Sex and death intertwined: AMC’s Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches
Review - Arina Kosareva
Inherently Freudian, Anne Rice’s gothic novels about tantalizing and yet excruciatingly isolated creatures have always been loved and cherished by LGBTQ+ community — first and foremost for their powerful allegoric potential. AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, a 7-episode series which premiered in late 2022, picks up on these notions and is followed by Mayfair Witches (8 episodes, the latest airs in late February 2023), forming a solid premise for Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe — a world in which those who have always existed on the fringes finally come into full power.
Interview with the Vampire — not just a love story
Unlike the vampires of 2010s who preferred snow and clouds to avoid being detected, AMC’s Louis de Pointe du Lac strives to be in the open — and open to the world. Blazing sunlight, endless sands, the elegance of luxury — he lives in a Dubai penthouse, and simple blackout shades protect him from bursting up in flames. Mortals are there to serve and feed him, while one in particular has been summoned to conduct and publish another interview. They met once, 49 years ago, a young reporter and an immortal, and now Louis wishes to revisit his past — and this time publish the final result.
The starting point of the Interview with the Vampire is, of course, a courtesy to the 1994 film of the same name directed by Neil Jordan and starring Brad Pitt (Louis), Tom Cruise (Lestat de Lioncourt), and Kirsten Dunst (Claudia). Despite the impressive commercial success (the film grossed nearly 224 million dollars worldwide — with only a 60-million budget), its reception was rather mixed. Most indicative of that was, perhaps, the infamous Golden Raspberry Awards nomination in the category “Worst Screen Couple”—which Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt actually won.
The script to the film was written by Anne Rice herself, but she a) initially hated that Tom Cruise was cast as Lestat, b) literally “mainstreamed” more provocative scenes from her novel to appeal to Warner Brothers’ tastes. While the former issue was eventually resolved as Rice saw how immersive a performance Cruise can give, the latter turned out to be a serious downside of the film when it came to the accuracy of the book adaptation and fans’ expectations.
Naturally, Rolin Jones avoided this mistake when approaching the script to the TV series adaptation. His Interview with the Vampire is openly queer and much more layered, not to mention that it is set in a different timeline. Here, Lestat and Louis meet in New Orleans of 1910s instead of 1791, which gives audiences a peek into the developing capitalist economy and the role various minorities played in it. Casting Jacob Anderson and Bailey Bass as Louis and Claudia explores just that: in the very first episode Louis, a resourceful businessman, is forced to deal with humiliations rooted in nothing but the color of his skin. Claudia, speaking with a rather thick accent, is often scolded by Lestat (Sam Reid), a privileged narcissistic white man, for not being clever and educated enough. The Dubai setting, where the actual interview with the vampire takes place, is in striking contrast with both the shabby room of the 1994 film, where Pitt’s Louis was reminiscing on his past, and with the 1910s homophobia and racism.
Reflection — and, perhaps, a statement — on the nature of love, passion, and attraction is another remarkable theme of the show. What does it look like from the inside, to be in a toxic relationship? What does it feel like? Is there even a slightest chance of truly leaving your beloved abuser behind? Does this encounter scar you forever or someone else can eventually heal you?
The chemistry between Reid and Anderson is palpable, and their characters unite in a mesmerizing dance, both redeeming and destructive. Reid’s acting is a masterful reinterpretation of Cruise’s Lestat, and his French purring and tailored suits bestow upon him the charm and seductiveness of the death inevitable. No wonder he is so alluring to Anderson’s Louis — a tortured and repressed soul, seeking love, comfort, and understanding. Perky Bass’s Claudia brings chaos into their seemingly ideal world, meanwhile desperately trying and failing to accommodate her evolving mind in a never-changing body. The unstoppable cunning trio looks down at the ignorant and the arrogant, scheming against them and each other. A tale about pain and love, life and death, beauty and ugliness, youth and old age, loyalty and betrayal — AMC’s Interview with the Vampire is a true aesthetic delight, much-needed and exceptionally relevant.
Mayfair Witches, or women in power and the power of women
When her adoptive mother’s cancer returns, Dr. Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario), a brilliant young neurosurgeon, fails to enlist her into a promising trial — and discovers that she has frightening, not-at-all-healing powers. Series of unexplainable deaths lead Rowan to New Orleans, her birthplace and original home. There, she learns that she is an heiress to a powerful family of witches, the Mayfairs, and is haunted by a seductive entity named Lasher (Jack Huston).
The tension between the female and the male is in the center of the Mayfair Witches created by Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford. The way they adapt Rice’s The Witching Hour (1990) brings to mind only one word: weird. But isn’t it exactly the way the relationship between women and men developed historically? Women produce new life but men consider them “unclean,” they have power over men but are oppressed by them, they are talented healers but also trialed — by men! — as witches consorting with the Devil.
Similarly weird is the relationship of women to one another. There is competition, envy, suspicion, hatred — ultimately, misogyny. Under the guise of a caring but strict mother there may be a narrow-minded woman wishing to keep her daughter on a short leash, while the support of sisters can turn out to be nothing but jealousy.
It is a cold and cruel world, and Rowan has to learn to navigate it on her own — while coming to terms with the new reality where she is not just a doctor anymore but a formidable witch. On the one hand, there is the large Mayfair family, and each member of it has their own agenda — hide the truth, gain more power, protect their interests and faith, or divide in order to rule — whom she no less foolishly trusts. On the other, there is a modern-day inquisition of revoltingly dull men claiming that “women are taking our jobs, therefore, they are witches, and we need to burn them at the stake,” whom Rowan foolishly brushes off.
As such, the show is incredibly simplistic. Essentially, the Mayfair Witches explore only one notion: what’s it like, being a powerful woman in the modern world, where men don’t seem to want to give up their privilege and a sisterhood of women is more a myth than reality? The answer is — chaotic. In one episode, Rowan claims she has no need for deep connections with people, but in the next she all of a sudden finds herself in a committed relationship, and some time later dances sensuously with another.
Somehow, even though a lot does happen in the series, the plot development is incredibly slow — everything circles around the same concepts, and no new layers have so far been introduced — and this is where the divide between the Mayfair Witches and the Interview with the Vampire is most evident. Both shows successfully depict two historically mistreated communities that are afforded with an opportunity to be themselves freely — but what each individual does with such freedom is solely their choice. The one witches make is, well, not reassuring.
Nevertheless, there is something incredibly alluring about the endless circularity of the Mayfair Witches. As Lasher meditatively seduces Rowan with sexual touch, luxury, and power, forcing her to kill, one loses themselves in the Gothic charm of New Orleans. Perhaps, this city is, in fact, the main character of show. Saturated with old magic, uncanny rituals, hypnotizing jazz, and the attraction of death and deathly attraction, it may very well be.
Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe — how is it all connected?
At this point, none of the characters from the shows have interacted with each other. As they shouldn’t have. Louis, Lestat, and Claudia’s story is a part of The Vampire Chronicles (1976–2018) — a book series consisting of 12 titles. Rowan Mayfair is the protagonist of another, separate trilogy — the Lives of the Mayfair Witches (1990–1994). Both worlds, however, eventually merge in the three additional novels: Merrick (2000), Blackwood Farm (2002) and Blood Canticle (2003).
In 2020, AMC announced the purchase of the rights to all the 18 books, with the aim to build their own franchise — the Immortal Universe. So far the attempt is a roaring success, as both shows broke AMC’s viewership records: first the Interview with the Vampire ranked first among all of the platform’s releases of October 2022, then the Mayfair Witches beat their predecessor.
Having said that, critical response to the shows varies. While the Interview with the Vampire receives high praises for its new take on the essence of immortality and compelling storytelling, the Mayfair Witches are less fortunate, with the cohesiveness of characters as the main issue. Season 2 has already been ordered for both series, with the former expected to air in October 2023 and the latter — sometime in 2024. Provided these seasons continue to break records, we might actually see Rowan crossing paths with Lestat or Louis. And oh, what a curious interaction that would be.