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Spoilers follow for episode three ofInterview With the Vampire, Is My Very Nature That of a Devil.
Its Louis trying to define what he is now.
This episode is about him realizing that hes never going to be human again.
Its about the responsibility of power, and where youre powerless.
Those power struggles follow Louis across the series dual timelines.
Theres a combativeness between Louis trying to keep his head down and Lestat being as brazen as possible.
A lot of it comes down to Sam and I listening to each other.
The scene that comes to mind is after Lestat and Antoinette have their night together.
Hes deeply disappointed to find that Lestat could be getting bored of him.
Hes no longer able to be this deferential businessman to these white bureaucrats when his business is taken down.
Hes no longer able to be the beloved, paternal brother in his family.
He realizes,I dont have anything left.
I do think Louis is a monogamous creature.
He wants a traditional family structure within this relationship with Lestat.
Lestat being like, Yeah, you could do what you want that spins him out.
Louis asks Lestat if hes enough and Lestat laughs in his face.
How did you play that moment?I have to give props to Sam.
That unhinged laughter is something Lestat says about himself in the books.
Its something he cant control.
When he feels vulnerable he bursts into these fits of laughter, but Louis doesnt know that yet.
Louiss humiliated at that moment.
He feels like the ground is liquid.
Louis gives Daniel these little glares whenever the journalist questions his story.
Did the Dubai scenes require more restraint?I incorporated it through all time periods.
He goes into himself a lot more as we go on.
Its a look the audience catches.
I love that stuff.
I like to tell stories with my face probably more than with my voice.
Louis in the present day is so withdrawn and haughty that some of your line deliveries are really funny.
In that scene, there was a lot of body-language stuff.
He comes in as if hed only been there yesterday rather than in years.
Hes like a wounded animal, the way he slinks off and then runs.
The sunglasses, if Im being really literal about it you cant see anything.
And she didnt, which I thought was an interesting choice.
Its like,I see through you.
Its not just about the cosmetic changes.
Theres something in your spirit thats off to me.
But as soon as you walk into an unlit area, its just blackness.
Walking up the stairs in those glasses was a nightmare.
Louis finally embraces his vampirism when he attacks the alderman.
On a thematic level, do you think he believes the ends justify the means?
But its a very human moment when he says, Maybe I am arrogant, and he slices him.
Its about resentment and retribution.
Whether he thinks violence justifies the ends, no, I dont think he does.
This is a big lesson.
There are ramifications to this one action.
No amount of magic can save him from a racist American, racist America, a racist society.
Hes powerless in that way.
He cant operate with impunity just because hes a vampire because hes a Black vampire.
And he doesnt like violence, either.
Thats part of the central conflict for him.
He just needs the product of violence, he needs blood.
Hes ignorant in a very particular way.
Hes very, very old.
Also, he doesnt see the world through a human lens.
He sees that Louis has acted on a vampiric impulse.
He completely misdiagnoses that act and what it was about.
What did that scene entail for you?All of the fire was real.
They enhanced it a bit, but they built a set you could set fire to.
Tied to Louiss morality is his decision to stop eating humans and start eating animals.
Theyre like dog toys, so that you could bite into them or squash them.
Theyve got really intricately punched-in hairs.
Theyre like little beanbags, hacky sacks, hacky rats, hacky-sack rats.
Im biting into them whenever you see me biting into a rat.
I had something practical to bite into, but the hair gets stuck in your teeth.
It gets stuck behind the fangs.
You have blood as well in there.
I was swilling water to get fake blood and rat hair out of my mouth for days afterwards.
The cat as well it was a real cat that I grabbed.
But I was just tickling its tummy with my face.
It was like with the baby.
But the baby just saw me grinning at it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
