Interview With the Vampire: Jacob Anderson Opens Up About How His Louis Differs From the Iconic Novel
On Sunday, AMC's adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire finally debuts, bring to the small screen a brand-new take on the late author's iconic southern gothic novel. As teasers and trailers for the series have already shown and indeed reviews for the series have noted, the series changes up some of the elements of the novel. Two of the biggest shifts are the setting, bringing the story to 1910s New Orleans as opposed to the late 18th century and also sees Louis de Pointe du Lac reimagined as a Black creole man. Now, Jacob Anderson, who plays Louis in the series, is opening up about how his take on the character is different and it sounds like the biggest shift in the character has to do with his personality.
Speaking with The Root, Anderson characterizes his take on Louis has having "more backbone" than his novel counterpart.
"This version of Louis de Pointe du Lac, he's maybe got slightly more fire in his belly. He is more likely to fight back against Lestat," Anderson said. "Novel Louis, as much as I love him, he complains about Lestat more. I love him though. I'm not trying to take anything away from it. I think he's just got a little bit more backbone — with love."
He also said that Louis' race is very important to the story — and he's not worried about any backlash.
"I love playing Louis. I love playing this version of Louis," Anderson said. "Louis was always creole, but now he's Black creole. And it's very much a part of the story and I'm very proud of that. In terms of backlash, I don't want to give them any more time than they're already getting."
Who stars in Interview With the Vampire?
Interview With the Vampire stars Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac, Sam Reid as Lestat de Lioncourt, Bass as Claudia, and Eric Bogosian as Daniel Molloy. The series also features Assad Zaman as Rashid, Kalyne Coleman as Grace, and Maura Grace Athari as Antoinette.
Is Interview With the Vampire a book series?
Interview With the Vampire is the latest adaptation of Anne Rice's novel of the same name — the most notable previous adaptation being the 1994 film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The novel is the first in Rice's Vampire Chronicles series, which AMC purchased the rights to in 2020 and, according to series showrunner Rolin Jones, the network plans to bring them all to life.
"AMC has bought all of the books and AMC wants to make all of the books," Jones said.
When does Interview With the Vampire premiere?
Interview With the Vampire will debut on October 2nd on AMC and AMC+.
