a choice and was not allowed to be her own person. And in the end, they both are responsible for her misery and her death. That's what makes the reunion scene so important. They have been grieving her and carrying that guilt alone, all the while longing for the comfort of the other for 70+ years. Louis has found clarity in his memories, he has accepted his role in their suffering, he has seen Lestat's perspective more fully. Lestat is broken, totally consumed with that guilt and grief. Both know that although they cannot change what they've done, they can forgive the other, even if they can't forgive themselves. They can love each other despite everything they've done to one another because they cannot stop loving each other. But now they can try to rebuild that love from the rubble.

[daisyblog]

Baby Styles is a…

Our Story Masterlist Summary: YN, Harry and Grace find out the gender of baby styles.

Like they had done when they were pregnant with Grace, YN and Harry had booked a private gender scan to find out if their second baby was a little boy or girl. The only thing different to the previous year was that their little Grace sat in content on Harry knee as she looked around the room.

YN laid down on the bed, her small bump on show, ready for the sonographer to do her thing. Harry sat next to her, holding Grace on his lap.

“Are we ready to see your baby?.” The sonographer asked, giving Grace a warm smile as the little one chewed at her fist. “Are you excited to see your little brother or sister?”.

“Dada…dada!”. Grace cooed, not quite understanding what was going around her but making all the adults in the room laugh at her sweet voice.

The sonographer, reached for the gel and the probe from the trolley. “Are you Daddy’s girl?”.

“Only when Mummy’s not around”. Harry bounced Grace on his knee making her coo even more.

The gel caused YN to suck in a breath at the coldness before the probe moved around her skin gently. The silence was comfortable as they waited for that longing sound to fill the room. And within seconds, the rhythm of their baby’s heartbeat filled their ears.

“That’s one of my favourite sounds!”. YN smiled over at Harry who was still bouncing Grace on his knee and smiling at the screen to the side of them.

“It only feels like yesterday we were hear for this little princess!”. Harry tickled Grace’s tummy lightly.

The lady smiled at the little family, knowing how much these moments meant. “Time flies when you’re having fun”. She continued to move the probe around and showing the little baby on the screen. A petite head and body. “I have to say…this is such a chilled out little baby”.

YN gave Harry a knowing smile. “Maybe this one will be more like you”. The joke causing him to laugh. Not that he minded if the little one was like him or his wife.

“So for the important question…would you like to know the gender?”.

“Yes please!” YN or Harry didn’t hesitate, eagerly speaking together. Both wanting to know if they were having a baby son or daughter. If Grace was having a brother or sister.

After a few more pokes and prodes on YN’s tummy, the woman smiled. “Congratulations big sister…you’re having a…”. 

---

Wanting to send all their family and friends the news at the same time, Harry and YN followed the same routine they had when they announced Grace was a girl. They kept it sweet and simple, attaching a photo to a text with the message…’We’re having a…’.

Louis FUCK OFF!!

A BOY!!

I am absolutely buzzing!! You’re having a little boy!! Grace is having a little brother!! Amazing news, so so happy for you all!!

Freddie is running and jumping around the room cheering that there’s going to be another boy in the family!!

Love you all!!xx

Lottie AHHHHHHH!!

IM SCREAMING AND CRYING AT THE SAME TIME🥹😂

Congratssssssss!!! Can’t wait for our play dates together with our little babies 👶🏼 🩷🩵

Anne My first grandson🥹🩵My heart is bursting with so much love already and I can’t wait for it to explode! A huge congratulations to my favourite people. I love you all so much and can’t wait to squeeze you all soon❤️

Gemma MY FIRST NEPHEW!!🥹💙

I hope he’s ready for a lifetime of fun with our girlies😂

Congratulations to my favourite little family! See you tomorrow for breakfast and cuddles🥰Love you xxx

Daisy YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!🥹🥹🥹

IM SO EXCITED😆😆😆

Can’t wait to meet auntie little boy🩵

Phoebe YOU’RE JOKING!!

I was so sure you were having a girl😂😂I am so happy for you!!

Auntie Phee can’t wait to have another little nephew fo spoil!!🩵

Please come and visit soon!! Me and Olive miss you😫❤️

Jen Aww my darlings. A little baby boy for you to love and cherish. You’re already an amazing mummy and daddy and I can’t wait to see our little Grace become the best big sister. We love you all❤️

Niall His name better be Niall!😂

Only kidding!! Amazing news!! Sooooo happy for you both and Grace❤️Can I babysit again soon please?😆xxx

Zayn Wishing you all the love and happiness!! You guys deserve it!! Big love!! Can’t wait to meet the little lad❤️❤️

Mark Another grandson to love and spoil💙Congratulations all!! Lots of love from me and Sallie xx

Mitch Congrats guys! See you all soon x

Sarah Ahhhh! A little baby boy🥹Congratulations to you all!! Can’t wait for more of our play dates xxx

Jeff Damn I was wrong, honestly that you were having another girl😂Either way, a massive congratulations from me and Glenne❤️

James Cordon YEEESSSSSSS!! A little man, how amazing for you all. A huge congratulations to you all! See you soon for a catch up, yeah?

Zoe Sugg Awww my heart is so full for you🥹🥹A little baby brother for Grace, how cute!! Can’t wait to see you all soon to celebrate🤍xx

Mark Ferris Aw sweetheart🥹🥹🥹I’m such an emotional mess! Absolutely thrilled for you all. Can’t wait to see Grace become a big sister🫶🏼Big cuddles to you all xx

Louise Teasdale I KNEW IT!!

I had a feeling you were having a baby boy🩵

Congratulations lovelies!! Absolutely buzzing for you 😘 xxx

Tag List:

@pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @harrys-flower @platinumbarbie143 @frickin-bats@harrysbbyh0ney @chronicallybubbly @goldensunflowe-r  @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite@kaverichauhan @peterholland04 @panicattheuc @or-was-it-just-a-dream @hittiesontour@bunnyharold @fanfictioncafe @lilfreakjez @iamahallucinationnn @theekyliepage @indierockgirrl@buckybarnessimpp @ashleighsss @jerseygirlinca @fake-coolbeans @itsmytimetoodream@treehouse-mouse @mrs-anna-styles211994 @macy-tpwk @mrs-anna-styles211994 @fruity-harry

[yearnerspermit]

The thing I keep coming back to about the finale is how much the writers get it

Anne Rice wrote the book because of the loss of her daughter. It grew and developed a world and life of its own in the years and decades after that, but at its core, Interview With the Vampire was born from a death. And doesn’t that just make so much sense? For vampires, where birth and death are inextricably linked?

And again, even here in adaptation, no matter how much else is changed:

Louis tells the story. He’s the perspective. It’s filtered through him, remembered imperfectly by him, shaped by him. And Louis is shaped by Lestat, there’s no denying it

But at the end of the day, the story is about Claudia. Lestat only matters here because he became her maker, Louis only matters as far as being the one who initiates that change, and the one who recounts it all

Because what story is there to even be told, without her? Without her life, and her anger? The unfairness of her existence and the unfairness of her destruction? The tragedy that at every step she could have been helped, this could have been avoided, but the only way to avoid it entirely would have been her never entering the narrative?

That truly the only way you could ever avoid the death of the one you love is if you never had them to begin with. And would that be better? For them? For you? It feels like logically the answer is yes. But emotionally? Even considering erasing someone you love from your life feels worse than being the one to kill them. I cannot say even now that I regret Claudia

Every important beat after her introduction — the good, the bad, the ugly — is motivated by messy, imperfect love for her. The story only exists for the love of Claudia, it’s only told for the love of Claudia. The story is Claudia

The tragedy is that they can’t forget her. The tragedy is they can never remember her as she was. Memory is a monster because it’s an incomplete, blurry copy of the people we love who are gone, and it can never be killed, even if you wanted to. But we never really want to, do we? So you cling to that monster, keep it, make it part of you

And at the end? Louis and Lestat, meeting again?

It’s perfect. It’s them, broken. It’s them, on the threshold of learning how not to be. It’s not about romance, its not about betrayal. It’s not about them

It’s two parent, grieving a child. It’s two parents, looking at each other, knowing how badly they failed that child, and knowing how much they loved her still. It’s two parents, embracing and crying and grieving a loss that only they will every truly understand

Because the story is about Claudia. And even when she’s gone? The story is about learning to exist without her. Her absence is still a presence, though. The space she filled, the space it left behind, matters. Because it will never go away, and it will shape them and what happens next, forever

Whatever madness and plot and love and hate spirals out from here, it started from the love of a child, and the loss of a child. And whatever happens next, that will never go away

The story will always be about Claudia

[dreadfuldevotee]

I'd like to discuss the elephant in the room. Why did we get zero Loumand sex scenes? We got hints and implications, but season 1 was pretty explicit. Do we think that that's a creative choice or something else is happening?

I'm glad I ended up ruminating on this for about a week because episode 7 & 8 really solidified my opinion on it.

I do wanna start by saying that it's very clear to me that there was supposed to be more explicit scenes between them. There has been some thoughts tossed around that censorship happened with the 9 pm timeslot (as opposed to the 10 pm timeslot of S1). I believed this hearing Assad and Jacob talk about the BDSM dynamic between Louis and Armand, but what really sold me on this was Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop talking about the bedroom set and more specifically about their beautifully carved custom headboard. (If you're a production nerd like me or just want to know more about the design philosophy of IWTV I recommend giving the entire thing a listen!).

I think there are several reasons I think as to why they decided to leave any more explicit scenes on the cutting room floor but above them all is: you cannot separate Armand's sexuality from his abuse. I am really against pulling a "well if you read the books" card but reading just the first couple chapters of "The Vampire Armand" makes me understand so much about not only Armand as a character, but the care being taken to his adaptation. It's clear to me that alongside Rolin & Co.'s commitment to not watering him down to a one-dimensional villain they are also trying to not fall into Anne Rice's tendency to romanticize his trauma.

Sex and sexuality is not the same pillar of Louis and Armand's relationship it was in Louis and Lestat's and so I don't believe their story suffers from the lack of on-screen sex. But I also firmly believe that maybe we don't need to be slutting out the character who we literally just watched talk about how he doesn't remember his life before being sex trafficked. And even when he was "freed" he was still being repeatedly assaulted at the hands of, and under the eye Marius de Romanus. Like it is extremely important to remember that Armand's craving for dominion in his relationships is a manifestation of trauma that deserves the same level of care and depth given to every other trauma portrayed in this show.

I think people have gotten too comfortable calling IWTV a romance when it has always been Gothic Horror. Romance and sex are pivotal to the story but I have found the demands for sex scenes this season a bit absurd and also? unfounded? Loustat share more kisses on screen but there are two sex scenes and both are very plot relevant. I truly figured we were all in agreement that the eroticism of this show is found in the various displays of power, and the dynamics it creates and not the actual clapping of ass-cheeks...which also wasn't happening in S1 either. S2 does not suffer because of the lack of sex-scenes, but the likelihood if it suffering trying to make one work is

[heliza24]

Armand and Unbreakable Cycles

So (perhaps unsurprisingly at this point) I have a TON of Armand thoughts after yesterday’s episode. Specifically I want to talk about the function of the 1790s section, and how it perfectly illuminates the cycle of maladaptive behavior that Armand is caught up in and the difference between his stated wants and his actual needs. I think the setup we saw in this episode will also be crucial to understanding how Dubai plays out, so I want to talk about that too.

I know a lot of people love the show and TVC because of Lestat, and there’s some frustration that Lestat was presented in a way that was untrue or filtered. But I really think you have to view this episode as a lens into Armand, which we in turn need in order to understand Louis. Everyone has someone similar to Lestat’s role in Armand’s life; an ex or a situationship or a former friend who takes up so much real estate in your brain because of their outsized impact  on you, who probably never thinks of you in return. We give these people a role in the story we craft of how we became who we are. That narrativizing is kind of the only way to understand yourself and survive (especially if you’re going to live forever). So I don’t doubt that there are things that Armand says that are untrue, or exaggerated, or twisted in his favor. But I do think the important part is the emotional impact his encounter with Lestat had on him, and I do think he’s being honest about those emotions.

(That being said I am of course very excited to see these events play out again in season 3 from Lestat’s POV. Don’t fuck it up AMC!!!)

The main thing that the flashback does is set up the cycle that Armand finds himself in over and over again. He consistently finds himself clinging to control in an institution he is starting to lose faith in, and is then shaken out of his complacency by a new love that seems– falsely– to rescue him.

Depending on how they adapt his very early backstory, I think we can probably assume that this pattern started in childhood for him. Marius rescued him from being forced into sex work, and seemed to offer a much better life. But in reality he was just grooming Armand. (Thanks @toriangeli for correcting a piece of my Marius lore here!)

In Paris he continues maintaining a strictly enforced life of misery for the coven long after he stops believing in it himself, and (by his telling at least) he was grateful to Lestat for having the strength to end it when he could not. It’s so clear why Armand falls for Lestat. Lestat’s refusal to live in shame, his love of the arts, his ability to exist amongst humanity (at least when he is on stage). Lestat is of the world, while Armand and the coven hide from it. 

The reason I think it is so important that we got to see this play out in Paris is the way it illuminates the sometimes tricky relationship between Louis and Armand. Once again, Armand is the head of an institution that operates on strict and oppressive rules. Once again, we can feel Armand’s enthusiasm for this system waning (and see it reflected physically in the lack of ticket sales and general shabbiness of the theatre). And once again, Armand is swept off his feet by this new vampire who refuses to join, who loves humanity, and who has a passion for art. Louis is very much of the world. He refuses to be pinned down into coven life. Armand can’t resist taking what looks like the opportunity for escape in Louis’s love. 

What I think is so fascinating about this cycle is that it allows Armand to remain passive. He never has to be the one to make the hard call to walk away from a kind of life that is no longer serving him. He just has to wait for the next gorgeous man to arrive to deliver him.  As he says to Louis, “those with the most power are often the weakest”. His status and power in the coven prevents him from changing his own life. Or at least that’s what he believes. 

Thinking about this helped me understand the dynamic of what goes down in the sewers, when Armand threatens Louis’s life. Assad says in the behind the scenes clips that Armand goes into that encounter very set on killing Louis, and I believe him.  So I rewatched it a couple of times trying to understand when, and why, Armand changes his mind. The shift occurs when they start talking about Claudia, and Armand says that her mind will break apart soon because she was made too young. Louis says “you don’t know her,” and Armand responds, “I don’t have to. I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen too much.” That admission– I’ve lived through this cycle multiple times before, it is painful, and I don’t want to do it again– is what shifts Armand from being ready to kill Louis to letting him go. 

There is of course an irony here; mentally ill and child vampires do not necessarily need to go mad. Generally they go mad at least partially because of Armand’s actions. And as we’ve already discussed, Armand going to sleep with Louis instead of killing him is really just a repeat of his actions with Lestat. He isn’t really breaking a cycle at all. But I think in that moment he believes that he is. Maybe he even believes that by being with a man who enacted great violence on Lestat, he can drown out the love and anguish he still feels about Lestat. At the very least, Louis has also loved Lestat and can therefore understand Armand’s narration of his own life in a way that not many other people can. 

Ok, so now we are caught up on the past. Let’s talk about Dubai, and how once again Armand is engaged in the exact same cycle of behavior.

The penthouse is Armand’s new coven. He maintains perfect order by controlling the physical environment and shaping Louis’s moods and memories. But just like before, this way of life is no longer serving Armand (or Louis for that matter). You can see that the spark between them has died, only rekindled as a kind of performance when they are in front of Daniel. When Armand is telling Daniel about Lestat destroying the coven, and Daniel accuses Armand of leading Lestat to the coven intentionally… he might as well be talking about himself. Armand has let Daniel into his fortress, and there is at least a part of him that wants whatever destruction Daniel is about to bring into his life.

Daniel fits Armand’s type completely. Daniel is of course more human than Lestat or Louis could ever be. He knows about telenovelas and Bollywood and all other types of art. He’s whipsmart and inquisitive and is not going to let Armand get away with passively maintaining his old order. He’s of the world in a way that Armand finds irresistible. 

I specifically found it interesting how many of the “Great Laws” Armand would be breaking by being with Daniel. Granted, Armand isn’t in the coven anymore when he meets Daniel. But I imagine old habits are hard to break, and being with Daniel would break almost all of them. Daniel is a mortal Armand has revealed his true nature to and allowed to live, Daniel has written about and exposed vampire secrets, and (if we’re looking at book canon) Daniel begs for the dark gift himself, a thing only the maitre is supposed to be able to approve. 

Assuming that a chunk of Devil’s Minion did happen in the 1970s, something interrupted that love affair, before it could settle back down into a new but still oppressive status quo. Something prompted Armand to actively break his pattern of behavior and erase Daniel’s memories. I think it’s impossible not to think about Nicki’s example here, especially after seeing the 1790s flashback. I’m going to assume that 1970s Daniel was struggling with addiction and mental health issues in a way that may have been reminiscent of Nicki. How intentional was Armand in withdrawing because he saw what vampire involvement- his involvement- did to Nicki? How much was his treatment of Daniel a reparation for past mistakes he made?

These last couple of paragraphs are speculation, really, because we won’t know exactly what Armandaniel looked like until Ep 5. But I think it was crucial that we saw this part of Armand’s story before we see San Francisco, because his actions with Daniel will make more sense if we can compare them with the love affairs of Armand’s past.

Regardless, I do think the disparity between what Armand claims to want (maintaining the status quo) vs what he actually wants (to be liberated by a romantic partner) vs what I think he actually needs (to take action himself, instead of waiting for someone to do it for him) is going to play a role in the way Dubai unfolds. I don’t know that Armand will ever get to the point where he’s actively able to break out of the cycle he’s in, because this is Interview with the Vampire, the show of fucked up gothic romances. Vampire life is a series of bad decisions! It’s a weird arrested development you never quite get out of despite living for forever! So it would make total sense if the ending of Dubai mimics the ending of the Children of Satan and the Paris Coven in an unhealthy way. But regardless, it’s gonna be a fun ride, and I can’t wait to see it.

[thesinlesssinner]

Look I’m not saying everyone HAS to read the books to enjoy the show but god some of the takes people have on the tv series are so bad because they don’t know the source material. I saw a post on Twitter bitching that season three is going to be about Lestat and not Louis and it’s like babes I regret to inform you that Louis isn’t the main character of the Vampire Chronicles. Lestat is, he was Anne’s specialist boy. If you read the books you’d understand how important TVL is to the whole rest of the story. But you didn’t, you just got mad. Like if you’re not gonna read them at least look up the Wikipedia articles and read the summaries for context I beg of you.

[official-saul-goodman]

This is mainly my observation as a non black person watching the reactions of other non black people and especially white people to the show Interview With The Vampire, they are a result of a fundamental misunderstanding regarding the idea of horror.

in a world of white dominated hollywood horror movies that mostly contain gore and white familial tragedy and abuse, none of which ever ever include the concept of race, misogyny and homophobia, racialised misogyny, and racialised homophobia- people cannot digest a horror tv show wherein the main character is a black man who is always and forever a victim of systematic, social, and microaggressive racism. people, specifically white people, have always been uncomfortable with being shown the extent of anti black racism in a way that isnt heavily sanitised or sympathetic to the white cause. to white people, the genre of horror simply does not include race cause they have not experienced the horrors of colonialist genocidal white supremacist anti black racism. and i highlight anti black racism because it is the subject of the show, as well as being a topic that is discussed vaguely by non black people while still being the most perpetuated form of racism from a global standpoint.

to white people especially, as the people who are responsible for the worst crimes committed against black people, anti blackness is just one of life's constants that should not be addressed directly or in detail, so to depict anti black racism so openly as a part of the genre of horror is incomprehensible to them. they dont want to be shown even a smidgen of exactly the kind of shit their ancestors and peers are responsible for, cause horror to them must just be things that they relate to and nothing regarding race at all cause it causes them to confront their comfortable positions. this is the same reason why you see white people saying jordan peele's movies are 'too hard to understand' despite being very easy to understand.

horror to people of colour is a concept that intrinsically includes racialised violence, its a constant presence like a rusted nail hovering near an open wound. and white people reject this. which is why they decided to degrade and miscontrue the purpose of iwtv and call it 'just another self important show thats racist and not worth watching'. cause to them horror is meant to be enjoyable, they want limbs chopped off not the actions of their white ancestors coming back to remind and haunt them. even though horror is a genre that is meant to fill you with... horror. horror to white people does not include the politics of racism, cause they see horror as an apolitical genre (obviously incorrect when everything and the kitchen sink is political naturally).

to the people of color, it is a moment of feeling seen, to see a main character ( a flawed man a pained man) experience the horror of all round racial discrimination, to see the horror of him being dismissed and exploited by the white people around him, the moment of witnessing yourself in the other when you see Louis and Claudia being so utterly sabotaged by so many forces, the way they are pushed to making irreversible devastating decisions cause they think they have no other choice to achieve an escape from a multitude of things they suffer through, the manipulation and abuse they had to become accustomed to. this is the horror, the horror of being immortalised against your will and lack of choices you were given, the horror of being forced to be subjected to racialised misogynistic and homophobic violence for eternity. being forced to live with all these memories and no means of forgetting. all this while enduring the way a white man belittles them for even suggesting that he might be racist while he expresses racist micro agressions (both lestat and daniel). this is real horror that hits home, horror you want to devour as a person of colour cause you want to see more of this story continue, to see what becomes of this living limbo that Louis, Claudia, and eventually Armand have to go through.

and as most white people cannot fathom this, cannot relate, they dismiss this version of horror that focuses on racism as a core element from the perspective of a black man and forever young black girl. they dismiss the show as just being tone deaf colour blind casting cause they didnt even see the trailer or try to understand this show. the white guilt is a shield they use to defend themselves against the frank and honest depiction of anti black racism from the perspective of a black man. they do not want to understand. they want sanitised, digestible depictions of racism so the horror remains fun for them.

even though this show is literally categorised as horror, and has all the hallmarks of classic horror including the camp styling, the blood, the gore, the supernatural, and the violence - the single fact that the show's core theme is based around racism from the perspective of a gay black vampire man is enough for them to declassify as horror in their minds. cause people of colour and especially black gay men must always be shown as having a good time to dissuade the guilt of white people and their responsibility is establishing the systems that oppress gay black men. speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil, and the evil is not there anymore.

i may have more thoughts on this that i'll express later but thats all i have for now.

[cyranonic]

Louis de Pointe du Lac is the most important vampire in the world and let me explain to you why.

I find it incredibly fascinating that Louis is pretty unique among vampires for both his identification with and his connection to mortal humans. This trait is generally pretty inconvenient to him at first, as he struggles to break his connection to his mortal family and to justify killing humans for sustenance. However, we later see that Louis' fascination with human art and culture makes him more appealing, more life-like to other vampires. Armand in particular seems drawn to Louis because of his continuing interest in the world around him, whereas the rest of the coven has "turned inward" and thus stopped sustaining his emotional needs.

In the books, Marius gives Lestat pretty much the same advice--stay invested in the contemporary world around you in order to keep yourself sane. Lestat passes that wisdom on to Armand and his coven, dragging them out of their medieval worldview and bringing them into the ideological world of Enlightenment rationality.

However, where I think Louis does something different, something special, something radically unique, is in his relationship to Daniel Molloy and the interview. Louis goes a step further than Lestat or Marius. He does not simply draw upon humans as a source of artistic inspiration; he engages with Daniel Molloy on his own terms. He is a vampire who wants to tell his story, not to other vampires, but to the human world. He does not want to understand the contemporary human psyche, he wants them to understand him too.

Louis' desire to tell his story to Daniel seems to be based on his desire to find out what was true, to renegotiate the gaps in his own memory, but I think the other key component of what he is doing rhetorically is asking Daniel to perceive him as a human. He reclaims that lost humanity that he has been seeking by telling the tale of his life on human terms, to a human listener. He takes care to show Daniel the ways that he is inhuman, feeding in front of him, but then his story effectively reverses those feelings of alienation. Ultimately, the judgement he is asking Daniel to make is not just "is this real" but also "do I still count as one of you?" And by the end of season 2, as they sit side by side in the rock garden, Daniel seems to be answering affirmatively.

No other vampire wants anything of the kind. In fact, the whole concept is expressly forbidden by vampire laws. Claudia comes the closest, but her lifestory is a diary, a tale told ostensibly only to herself. She narrates her vampiric existence with a lot of "humanity", but her audience remains solipsistic. Lestat derives a certain amount of glee from tricking mortals into believing he is one of them, then pulling the rug out from under their feet. Even Marius does not bother with writing down his life story or telling any of his secrets to anyone other than another vampire. And Armand clearly does not want Daniel or honestly anyone to get close to perceiving the truth about him.

However, I think that Louis and Daniel's published book changes things. Lestat in particular adopts Louis' perspective pretty quickly. The entire opening of The Vampire Lestat is a justification of himself to a human reader, framing the whole book as a message not just to other vampires, but as a correction to the mortals who Louis addressed. Eventually, almost every major character gets a book wherein they have the chance to tell their story, inevitably humanizing them in the process. Even the pretty villainous characters like Armand become more comprehensible through the process of self-narration, transforming the monster back into something closer to a person again.

So in conclusion, while in the books Lestat will eventually take the lead as a the character who is leading vampires into a new era, all of this is only possible because of the revolutionary thought that comes from Louis. And I am so excited to see where the show takes Louis next, as he declares his intention to go up against his own kind.

[savagewildnerness]

Sam Reid: such a master at, with a flicker of emotion spelling a world of words unsaid.

When we get books from Lestat’s perspective, we discover the eloquence & complexity of Lestat’s thinking & we understand the depth of his emotions. And sometimes Lestat explains how these very eloquently articulated feelings & thoughts on the page; he never actually said them aloud to someone. I think it likely that many of us here, expressing our lives & loves in written words in online spaces may relate to a difficulty doing that verbally? Well, I relate, anyway.

But for Lestat it is very different than for me. I find verbal words much harder than written ones. But Lestat has been told & shown over & over again that he is “too much” and so when he has his big thoughts & feelings, in the moment, he doesn’t know how to contain them enough when they’re important enough to actually tell them to people without the recipient finding him “too much” too.

But it’s not an easy thing, with just a look to convey fully what’s going on in Lestat’s brain when Lestat doesn’t speak the words he feels to the person he feels them to.

Here, Claudia has left; Lestat: literally “The Light” of a creature: one of the most positive beings (at least in what he puts out into the world, if not always in what he feels inside) that exists is drawn into Louis’ gloom. But he can exist in Louis’ gloom & feel increasingly hopeless & depressed himself. Lestat can carry that & wait & be there as long as Louis needs him to, because he loves Louis. But he can’t carry that Louis doesn’t seem to care about him at all.

Louis so focussed on Claudia even when she’s absent… it’s so close to yet another soul Lestat loves abandoning him; neglecting him… as everyone has in the end: from parents to lovers to Mentors to people who told him they loved him or found him extraordinary once…. And does Louis care? Lestat is here anyway, but the pain flickers as Sam shows us, even while to Louis, seeming as though he’s perhaps annoying or being flippant or superior; superficial and unconcerned about Claudia when he actually turns In Louis’ direction…

But we, the audience can see & feel the full story. Thank you Sam!

[yesimwriting]

omg irl (personally) i would get so fed up with armand like... nothing's ever straightforward with you... there he goesss with his ulterior motives.

I love how you describe Louis' worry in the latest chapter, because as anon requested, it is the crashout of all crashouts BUT its so sublty written and kept between the lines (big kudos to you) because Louis is not burning and killing 20% of the vampiric population like he did in paris BUT there are hints/implication present that he absolutely would do something much worse to protect and/or avenge bestie reader.

And it really shows during the part after the phonecall when he's thinking to himself. Him repeating Josh's name like a mantra??? Girl his last victim was in the year 2000 but im sure he's willing make sure josh will never use both of his wrists to operate a car ever again lmao. Also, being an english speaking foreigner, i'm usually able to keep my accent at bay but i know damn well that Nola accent was HEARD through that damn phone. This reminds me of that older brother vibe ask of yours you wrote before. We all know he booked a flight arriving after sunset so he can personally drive and pick her up from the airport. Also stand as close as possible by the arrivals so she doesn't need to carry her luggage with a broken wrist.

His worry over the medication that makes her drowsy??? Omg Louis loves her so much its sickening what the hell. I need to see Daniel catching bestie in 4k, casually snoozing peacefully with Louis bc she feels so safe and i need daniel to snap a picture to blackmail louis with it later. (the 70 year old senior is louis younger brother confirmed by jacob anderson himself lmao)

The one hundred thousand over set price for her painting reference???? So Louis doesn't even know, I wonder where armand is keeping the painting. I also wonder what his intentions are with reader. Like... what are his feelings, is his interest romantic, platonic, sexual or something completely different.

Now bestie reader is so gen z and i know for a fact the people in this generation will see bullshit from miles away. (we've been trained by social media) I love the idea of armand being the manipulative gremlin that he is and reader just seeing straight through it. She's a baddie we know damn well she will CLOCK HIM the second he tries to shift the playing field. And I know he'll like it too. Just look at him and Daniel. (rip non book readers, devils minion will give you whiplash)

SIDE NOTE: i love the moment in the show when armand is retelling his story of the trial in paris and Daniel questioning how tf a five hundred year old ancient did not have the ability to stop his own coven. Daniel's smug face and the deadpan "Or what?". Daniel GO GET HIS ASS.

Daniel and reader would get along so well.

side note nr 2: i apologize for the bomb i just dropped in your inbox.

omg what a fun ask <33

i love armand, but in real life i'd be so over the theatrics of it all 😭 like yes you're playing chess and we're all playing checkers we get it!! no one will think you're less mysterious if you just answer the question omg

thank you for mentioning the louis thing! i'm glad you liked how i set it up bc i wanted his worry/frustration to be apparent but i still wanted it to feel in character. ik he's not opposed to greater crash outs (like the paris thing for my girl claudia ✊) but i also think that even when he's upset he understands time and place to an extent. like claudia's very intentional killers deserve worse than a guy who has done something relatively minor to reader on accident. however, it's still important that he very much would do the same if not worse for bestie reader if something actually bad happened to her, so i'm glad you read it that way!!

the josh thing pls 😭 i almost didn't have bestie reader give the guy a name bc she knew how he'd react. also i think that while louis isn't chill with murder, knowing that it'd be so easy to hurt someone who he thinks deserves it isn't an easily dismissible thought. i don't think he's jumping to hurt/kill everyone that's wronged bestie reader, but i do think it's an intrusive thought. the wrist thing 😭 i can see louis reacting like that if he was right there, but i feel like louis would only plan out violence if someone seriously/intentionally hurt reader.

this is going to sound off topic, but bare with me for a second. i haven't delved into this yet, but friendships can be just as complicated as romantic relationships, and while i'm committed to louis and bestie reader always being completely non-toxic, that doesn't mean their dynamic is simple. a major thing that complicates their relationship is the way that they worry over the way the other perceives them.

bestie is worried that louis perceives her as fragile and therefore fleeting and unworthy of long term attention. she's scared of being seen as a hindrance and as a burden. louis is worried that one day everything will click for bestie reader and she'll realize that he's a monster. so he's doing all he can to not demonstrate violence in front of her.

anyways, all this to say that he's not going around attacking people partially bc of his values but also bc he doesn't want her to associate violence with him.

also, total side note but this dynamic is actually what leads to reader and armand bonding. louis loves her so much and the thought of losing her is so distressing that sometimes he censors himself a little too much or treats reader like she's extremely fragile. armand doesn't. yes, this is because it's easier to risk losing someone that isn't the your emotional support human, but also bc he genuinely thinks she's capable of handling it. he'll tell her every (non-incriminating) vampire story ever in full, gory detail and reader is fascinated.

the accent comment is killing me 😭 ik that nola accent was HEAVY over the phone. reader felt those words in her soul.

and yes he’s AT that airport and he’s happy about it too lol.

also yes louis loves her sm 😭. ofc he was worried about her all alone on drowsy medication. that's the light of his life! what's he supposed to do if something happens to her? go back to only talking to his companion and occasionally a journalist accidentally moonlighting as a divorce lawyer??

also omg daniel and reader interactions are a need!! daniel being described as louis's younger brother is so important to me here omg. i love daniel and louis's relationship sm, and i just know daniel is ready for someone else with common sense to be sitting in. daniel looks at bestie reader like that one meme that's like 'you're the only bitch in the house i ever respected'.

the picture concept is so cute 😭 might have to write that into a scene bc i can see daniel seeing louis and reader asleep and at first being like ? and then taking the picture to bring it up later.

YES THE PAINTING REFERENCE i'm so glad you noticed!! i was so excited for it lol. i mentioned this in another post briefly, but i think armand's lowkey disgusted with himself for purchasing the painting bc it's a physical representation of the fact that he finds reader interesting. even before louis, before he knew her, he found something about her interesting, and bc he thinks reader has dismissed him, he wants to pretend that he's never thought about her at all.

i don't want to spoil where the painting is (it's not a major spoiler lol) but armand still has it and it is somewhere secret.

omg armand's intentions with bestie reader 😭!! i'm going to give you a short answer and then a long answer bc his feelings for her evolve slowly.

short answer: he has a really intense hate-crush on her. she's so beloved and perfect and basically the sun personified. he wants to consume her soul, he wants her to not exist, he wants her live forever, he wants her, he wants her to be just as obsessed with him so that he can calm down. she's an affliction. she's a blessing. he's going through it.

long answer: at first, he resents her bc she's taking up all of louis's attention and love. then, he starts to wonder what is so perfect and wonderful about her that has louis absolutely enraptured by her existence. then, he tries to win her over for his pride, and then..well...it spirals.

there's also the underlying benefits of getting reader to care more about him than louis bc then louis can't leave him without losing reader (most delusional and unrealistic part of his thought process tbh).

as far as end goals, he's a little lost bc all of this was an accident <3. it gets to a point where louis and reader are so intertwined, armand thinks he deserves to be with both of them. he's entitled to a matching set.

bestie reader's gen-z-ness being the reason she can see through everything armand says 😭. omg. in my head, she likes louis and armand together so when she realizes something is up she's like oh no. bc she obviously has to tell louis but she's not happy about it. lowkey on a subconscious level she doesn't want to not have armand in her life so she's like :(.

still calls him out tho bc she's loyal and also bc his lies are so egregious it's hard not to. i can picture her being lowkey sneaky when armand mentions saving louis, like feigning confusion and asking something like "just so i'm clear, isn't lestat also technically a powerful vampire? and wasn't he also in the building?" just to start something but also as a way of sending louis subliminal messages to lock in and open his eyes.

also i can see daniel realizing bestie reader knows something is up and looking at louis and being like "come on...i know, armand knows, even the girl that was really happy to be talking two minutes ago and now can't stop staring at the floor knows..." 😭

omg and armand liking being called out. this is for sure when his obsession with reader peaks. also, this hasn't come up yet, but i picture bestie reader as being very perceptive and when she argues with armand over small things she accidentally clocks him with next level reads that she'll never know how accurate they are. i'm talking reads so accurate, louis is immediately stepping in between them bc he thinks it's so over for her just for armand to let it go. (might need to write a drabble featuring this)

armand's love language to reader is not killing or torturing her for calling him out. it gets to a point where louis is like ? girl i've seen you kill people for implying what she just directly said?? if louis ever notices that something is going on with armand in relation to bestie reader it's bc of a suspicious lack of attempts to physically hurt her fr.

(also total side note, but bc you mentioned devil's minion, i just needed to say i love devil's minion era sm.)

omg in response to your side note, i LOVED that moment so much. "or what?" had me gagged. on the GROUND fr.

daniel and reader would get along so well. two divas coming together to maximize their joint slay. they're sitting around the penthouse giggling over the vampire drama like they're the immortal ones 😭.

also,, never apologize for sending me a long ask!! i'm currently very hyperfixated on iwtv and this was so fun for me! if anything, i'm sorry for how long this response was 😭💗

[wizardpink]

Hi! Random question, but do you think the show will have Daniel call Armand "boss" now that the Maître thing happened? I know it's very prevalent in the books, but it might have different and/or interesting Implications™ in the show.

This question reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of the It's Always Sunny podcast. Stay with me here because we are going on a journey.

If there's any journalist in the world, living right now, who doesn't have a boss, it's Daniel Molloy.

There was a post recently that said something about how the point in the story where the timeline shifts the most dramatically from the books to the show is in the early 80s, when Armand DOESN'T turn Daniel into a vampire. I think that is a major part of why the Devil's Minion storyline in the show scared and angered so many fans in the finale. It's so different from the story we fell in love with! But we were so focused on Armand being different (possibly turning Daniel out of spite) that we forgot that Daniel is the one who is really different, in a really genius and wonderful departure from the books.

In the books we know human Daniel primarily as a man in his early 20s through his early 30s, but who he is in his early 30s is extremely heavily influenced by all the things that happened to him in that previous decade. Meeting Louis, meeting Armand, being pursued by Armand, and finally becoming Armand's lover.

But show Daniel had a great big reset button pressed on his life either at the end of the interview or at the end of his and Armand's romance, and he got to experience a life that book Daniel never did, and as a result it shaped him into a man that I think book Daniel always would have become, until he got derailed. And it's fascinating how BOTH paths make perfect sense even though they start at the same pivotal point!

Book Daniel meets vampires and then immediately is sucked into their world permanently. It becomes his realm as well. And in that realm are hierarchies and power dynamics that he has to exist within. He becomes subservient in ways to Armand, to Marius, etc etc. I could go on but you know what I mean.

Show Daniel however! Show Daniel meets vampires and gets pushed OUT of their world back into the world of humanity. And yes, in that realm are hierarchies and power dynamics that he has to exist within. But they're upheld by human beings! People who are no better than Daniel himself, and certainly no more frightening than the shit he's already been through whether he can remember it or not. Show Daniel pursues any story, any lead he wants no matter how dangerous or powerful the subject matter may be. He writes what he wants when he wants, and it works because he's fucking good at it. And it doesn't always work out for him! He says he's been fired and rehired, he's been nearly killed when an interview subject gets skittish or tired of his bullshit. But the point is, he went out and he made his own damn rules. He's brash and opinionated and has zero filter. He'll say whatever he wants to anyone, demand answers and truth from anyone. And no one is gonna tell him he can't. They're gonna have to drag him out of here or kill him to shut him up.

Armand and Daniel's maker/fledgling, devil/minion dynamic is going to be SO DIFFERENT from the books and yet JUST as juicy because the important things -- the love, the longing, the passion, the understanding, the recognition -- that is all still there. But I don't see 69 year old Daniel Molloy falling over himself to worship and cowtow to Armand. My DREAM is we see BOTH dynamics just to juxtapose the two, and the strife it creates as two people who once loved each other try to get back to that place now that they aren't those people anymore.

So tl;dr, yes and no. If he says it, it's going to be like, one time and so dripping with sarcasm Armand will be fighting his fangs again. If we get an earnest pet name it'll be very private I feel (as opposed to Armand who would call Daniel his beloved in line at the post office).

Also on a personal note, "boss" is so deeply unsexy. Goons and henchmen call the Joker boss, I don't want that haha. Oh and also I have like zero recollection of him calling Armand "boss" in the books, that's a detail that my brain mulched up and ate years ago I guess. So I was the wrong person to ask this. Thanks for reading though! 😂

[twopoppies]

Hi I’m fairly new to this fandom. It’s hard to decipher what’s real and what’s not. I’ve been in this rabbit whole for two weeks. I guess what hooked me was the way harry and Louis were behaving at an award show interview. Harry was wearing a floral suit. It’s a beautiful sad love story if real, but what pulls at me is this. Do the boys know how we feel about blue and green? Also since both their fan bases are over 50% Larries could they just be playing it up for the $$ and press? If you could point me to factual info that too would be amazing. Thank you so much.

Hi, darling. Welcome to the rabbit hole. 😉 I really don’t think there’s any “factual info” about this issue.

H/L have used coded clothing (and, this, coded use of blue and green) for years and years. I suppose the most obvious “proof” would be when Harry first wore the blue bandana. Here’s more context. Oh, and Harry’s obsession with a very particular shade of blue is interesting to note, as well.

Beyond the blue bandana, I think RBB and SBB are the strongest indicator that they used those colors to indicate themselves. Every night the bears showed up, they used blue and green stickers to indicate their moods. It was super clear from the props which bear was meant to represent H and which one was Louis.

I think the most important thing for new fans to understand is the context in which this stuff was happening. In those first five years of the band, Harry and Louis were actively signaling about their relationship and their closets. We might have occasionally been wrong about side things, but there were an overwhelming amount of ways in which they were continuously doing this (clothes, tweets, lyric changes, ways the other band members reacted, etc etc).

It was very very clear that fans associated blue and green with them (especially because it originated with their microphone colors) and H/L used it as a way to get their message across in really obvious ways.

Larries find blue and green everywhere, and a lot of the time we’re just joking around and we know it’s just a coincidence so pointing it out is fun and silly. But sometimes it’s hard not to believe that the world really is a larrie.

I don’t think every time they use blue and green that it means something. Sometimes it’s just a nice color combination. However, when they use it in connection to a song heavily theorized to be about their relationship/the other person/their sexualities, I think that’s worth noting.

As far as them using the blue/green to play up to their fan base… yeah, sometimes I do think that’s the case. But I think there are two ways to look at that. One is that it’s disingenuous and solely to make money, the other is that they’re working to keep that side of the fandom feel connected. I’d imagine at times it’s probably a bit of both. But when you look at the context in which things happen, I do believe that it is often more pointed (maybe less so these days than it once was, but I do think they still use it).

I hope that helps a bit.

[hyohaehyuk]

Jacob Anderson

How did you find out about the series and what appealed to you about potentially playing Louis?

I received an email about reading for the part and just had this really heavy feeling in my stomach, which rarely happens. Anne Rice’s writing just gets you in the gut and you feel like you're being looked at. After reading Rolin’s pilot, I almost felt ill; there were so many things about Louis that really resonated with me. I was very excited about it, and I knew it would be a real challenge. I like projects that give me that nervous feeling for no apparent reason.

How does it feel to be part of something that is so beloved and so important to so many people for so many reasons?

I love literature and comic books and movies and, as a self-professed nerd, I understand that feeling of dread and anticipation with adaptations. Something that's lovely about this is it really feels like we're all in love with Anne Rice's books. We really embraced the spirit of those stories and the questions that she asks through her characters. It feels like holding this very precious thing every day. Everybody has a different personal connection to a story, what you responded to when you first read the book. How did I feel about Louis, in what ways did I connect to him in the beginning? And then making sure that I don't lose sight of that.

What is most appealing about becoming a vampire, considering all that Louis is going through at that moment?

Louis' relationship to vampirism in the beginning is more to do with running away from his humanity, running away from being a person. He doesn't want to be on this earth anymore, so when Lestat presents a second life essentially, he sees it as a way for him to settle into a new identity. The irony is that when he becomes a vampire, he starts to reconnect to his humanity. Louis' story is about somebody who in becoming a monster, connects more deeply to their humanity. That's Louis' journey, at least in the beginning.

Why do you think Louis and Lestat are so drawn to each other?

When they meet, Lestat is everything that Louis is not; confident, free of thought and of being, and seems to have kind of cracked the code to existence. Internally, Louis feels like he's getting further and further away from any kind of certainty of who he is or who he's supposed to be, but his insecurities make him present as this very confident, strong-willed human. Lestat’s looking for somebody that stands out and for somebody that can be his match, but in some ways, it's almost like he's misdiagnosed Louis a little bit in the beginning.

Louis is quite progressive for his time; the way he dresses, the way that he thinks about the world around him is steps ahead. Apart from the physical attraction Lestat has for Louis, he sees that Louis doesn't quite belong in his time. I think that would be a really attractive thing for a vampire, because vampires don't really belong anywhere because they're everywhere. They live forever and I think that Lestat sees that Louis was almost born at the wrong moment.

As a musician, what was it like to have so much music written into the story and how did it set the storytelling tone and mood?

Rolin is an encyclopedia of knowledge in terms of music and he's very particular with references, which version and year and arranged by this person that way, etc. He writes it into the script, which allows you to picture what the show is going to look like afterwards. I think of music as a very visual medium, it's evocative and I see in pictures when I listen to music. Before we started this, I put a playlist together of everything that was in the script and then added things that I thought Louis would be listening to at the time. I listened to a lot of Jelly Roll Morton in my trailer before coming onto set, even before coming out to New Orleans. There was also contemporary stuff that just felt like Louis and others for Louis and Lestat. It really helped me to build another profile of this story. I didn't share it with anybody or talk to Rolin about it, but it helped me get into the right headspace.

How did filming Season One in New Orleans add to the magic of the storytelling?

New Orleans is very much a part of the romanticism of Anne Rice's books. It really serves that kind of magical, fantastical storytelling and it does feel like a place where vampires live. This is a really night-timey place and it's the perfect place to be a vampire, obviously. There is just something here, it is almost like a frequency that as soon as you land, you feel it, but you also don't want to disrespect it. I have stayed away from Voodoo because I respect it and it's cool, I don't want to trouble it. I've had really vivid dreams out here, inexplicably, and I think it's one of those places that’s just a bit magical. It's also a place that has suffered a lot, there's challenging weather and a legacy of slavery that's very apparent. Not to generalize, but I think it creates a real resilience in the people there. That feels very at-one with the story we're telling and these creatures that are resilient.

What was your first reaction, when you walked into the sets that Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop created for the show?

I can't speak to Mara anymore because I'm just too big a fan. Every time we walk into a new set for rehearsals, I see her there and then I just walk away because I can't articulate how beautiful these things are. For actors, she's so considerate of what we might need, what we might be looking at, what we might want to touch. There's something really tangible about the way she designs, as if she has this kind of x-ray vision over every single word in the script and in the books and our dialogue. She's one of the most considerate designers that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing work. I love Mara and I should be saying this to her.

The weekend before we started shooting, I was starting to feel the enormity of what we were about to do. Painting had just begun on the Storyville backlot and I came in for a fitting. Feeling overwhelmed, I just needed to go outside. I walked down the Iberville Street set and I just felt a bit of a swagger. It's such an immersive space; it feels so real and just seeing that leap off the page, I felt like Louis, sort of possessed by him, certainly like 1910-1911 Louis. I could just kind of feel him as I walked down the street. That was really important for me, personally, to feel safe and armored and ready to go, walking down that street. Throughout shooting I would just go for little walks; little dawdles on the backlot.

Sam Reid

What was your reaction when you found out you were going to become Lestat?

I was blown away and so excited to get to portray this extraordinary, deep character. But I was also quite terrified because I'm such a fan of Anne Rice's work that I put a lot of pressure on myself to try and fulfill that. It's a mix of feelings because I'm so excited and incredibly grateful to have this opportunity, but I also feel a lot of pressure to fulfill Lestat's shoes, which are mighty.

What was it like when you finally met Jacob Anderson in person and started the process of creating this relationship between Lestat and Louis?

It began on Zoom through the chemistry reads process, which is strange in itself because there's lots of different time zones and then phone conversations before we met and we were texting quite a lot. When we met, I think it was a bit like meeting your old friend. We got to know each other really well before we met in person, which seemed very fitting for this pandemic era. I think we were friends from the get-go, we're quite similar people.

How is the relationship between Lestat and Louis different in the series than both the book and the movie?

I feel like Anne Rice has always been very clear that Louis and Lestat were in a romantic relationship. Particularly as we progress through the books, she becomes more explicit with that relationship and their feelings for each other. We are bringing those un-coded elements from the other books into this season. We're honoring that they're in love and the toxic push and pull that they hold over each other for centuries.

What costume did you love wearing, that spoke to the essence of Lestat's style?

Lestat really is a man from the 1700s and in a way, he came into his own through theater, during that period of time before he became a vampire. When we first meet him, he's still wearing pieces decades out of date and we see echoes of that again at the end of the season. But in the 1900s, he's trying to learn to fit into society, he's trying to stay slightly more conservative. Carol Cutshall has done an extraordinary job of keeping elements of bondage in his costume. So, there's always a sense of danger and savagery that exists within his costumes, beneath the faux conservative choices that he makes with his clothes that I think are really fun to walk around in. Also, we each have these extraordinary, hand-made, custom shoes which help with stalking about at night.

What was it like to shoot in New Orleans, a city that is a huge part of Anne Rice’s legacy and synonymous with her vampire mythology?

New Orleans was hit by a tornado the day after we shot a scene that included a direct quote from the novel. Lestat is talking about how much he loves New Orleans and he says, "there's not an inch of this city that wasn't built from the fierce wilderness that surrounds it." I was in my apartment looking out at it thinking: this world, this universe and this character that Anne Rice created speaks directly to the heart of this city. I think people really identify with the way these characters love this city, and Lestat loves this city. It is an absolute privilege and joy to be here, to be playing this character and to be in his element, it's extraordinary.

What are you hoping the world will experience when they finally get to see this?

I hope they see that we are honoring what Anne Rice wrote. There's a huge amount of respect for what she created. We are always referring to her words and bringing in all of the elements as honestly and truthfully and as blatantly as she wanted. That world that she created is right at the front of our hearts.

Beyond the look of a vampire, why do you think people are fascinated with how they live, night to night.

Vampire lifestyles vary, some sleep in a hole in the Earth and hunt in forests, others live in towers and don't go out very much. Some live a hedonistic lifestyle and they can get away with virtually everything. They can hypnotize people into getting what they want. It may get old quite quickly because you struggle to form genuine relationships, end up eating your friends or they end up hating you because you've turned them into a vampire and they didn't really want that. It's not for everyone; I'd warn people against it.

Source: AMC Q&A's with the IWTV cast