Jacob Anderson on the ‘Darker’ Season Two of ‘Interview with the Vampire’

Anne Rice’s novel Interview With the Vampire has a rabid fan base, intensely protective of the story and any adaptations of it. Thankfully for Jacob Anderson, who plays Louis de Pointe du Lac in the AMC original series based on Rice’s novel, the fans seem to be on board. “I do get a sense that people feel like we did right by the characters.” Now in its second season, this version, not connected to the 1994 film version starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, looks deeper into the “mess” of Louis. “He’s this jumble of contradictions…Louis is way more responsible for the tragedy of his own life than he would ever admit.” For Anderson, he never once considered finding inspiration from the film. “I think that would have been the first step to ruin it. To try and compare or do anything in response to that, because that film is iconic in its way and what it represents and those two very powerful screen presences at that particular time.” He went on to say, “Rolin [Jones, series creator] used to say this is a third thing. There’s the book, the film and this is the third thing.”

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Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

This show has a rabid fan base. Do you get a sense of how intense their love of this show is?

Oh, I don’t think so. I do get a sense that that people feel like we did right by the characters. I’m sure there’s people that feel like some of the deviations or differences between the source material and Anne Rice’s writing, [they] might not like it. Like the essence of the characters, and the way that these stories feel when you read them is represented in the show. Anne Rice is very high emotion, heightened sense of feeling and how things feel and smell and taste. And hopefully you’ve got that in the show. And I do get that sense from people.

What about this version of Interview with the Vampire originally appealed to you?

Well, I didn’t have a massive reference point to any other version in the beginning. So for me, I think I looked at it in quite a cynical way. At first I was like, “Oh, it’s another show based on a book that was made into a movie in the ’90s.” This was a period where there were a lot of those shows. So I looked at through this gaze. And then the script was just the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read. Like, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to say such beautiful words. And then I started to read Anne Rice and it kind of just built from there. Louis is such a mess. He’s this jumble of contradictions and that is the most exciting thing you can do. That’s the most exciting thing I think you could ever inhabit. Just a walking contradiction. Louis so embodies that.

Considering Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Louis in the film version is so well known, did the cultural influence of his portrayal impact your portrayal, and do you find fans compare yours with his?

No, no, I mean, I haven’t I haven’t found that, I’m sure people are, I just haven’t seen it. But I think that that would have been the first step to ruin it. To try and compare or do anything in response to that because that film is iconic in its way and what it represents and those two very like powerful screen presences at that particular time. I think that it would be a fool’s errand to try and compete in some way. This should this feel like a different expression of the story, and this feels like its own thing. I remember Rolin [Jones, series creator] used to say this is a third thing. There’s the book, the film, this is the third thing.

One thing that does set this iteration of Interview with the Vampire apart from the film is how steamy it is, which does feel integral to the story. How important or vital is that to you to tell this story?

I’m not sure, I think it’s really important to the story and is really important to their relationship. I think that the way that sex plays out in relationships, it tells you a lot about the dynamics. I think power comes into that quite a lot. It’s like, what is the power dynamic through the way sexuality plays out in relationship? And I think that actually almost represents this higher plane of feeling. Vampires can’t really be separated from touch and from the exchange of bodily fluids, it sounds a little bit grim, but in terms of talking about blood and that closeness, like a vampire can’t eat without physical contact. So it would be just be a little bit weird to not explore that. So I think it’s less important to me and more that I don’t really see how else you would portray this relationship. They’re sexually attracted to each other. There’s a sensuality to their relationship. Sex is a really important part of their dynamic.

Where do we find Louis in season two?

I’d say it’s definitely darker. Using the term darker feels a bit like it’s edgier, and it’s not that. I think this season is quite a confronting at what happens when you really dig into your own culpability to things that that you felt you were the victim in or ways that you felt were wronged. And how much did you play a part in both fronts and responsibility you’re really willing to take for your own actions and the way that you manifested your thoughts and feelings? Louis is way more powerful than he would ever admit, he is way more responsible for the tragedy of his own life than he would ever admit. And then Claudia (played by Bailey Bass) is stuck in, she’s trapped in her body and she is so much more than others see her. She’s stuck there, she can never really advance from that. And they’re both outsiders in this very strange land and they are all wrong. These are very complex ideas. Rolin and writers are just like digging and picking at the scab. Season two is really picking the scab of these characters and the work they need to do on themselves.

The first season felt like Louis was responding to the trauma of becoming a vampire, and in the second it feels like he’s evolving into himself more. Do you feel that?

Yeah. And a part of that is learning to, once you’ve accepted something, is learning to live with it. He’s certainly not there yet, but I think that’s his honesty, that’s what he’s trying to do, come to terms with a number of traumas. And I think this is a story about nature, about what is your nature, what is inherent in you and can you accept it? Can you truly accept who you are? And can you be lots of different things? Because I think Louis in many different ways. He’s not just one thing. He’s not just a vampire, he’s not just a human. He’s Louis.

It’s true. Unlike with Lestat (played by Sam Reid), who is layered but a lot of him is very transparent, but Louis is layered and he’s revealing his layers this season.

Yeah, I think Lestat is really layered. And I think it’s really interesting, I’ve been talking about it quite a lot, we haven’t met Lestat yet, an objective Lestat. But yeah, Louis is very conflicted. His life is beset with conflict and his family is a very confusing family and he grew up in New Orleans on the wrong side of Black Jim Crow South. He was a very complex human and continues to be a very complex vampire. But he’s not comfortable with it. I think that’s the big thing. He’s not okay with it. Whereas Lestat embraces what he is. He enjoys it. He’s found a way to really enjoy it and kind off gets off on how bad he is. Whereas Louis is really in denial about who he wants to be.

That is another part of this portrayal of Louis that makes him different, touching on that dark part of the Jim Crow South. Did learning more about that part of history impact your portrayal?

Louis grew up in New Orleans, but he grew up in this affluent Creole Black family who owned the plantation. It’s a very ugly time in history and his family was on the wrong side of that. And because of that he couldn’t fit in anywhere, and never fit in anywhere because of the circumstances he was born into. And he’s chafing up against that all the time. He just wants to belong, kind of in the same way that Claudia just wants to belong. But I did think back to that quite a lot. About his upbringing and how he’s perceived in New Orleans and the different hats he has to wear, because in 1940s Paris, there is this idea that Paris is this utopia, like racism doesn’t exist. It’s also like racism doesn’t exist so long as you are exceptional in some way. You see him coming back from those spaces [salons], but he doesn’t fit in there, either. And I think that’s really interesting. He kind of never finds his place. But it always goes back to that.

Another aspect of your performance in the aesthetics of Louis, the nails and the eyes. How much of that impacts your performance?

It does a lot. In terms of Louis, it’s changed a bit in season two, because he dresses down a little bit, he’s dressing to blend in. Whereas in New Orleans, he’s dressing to stand out, he wants to be the man, he wants to show how rich he is, wants to show how affluent he is. In Paris, he’s trying to fit in, so he dresses down, which was a weird thing for me because I’m used to his physicality being a little bit more postured. And there was a bit less of that in Paris. But he’s down. So that was helpful. For me, it was the lenses, just like having vampire vision. You can’t see anything in low light. Everything has to be level otherwise you can’t make out detail. You can’t see the person in front of you. But I think that isolation is quite good, you sort of get this shut-in syndrome, every day is a period of time where all of the vampires in this show suddenly feel very aware of being trapped behind the eyes. Which I think gives you an otherworldliness that makes you feel alien.

One thing I don’t think a lot about people know about you is that you do music under the name Raleigh Ritchie. Do you have any new music coming out?

I don’t have any new music at the moment. I’ve got music coming out that will be new to anybody because we did a reissue of my first album. I think anybody can write a song. That’s my feeling. And anything that I could do to democratize the idea of making something. So I was like, let’s put some of the demos out that I was determined to keep them in a vault and never released. So at some point, this year, we’ll put out some demos. So they’ll be new songs to people, but not brand new.

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