Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Interview with the Vampire.
From show creator Rolin Jones, the AMC original series Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire closed out its poetic and decadent first season with a shocking, revealing, and bloody tale of toxic love and its resulting betrayal. When all the parties, fun, and draining of blood are over, what’s left among all the damage are questions about what’s next for these characters, and the only comfort in waiting to find out is the guarantee of an already greenlit second season.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars Jacob Anderson (who plays Louis de Pointe du Lac), Sam Reid (who plays Lestat de Lioncourt), and Bailey Bass (who plays Claudia) talked about the intention of the white costumes they wear in the finale, the gruesome moment that made Anderson retch on set, the challenges for Claudia when it comes to having to physically overpower bigger men, the experience of working with so much blood, when they knew about the character reveal at the end of the episode, and how nice it would be if these characters could just go to family therapy.
Collider: This show and this season have been absolute perfection, so congratulations on being a part of this and in having a hand and helping make it what it is.
JACOB ANDERSON: Thank you.
SAM REID: Thank you. That’s very kind.
This was quite the finale. The white costumes that you wear, with the wig and the makeup, are so striking. Were there conversations about getting all of your characters in the white costumes, so that the blood spatter that was splattered all over you would be even more striking?
REID: A hundred percent. That was probably the sole reason that we were all in white for that sequence. I can say with absolute confidence that [show creator] Rolin [Jones] was a hundred percent committed and that he wanted us all in white so that we would be covered in blood.
ANDERSON: And we wanted to be in white. I remember there was a conversation about levels of costume breakdown as the night goes on, and I said to (costume designer) Carol [Cutshall], “Whatever happens, I really want Louis to be down to his billowy shirt.” That ties into such romantic imagery, like those old book covers that you get. The penny dreadfuls and romance novels would have these big flowing arms. I thought that was appropriate for Anne Rice and for the killing. Not that it wasn’t my idea, but we definitely pushed for that.
Jacob, what was it like to shoot the scene where you ripped the jaw off the guy while he’s still alive?
ANDERSON: It’s the only time that I’ve actually retched on set. I found something so disgusting that I had a bodily reaction. I was like, “Oh, I can’t look at this. This is gonna haunt me.” When the jaw is gone, that stage of makeup, I just found it so upsetting. But I think it’s amazing. That was Tami Lane. What more do I need to say? But to actually shoot that, I found it so strange because it’s so on Louis. I think it speaks to their hunger, in that moment, and their desperation. They are so deliriously hungry, to have to really lean into that because Louis is not a ripping-off-jaws kind of guy.
Bailey, the thing that’s so striking about Claudia in the finale is that we see how violent she can be, but also how different the logistics are of her killing somebody because she literally has to climb up them or jump on them in some way. What was it like to shoot those moments? Was that fun? Was it challenging? Was it just really messy?
BAILEY BASS: It was challenging because we didn’t fake any of the height things. I was literally on my tiptoes trying to kill this person. When she’s killing the cop, her first kill of that night, there was a sponge situation on his back to get the blood. When he was going down, I had to push him a certain way for the logistics. It’s very technical. He had to slowly go down. And I’m also sucking his blood, at the same time. I’m clearly not actually sucking someone’s blood, but I’m moving my body so violently, back and forth, and it almost feels unnatural. Alexis Ostrander, the director, said, “More. More.” That’s how delirious they are. It’s like a frenzy. So, my body had to be moving back and forth and my hair was all over the place, but it looks so cinematically beautiful.
Jacob and Sam, what was it like to shoot that moment when Louis kills Lestat? They’re already covered in blood, and then Lestat is vomiting blood, and then there’s blood pouring out of his throat. Could you ever have imagined you would be covered in so much blood?
REID: I don’t think you ever really imagine it, but it wasn’t unexpected. You read it, and you know we’re gonna get to this very bloody place. With the vomiting blood, I was confused about how we were gonna do the logistics of being poisoned. Originally in the books, he drinks dead blood, so it speeds it up, and this is more of a poisoning scenario. We laid it in that when you drink tainted blood or somebody who has cancer of the blood, then it tastes bad, and it might make you sick. And then, if you drink blood with alcohol in it or blood with poison in it, then it would make you physically vomit. I didn’t realize how much vomit I’d have to be doing. It was just so much. They made us special blood to drink that didn’t take as bad, but it was a lot. And then, you had blood rigs set up in your neck that would be operated by pumps, so you’re trying to do these scenes while somebody else is behind you, pumping away.
ANDERSON: There was always a third or fourth thing happening, on top of any scene that you watch, even just with the lenses. Nothing was ever straightforward. There was never just a scene between two people.
REID: Yeah. It’s a vampire show.
Jacob, when did you learn about the whole Armand reveal? Was that something you knew all along, or did you not know that, in the beginning?
ANDERSON: No, we knew from the very beginning. Actually, my first conversation with Rolin, he told me. I just thought it was very cool and very exciting. It’s interesting, if you go back and watch, from the beginning, I think you’ll see little clues.
REID: When I read the script for the first time, I guessed it. I kept saying, “Rolin, this is too obvious. Everyone’s gonna get it.” And they didn’t, so props to him. He kept ripping the rug away from the audience by letting him walk into the sun, and elements like that, which made you think, “Okay, he’s definitely not a vampire.” But as soon as he makes the reference to Marius’ painting I was like, “There is no way that this person is not Armand.”
The immediate reaction to that moment has been, “No, there’s no way this guy is the love of Louis’ life. That can’t be. I don’t believe that.”
BASS: I was so pissed when I read that. I was in Claudia mode, so I was her more than I was Bailey. I still remember the physical and verbal reaction to that, when I read that in the script, I threw a fit after watching Episode 7, because I just knew how pissed Claudia would be, hearing Louis say those words. And then, reading all the fans’ reactions, I’m so happy they’re as angry as Claudia would be.
ANDERSON: All I will say about that moment is that the key reference that Rolin gave me when we were shooting that scene was The Graduate, if that tells you anything.
REID: That’s cryptic. We’re also only halfway through the first book.
ANDERSON: It’s a question, as much as a statement.
If this trio is a family, for better or worse, would you say that this is the worst? Can things get better? Where does it go from here?
ANDERSON: Not necessarily, no.
REID: If you want the answer to that question, you can always look at the book and see where it goes. I’d say it’s only gonna get worse.
ANDERSON: Not only.
REID: There are some moments of levity, always. And Lestat goes to the naughty corner. I don’t know if that’s better for him, but he probably deserves it. It’s a hard lesson to learn when your husband kills you because you’ve been that terrible. That’s a pretty hectic lesson. But there is more pain to come.
There should be lots of family therapy and self-reflection time, for all of them.
ANDERSON: Wouldn’t that be nice?
REID: It would be so nice if they just went to therapy.
BASS: I think the issue is that they’re never gonna go to therapy and fully talk out their problems, which just makes it more complex and tormented. That’s the fun of it. That’s why fans love the show.
REID: Yeah, murder does remain their love language.