‘Interview With the Vampire’ Briefly Considered Letting Louis Eat the Baby
AMC premiered Interview with the Vampire and made the first two episodes available to AMC+ streamers. Fans of the Anne Rice books have seen Lestat (Sam Reid) turn Louis (Jacob Anderson) into a vampire, and the new interview with Daniel Malloy (Eric Bogosian). They’ve also seen Louis offered a baby as food.
Fans of the book and the 1994 movie probably never expected Louis to eat the baby. However, doing the new take, series creator Rolin Jones said he considered it. Jones was on a Television Critics Association Zoom panel on Aug. 10 where he explained. New episodes of Interview with the Vampire premiere Sundays at 10 p.m. and stream on AMC+.
Louis is a reluctant vampire on ‘Interview with the Vampire’
As Louis tells Malloy his tale, he posits himself as a noble vampire. He took Lestat’s offer, but refused to consume people. Louis subsists on animals, so if he won’t drink from a full grown adult, he obviously refuses to drink from an infant.
Malloy calls B.S. on Louis’s story for many reasons. But the audience can watch it unfold and decide for themselves. Jones has said Interview with the Vampire Season 1 will cover the first half of the book.
‘Interview with the Vampire’ considered letting Louis eat the baby for 7 minutes
Jones credited one of his Interview with the Vampire writers with the baby scene. Coline Abert is a French writer who has written for French series Plus belle la vie and The Bureau, and The Returned. Along with Interview, Abert has also worked on the Starz Dangerous Liaisons series.
“Actually, now that I think about it, I think Coline actually came up with that pitch,” Jones said. “That lasted about seven minutes and we all had a good time and then you know no one’s fine with that on TV. And then you kind of have to pull it right back. He’s a nice man, right? You wouldn’t eat the baby, Jacob.”
There’s more darkness coming
Abert isn’t the only Interview with the Vampire writer with dark suggestions. Jones credited other writers with contributing to the macabre. Other pitches did not get rejected, so you’ve got a lot more darkness to look forward to in season 1.
“There’s a writer on our staff named Hannah Moscovitch and she is known as the dark princess of Canadian theater,” Jones said. “And generally speaking out of the 10 darkest things you’re going to see from season 1 came right from her. So when you find her, ask her that question. Darkness, darkness.”
That’s not surprising. Even without eating a baby, Interview with the Vampire is a dark story. Even after Lestat, Louis travels with vampire clans who prey on humans, even if he himself doesn’t. Claudia (Bailey Bass) is coming to the show, the young vampire companion Lestat turned for Louis.
Plus, the series has thrown down the gauntlet for exploring Louis and Lestat’s relationship more than the original book and the 1994 film did. Louis and Lestat have a dysfunctional relationship already. Adding the romance to that is sure to complicate it even further.
