Major Book Characters Are Cut
When adapting a centuries-spanning novel that finishes at over 300 pages, it’s inevitable that some characters and events will end up on the cutting room floor. When Lestat first turns Louis and moves onto his indigo plantation in the “Interview with the Vampire” novel, he resentfully brings his elderly human father with him. During a slave uprising, Louis mercy-kills Lestat’s father, but not before demanding that Lestat make begrudging peace with the old man. The AMC series’ timeline shift to 1910 means that Lestat’s father is dead. After revealing how his father mistreated him in his youth, Lestat confesses that he inherited his temper, foreshadowing the tragic relationship between Lestat and Claudia.
Also absent is Babette Freniere. In the book, Louis becomes enamored of Babette, and, after Lestat’s murder of her brother, encourages her to manage her family’s plantation, despite the era’s deeply ingrained sexism. Babette is initially successful, but is horrified to learn that her mysterious benefactor is a vampire. Mentally tormented, she becomes a shadow of herself. Babette is a cautionary tale for Louis, driving him further away from human connections. But the shifting timeline, as well as a greater focus on Louis’ relationship with his sister Grace, likely made Babette redundant in the TV series.
Louis First Victim And Kill
In episode two, after he is turned into a vampire, Louis must kill his first human victim, much as he did in the book version of Interview With the Vampire. In the book, that victim was, unfortunately, a runaway slave. Louis recoils at first, but Lestat makes him finish the kill. In the series, Louis lusts after a drunken sailor, but Lestat tells him its too soon for someone like that, who might fight back. Instead, he attacks a poor traveling salesman. Both the book and the series feature Louis killing innocents as his first kill, although admittedly, the book version is far more problematic and would have been way more disturbing to watch on screen.
The Biggest Differences Between The Interview With The Vampire Books And The Series
Based on the 1976 gothic horror novel by Anne Rice, AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire” is the saga of immortal lovers Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt . In the present day, journalist Daniel Molloy interviews the vampiric Louis, gaining insight into his life in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, his seduction and turning at Lestat’s hands, and their years raising the vampire child Claudia . Under Daniel’s scrutiny, Louis is forced to confront his own devilish nature and make a shocking realization about his past.
“Interview with the Vampire” makes several changes to the source material and includes elements from later novels in Rice’s long-running “Vampire Chronicles” series. In an interview with Den of Geek, show creator Rolin Jones acknowledged these differences, but also expressed his belief that fans will ultimately embrace the show’s fealty to Rice’s work. Indeed, while “Interview with the Vampire” is a largely faithful adaptation every episode title, from “In Throes of Increasing Wonder” to “The Thing Lay Still,” is taken from the book it still takes plenty of creative liberties. We’re here to examine some of the most major differences between Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” novel and the AMC television series.
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Daniel’s Age And Experience
Another major shift from page to screen is Daniel’s age and experience. In the novel, the reporter is young and fresh in his career. He also is never referred to by name and is instead simply referred to as “the boy”. However, in the series, we get a much older version of the reporter, one who has plenty of both life and professional experience.
One thing that the series does that is interesting is that it treats Daniel’s experience in the novel as something of historical record. The series establishes that the “novel” happened as a first interview that ended badly we even see the scars of a bite mark on Daniel’s neck. In the novel, at the end of the interview, Daniel asks Louis to turn him into a vampire as well, which prompts Louis to attack and feed from him and then leave him behind, though that only prompts Daniel to then seek out Lestat. It will be interesting to see how the series addresses Daniel’s journey given this new take on things.
The Show Includes Surprise Cameos
Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” introduces only a handful of the dozens of blood-drinkers who populate the “Vampire Chronicles.” Spanning 13 books, the series ends with 2018’s “Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat,” Rice’s final book before her death in 2021. AMC’s series draws upon this rich history, introducing characters in what are essentially extended cameos and Easter eggs for fans.
“A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart” features Bruce , a vampire biker who encounters Claudia while she poses as a university student. Together, they kill a racist student who harassed Claudia. She suggests that “Killer” would be a more fitting name for Bruce, and they talk about forming a “fang gang” of vampires before he turns on her. On the page, Killer appears in 1988’s “The Queen of the Damned” as the leader of the Fang Gang, rebellious young vamps who are violently dispatched by Queen Akasha.
The show reaches even deeper into “Vampire Chronicles” lore in “Like Angels Put in Hell by God” when Dr. Fareed Bhansali administers medical care to Daniel. Though he appears human on the show, Fareed is a vampire who debuts in 2014’s “Prince Lestat.” There, Fareed uses his scientific genius to experiment on vampires, resulting in the birth of Lestat’s biological son, Viktor. This event could be a fascinating plot development in a future season.
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‘interview With The Vampire’: The Biggest Differences Between The Book And Show
So far, so good.
Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire.The recent release of AMCs Interview with the Vampire brings back the world of the legendary and best-selling horror novel of the same title by the late Anne Rice . Those responsible for developing Rice’s novel into a show initially emphasized the intention to stay true to the rich source material and yet give the classic story a modern spin. In many ways, our show is truer to the book than the movie was, which is ironic because Anne Rice herself wrote the screenplay to the movie, stated executive producer in his exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Indeed, it is impossible to talk about the new screen adaptation of Rices work without recalling Neil Jordans evocative 1994 movie of the same title starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, and Antonio Banderas. Despite being widely acclaimed by the critics , it is often regarded as an interpretation rather than an adaptation of the novel Rice had to cram the events of the book into a two-hour movie format. Fortunately, the length of the series allows for plunging into the intricacies of Rice’s book universe and exploring the complex characters’ relations as well as their background stories.
/10 The 1970s Interview Was Just The First Round
Despite the fact that the modern setting and time period of the interview have been updated, the original 1970s meeting between Louis and Daniel Molloy from the book did still happen. In the show, their 2022 Dubai meet-up is actually their second round of interviews.
In the novel, the interview between the two is a one-night-only affair, with Molloy going on to publish a book about the enigmatic encounter. The show’s Molloy, by contrast, never published the details of his conversation with Louis in the 1970s and is using Louis’ renewed invitation as a second chance to tell the tale.
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Canadian Creators Tease Season Two Of Anne Rices Interview With The Vampire
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The Toronto-born producer of Anne Rices Interview With the Vampire saysfans of the TV series who were sent reeling by a provocative finale will likely have to wait about a year for answers.
Adam OByrne says cameras are expected to roll for season two from April to August next year, and that timeline makes it unlikely the show will return in October the month that season one appeared on AMC and its streamer AMC+.
My guess is we wont make that window, OByrne says from Los Angeles, expecting a later 2023 or early 2024 premiere. That is an AMC call.
Most of the shoot will be in Prague, which will stand for Paris, and there are very limited plans to also film in Paris and New Orleans: Two or three actors tops, and maybe a week in both places, he says.
Season one ended halfway through Rices 1976 book about a white New Orleans plantation owner who becomes a vampire in 1791.
The AMC version reimagines Louis as a gay Black man who falls headlong into a toxic love affair with a powerful white French vampire in 1910. It also adds a modern-day storyline set in 2022 Dubai.
The next eight episodes pick up where things left off at the beginning of 1940, with Louis and his vampire daughter Claudia heading to Europe to learn about their origins, says Ottawa-born screenwriter Hannah Moscovitch.
Heres what we know about whats next for Anne Rices Interview With the Vampire. The following contains spoilers for season one:
Publication And Critical Reaction
Published in 1976, Interview with the Vampire quickly became a cult success, and a prominent influence on present Goth culture. The novel was set apart from its predecessors of the vampire genre by its confessional tone from the vampire’s perspective, touching on existential despair and the sheer boredom of lifeless immortality.
Rice reported in her biography that the themes of vampirism and the tone of the book echoed the loss of her daughter Michele from leukemia in 1972. Interview is distinct from its sequels in its somber tone, and subsequently the perspective shifts to that of the vivacious Lestat. Nevertheless, it remains the best-selling and best-received of Rice’s books.
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Staying True To The Spirit Of The Vampire Chronicles
Even with some changes to the original storylines, the Interview with the Vampire team did not ignore the source material rereading and seeing what was in the crevices and the cracks helped them make the show, Jones said.
There are subtle references to characters from later novels and even a quick shoutout to Rices Mayfair witches . Characters that did not appear in the film do appear here. And perhaps the most important detail for the diehard fans Lestat and Louis are lovers, in a move that takes the famed subtext of Rices earlier vampire novels and simply turns it into text.
What Interview with the Vampire hinted at in the 70s was progressive for its time, Jones said, adding that by the later books, its as if there was this great romance that was never really written, but we all kind of agree it happened.
While Jones did not sugarcoat some of the more toxic dish-throwing aspects of the vampires relationship, he saw tremendous opportunity in how he could depict it in an updated adaptation.
Between Rices writings and the 1994 film, which has its fans and critics alike, Jones acknowledged that the series main cast had big ghosts behind them. But he praised Anderson who he pointed out is in nearly every scene and Reid for their stamina, as well as the range of their performances.
As far as the viewers are concerned?
The Absence Of Lestat’s Father
One of the components of the novel that is entirely absent from the series is Lestat’s father. In the novel, Louis tells the reporter that Lestat wanted his plantation and fortune to care for his blind, aged father. It is Lestat’s father’s death that leads to the slaves on Louis’ plantation growing suspicious of the pair, which causes them to have to flee. Given that in the series Lestat is already more than a hundred years old when we meet him, Lestat’s father simply does not factor in.
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The Series Does Not Follow The Novel
A ton of liberties were taken in the Interview with the Vampire series. For one, Daniel Molloy , the journalist Louis tells his story to, has a much larger role in the series. Moreover, Daniel and Louis have a past.
Rices novel opens in 1791, where Louis is a plantation owner. However, showrunner Rolin Jones said he was not interested in telling a plantation story. Instead, he pushed the story forward in time, some 100-plus years, and relocated Louis to Storyville in New Orleans.
Louiss family also gets more real estate. There have always been affluent Black people in this country so this was important for the series to showcase. There is Louis brother, Paul , his mother, Florence , and his sister, Grace . Since Louis is determined to stay connected to his family, the audience sees his struggles even after hes turned.
Finally, the audience also gets Lestats perspective in the series, which is something that doesnt happen in the novel.
Interview With The Vampire Mentions In Our Blog
If you are the kind of reader who gets excited about seeing the story come to life on screen, this year has been such a treat, with so many great adaptations already out and more on the way. Here are all of the recent and upcoming book to screen adaptations you’ll want to have on your radar so you can read it first.
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The Story Is Updated To The 20th Century
When fans of the “Vampire Chronicles” series saw the first trailer for the “Interview with the Vampire” television series, one significant change to the source material was immediately apparent: the time period. “It was 1910,” Louis narrates over the footage, bringing the storyline of “Interview with the Vampire” over 100 years forward. In the novel, Louis is born in 1766, the eldest son of a French immigrant family that runs an indigo plantation in New Orleans. Though “Interview with the Vampire” features bloodthirsty monsters as the leads, vampires are fictional. Asking 2022 audiences to be sympathetic to a hero complicit in the horrors of slavery is a step too far.
“I didn’t know how to tell the plantation owner story,” Rolin Jones told Den of Geek, adding that moving the story to the early 20th century was a visual choice as well as a practical one. Louis’ Season 1 story spans roughly 30 years, carrying the vampires through the Jazz Age and ending at the dawn of World War II. Louis is reimagined as a brothel owner in Storyville, New Orleans’ red light district. Episode 3, “Is My Very Nature That of a Devil,” takes inspiration from this era of Louisiana’s history by incorporating the discriminatory Ordinance 4118 as a story element and featuring legendary jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton in a cameo.
Claudia’s Age And Origin
A major difference between the book and the series is Claudia, specifically her age and her origin. In the novel, Claudia is a five-year-old child who a frenzied Louis finds and feeds from as she lies huddled next to the body of her deceased mother. Lestat witnesses this and mocks Louis, who runs off and leaves the nameless child for dead. Sick with plague and weak from being fed upon, she’s later taken by concerned citizens to a hospital for orphans, though Lestat pretends to be her father and takes her from there, bringing her home with him and turning her into a vampire much to Louis’ horror.
In the series, Claudia is a teen. Like her novel counterpart, Claudia’s mother is dead, though in the series Louis finds her trapped in a room in a burning boarding house in Storyville with her aunt and caretaker already burned to death just on the other side of the door. Louis, guilt-stricken that the burning of Storyville is his fault due to his murder of Alderman Fenwick, rescues her and brings her back to the townhouse he shares with Lestat. She’s badly burned and presumably dying, and Louis begs Lestat to turn her. Realizing that the creation of Claudia as a vampire would give them a daughter and, thus, keep Louis with him, Lestat turns Claudia into a vampire.
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In Interview With The Vampire A Long Relationship Begins
As a kid these books made a big impression on me. I reread them over and over. The story of Louis, a southern land owner who lived outside of New Orleans back when New Orleans still belonged to France was captivating to me. The story begins in 1791 when Louis brother passes away and Louis has a very hard time dealing with it. He wishes to die but is too cowardly to do it himself. Enter Lestat, a beautiful man who makes extraordinary claims to Louis.
Lestat claims he is a vampire and that he can make Louis a vampire too. He then goes to work selling him hard on the vampire life. Lestat is physically dazzling with his vampire beauty and grace. Furthermore, he promises Louis that the world will be theirs and all his problems will disappear. All he asks in return is for Louis to simply provides a place for Lestats aging mortal father to live on his plantation. In Louiss fragile mental state he is easy to manipulate so Lestat moves his father into the Pointe du Lac plantation and turned Louis into a vampire.
