‘Interview With the Vampire’ Louis Actor Jacob Anderson Won’t Try to Compete With Brad Pitt
The AMC drama Interview with the Vampire makes Jacob Anderson only the second actor to play Louis de Pointe du Lac. Brad Pitt played the role in the 1994 movie adaptation. It’s 28 years later and this is a whole new take, so Anderson is not trying to do Pitt.
Anderson was on a Television Critics Association Zoom panel for Interview with the Vampire on Aug. 10. When the inevitable question about comparisons to the movie came up, Sam Reid discussed his version of Lestat. Here’s Anderson’s answer about Louis. Interview with the Vampire airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC and streams on AMC+.
Jacob Anderson is ‘not going to try and compete with’ Brad Pitt in ‘Interview with the Vampire’
In the 1994 movie, Louis (Pitt) told his story to Malloy (Christian Slater) in the then present day. Flashing back to the turn of the century, he told how Lestat (Tom Cruise) turned him into a vampire. Both Louis were conflicted about being a vampire. Louis was more mopey and despondent about life itself.
“Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt,” Anderson said. “I’m not going to try and compete with that, and I think he’s a brilliant Louis. This is a third thing. This is another thing, and there are things about Louis in this interpretation that are contextual with things and that are reflective of the time and reflective of lots of things. Why compete? How amazing that all of these Anne Rice stories can exist, all these Anne Rice interpretations and the books can all exist at the same time.”
Jacob Anderson can show much more of Louis’s life than Brad Pitt could
When Rice wrote the book in the ‘70s, Louis hadn’t even lived to be 100 yet. By the 1994 movie he was pretty much there. Now in 2022, Louis has lived longer. But even having a weekly TV series lets Interview with the Vampire get deeper into Louis’ past.
“It’s a dream to play that,” Anderson said. “I mean, it’s the experience of building on a person’s life over a century. Something that was really fun for me to think about was what books has Louis read? Like, what is he seeing? Who has he met? Who does he kind of model himself on? And just building all that stuff in. And also finding those moments where a person doesn’t really change over a century. There’s little moments that I really enjoyed kind of bringing the old Louis back in. What else can I say? It’s the ultimate acting challenge.”
Jacob Anderson is an angrier Louis
If this Louis seems angrier, that’s by design too. Anderson embraced the rage Louis felt as a Black Man in turn of the century New Orleans, and as a vampire living through human history.
“He’s somebody that to some extent feels cheated I think in this human existence,” Anderson said. “I think he can’t quite find his place. He’s kind of stuck between all of these masks and all of these personas that he’s created for himself. And I think he feels chapped by it and he’s not quite sure who to blame. Sometimes that manifests in rage and he kind of sends it to the wrong people. I think that’s where it comes from. I think when you spend your life having to hide who you really are, you reach resentment.”
Well, that sure sounds different than Pitt’s Louis.
