Positive reviews from people I respect is what drew me to watching "Interview With The Vampire", having never read any of Anne Rice's novels and only having seen the movie adaptation a couple of times. Perhaps as a result of not having much history with the source material, I enjoyed this series, that alters the story to make it more timely.
In 2022, in Dubai, the vampire Louis De Pont Du Lac (Jacob Anderson) again recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). The pair previously met in the 1970's when his first attempt to tell his life story ended in violence. De Pont describes how, whilst making a living as a pimp, in a culturally segregated New Orleans, he met Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) a Vampire, who loves him and later turns him into a Vampire himself. Their time is explosive, as years of unageing companionship cause friction to build, especially as Lestat's thirst for death far exceeds Louis'.
The decision to rejig the story to make Louis' black and set the story in Pre-War New Orleans was an interesting one. As a black man in this scenario, Louis is capable to making a life for himself, but only so far as the white town dignitaries will allow. Even when he's an apex predator, this idea persists and the one time he uses his powers in this regard, there is a brutal response.
Performances between all our leads are really good. There is real chemistry between Louis and Lestat and you can see why he returns to him, even seeing the monster that he is. The sparky back and forth between Louis and Molloy is also fun, with Molloy close to death anyway he's willing to "Poke the bear" to get close to the real story - particularly when it comes to drawing parallels between Louis and Lestat's relationship and that of an abused wife. The chemistry continues with Bailey Bass joining them as Claudia, the daughter they create who also comes to resent and love them in equal measure. It's unfortunate that she can't return for season two.
Sam Reid is really excellent and there's so much range between this character, and the one he plays on "The Newsreader" which is similarly airing on the BBC iPlayer at the same time.
It's a both weighty and serious and camp and funny and I wish that more people were watching it because there's a lot of material to mine for it.