Interview with the Vampire is a classic novel by late author Anne Rice that was made into the 1994 film of the same name. Starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, the film revolves around Louis (Pitt), a Southern plantation owner whose life is turned upside down when Lestat (Cruise) turns him into a vampire. While the story begins in the 18th Century, the narrative is told by Louis to casual interviewer Daniel (Christian Slater) in the present day. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards and was subject to generally positive reviews.

Despite its praise, however, the film was criticized for its lack of fidelity to the novel in some aspects, with particular attention to the hetero-washing of the main characters, who were meant to be explicitly queer. In 2021, it was announced that AMC was producing an adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, which premiered on AMC+ in October 2022. The series has so far received critical acclaim for its approach to the storyline and has seemingly outperformed its predecessor in quality. So much so that, per Variety, the series has already been renewed for a second season. Here’s how the AMC+ series Interview with the Vampire surpasses the 1994 film.

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Modernization of the Traditional Tale

     AMC Studios

Part of what makes AMC+’s Interview with the Vampire series fantastic is its modern approach to the story. With the same basic storyline as the 1994 film, the series made the phenomenal decision to build upon the narrative for a modern audience by critiquing historical aspects of the story, like race relations and the dynamics of relationships. This is what sets it apart from the typical vampire series like True Blood, effectively adding new layers of content and context to analyze besides the traditional notion of vampirical adventures. While the 1994 film doesn’t really examine the ins-and-outs of white plantation owner Louis and his relationship with his enslaved people, the AMC+ series shows Louis as a Black man in the South trying to achieve his goals while dealing with all forms of racism.

Louis’ Relationship with Lestat

In the 1994 film, Louis and Lestat have a toxic relationship from the beginning, as the latter uses the former’s weaknesses against him, manipulating him for his own entertainment. The AMC+ series shows a similar dynamic, with a hum of racism in the background, expressing a whole different level of condescension. That being said, one aspect that is explored further in the Interview with the Vampire series than the film is the queer relationship between Louis and Lestat. The film showed the men as having a very toxic friendship with subtle hints that they were more than friends, a fact that the film was critiqued for. On the contrary, the show dives more into Rice’s explicitly queer depiction of their relationship, where sexual tension is prominent between the two (and, more significantly, acted upon).

Incredible Casting Choices

While Louis and Lestat were played by big-time actors like Pitt and Cruise, their portrayals were wonderful in Interview with the Vampire, but essentially interpretive. The casting choices for the AMC+ series, on the other hand, are Game of Thrones’ Jacob Anderson as Louis and The Newsreader’s Sam Reid as Lestat. The pair brings a whole new level of chemistry to the screen, exuding out a stronger power struggle between the two than what was seen in the 1994 film. This is a more accurate representation of the tug-of-war relationship portrayed in Rice’s novel. The decision to cast Anderson, a Black actor, as Louis also adds another dimension to critique and examine history with throughout the series, including the ways in which Louis’ everyday life is affected by the color of his skin.

Daniel Molloy is a Dynamic Character

In the 1994 film, Daniel Molloy was simply used as a plot-framing device to tell Louis’ story. The execs in charge of the AMC+ series, however, made the wise decision to have Louis and Daniel meet at a gay bar, and it’s revealed that Daniel is struggling with his own identity. When Louis begins to tell his story, Daniel often questions Louis’ validity and whether he is making the entire story up. This is a better use of the character, considering that Daniel listening to Louis’ life story could lead to a potential conflict in the future. At the very least, Daniel is given a level of agency that the Interview with the Vampire film didn’t necessarily afford him.