Interview with the Vampire: The Series (Anne Rice via AMC)

I hold Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire close to my jugular, along with its sequels. It's by no means the final word on vampire lore nor was it the first, but it gave the genre a new twist, while incorporating most of its parasitic traditions. For that, I (and a legion of fans) are grateful. 

Now AMC has re-entered the novel (i.e., the adventures of Louis, Lestat and wee Claudia) as a serial (an eight-part miniseries, to be precise), and from the footage shared, it appears to be as lush and macabre as Interview should be. That this remake is coproduced by Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul's Mark Johnson (with some executive help from Rolin [Boardwalk Empire] Jones and evident guidance from the late Rice and her son, Christopher) only further clinches its chance for favor. 

Here's the primary cast: Lois de Pointe du Lac is played by Jacob Anderson; Lestat de Lioncourt by Sam Reid; Claudia by Bailey Bass; and interviewer Daniel Molloy by Eric Bogosian. Good casting, it does seem, and for the sake of nuanced characterization, that's a prime plus. 

Embellishments and deletions will occur throughout, of course (with a second, spruce-up interview intervening, it appears), but whether this one rivals (or remedies) the Neil Jordan's Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise/Kirsten Dunst blockbuster is yet unknown. (As one may recall, the 1994 movie faced a heap of early, negative publicity, some of which came straight from Rice regarding its casting, but at the end of the day, the movie was [for the most part] embraced by the book's connoisseurs.)

Even with its box-office and critical success, the Jordan version didn't lead to a full-fledged, film adaptation of The Vampire Lestat. Hollywood instead waited several years to roll out Michael Rymer's mashup, Queen of the Damned, which proved a tepid reply at best, and that was that, until now. 

I'd imagine that if the new Interview secures a faithful following, we might see other Rice novels come to cinematic fruition, including Tale of the Body Thief and perhaps even a few, marginal experiments like The Mummy or Ramses the Damned and Cry to Heaven. Only time will tell, but a seamless, cinematic view of Rice's mythologies now appears much closer than many dared to dream. 

No matter what the Vampire Chronicles' long-term future holds, the immediate, next first step starts Oct 2.