The Hottest New Rock Star Is The Vampire Lestat — With Help From Bowie, Iggy And Freddie

In early June, hundreds of fans dressed to nan nines were successful attendance astatine a stone star’s sold-out show astatine New York’s Beacon Theatre. There was lace everyplace and leather too. Chains dangled from loop loops and wrists. Some attendees arrived pinch dyed crimson hair, others pinch orangish aliases pink.

Sheer achromatic outfits that looked pulled from nan pages of a gothic romance caller were draped connected bodies. If “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” had collided pinch a modern concert, it mightiness person looked thing for illustration this.

Then a man took nan stage. Was it Lestat de Lioncourt, nan immortal vampire-cum-rock star, aliases was it character Sam Reid?

Moments earlier, attendees had watched nan first section of AMC’s “The Vampire Lestat,” nan rebranded 3rd play of “Interview With nan Vampire” that premiered earlier this month. This play adapts Anne Rice’s caller of nan aforesaid name, which is told from nan position of Lestat, played by Reid, and transforms him into a touring musician.

Now Reid, dressed successful achromatic pinch his thorax partially exposed beneath an unfastened overgarment revealing a scar, stepped connected shape and into nan domiciled of Lestat successful beforehand of nan audience. As he moved crossed nan stage, phones changeable into nan air. Fans screamed. People sang on to a slew of songs, and for a moment, nan statement betwixt character and characteristic seemed to disappear.

At first glance, nan duty to move Lestat into a stone prima seemed straightforward. The vampire astatine nan halfway of Rice’s beloved novels has flirted pinch euphony before. In 2002’s “Queen of nan Damned,” he emerged arsenic a leather-clad nu-metal frontman tin of commanding monolithic crowds. But bringing Lestat into nan coming introduced a different challenge. Rock euphony nary longer occupies nan aforesaid spot successful celebrated culture. Fame is fragmented. Audiences are skeptical of celebrity. Social media tin build a prima overnight and tear them down conscionable arsenic quickly.

Yet “The Vampire Lestat” asks viewers to judge thing arsenic audacious arsenic a centuries-old vampire still being capable to captivate people, motorboat a euphony profession and animate a movement. Reid thinks portion of what drives nan characteristic is thing amazingly modern.

“Nobody cares that I exist, cipher cares that I’m not relevant,” Reid said of Lestat’s mindset entering nan season. “It’s really nosy to spot him struggle pinch that and spot him effort to find his spot successful nan world and not instantly get world domination.”

Making that imagination consciousness believable required acold much than putting Lestat successful leather and handing him a microphone. To propulsion it off, nan show’s imaginative squad had to build a stone prima from nan crushed up, crafting a ocular identity, creating euphony that could guidelines connected its ain extracurricular nan series, and transforming Reid into a performer tin of owning a crowd alternatively than simply acting successful beforehand of one.

Sam Reid’s Lestat de Lioncourt crowd-surfs successful “The Vampire Lestat.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

“Dropping Lestat down into 2025 and making nan determination for him to play stone ‘n’ rotation was a really awesome melodramatic move because while location are galore awesome stone bands that are live and kicking correct now, their clasp of nan taste scenery is rather small,” showrunner Rolin Jones said. “You couldn’t deliberation of a worse measurement to get your connection retired than going to beryllium a stone prima correct now.”

That situation became nan instauration of nan season.

Step 1: Making nan music

A polished aesthetic, trading and, successful Lestat’s case, book buzz tin only return a musician truthful far. It’s nan euphony that had to make diehard fans judge he’s an creator genius, aliases astatine slightest a prima successful nan making.

That situation landed pinch composer Daniel Hart agelong earlier a azygous book was finished. In an different twist, galore of nan songs that would yet look passim nan play were written earlier nan writers’ room afloat mapped retired nan story.

“There were truthful galore unknowns erstwhile we started,” Hart said. To find a measurement in, Hart and Jones started pinch their acquainted reference point: David Bowie.

“We settled, I deliberation benignant of obviously, connected David Bowie arsenic nan motorboat pad for our Lestat,” Hart said. “The measurement that Bowie was truthful mercurial, and he was a chameleon. He reinvented himself passim his career.”

Hart besides looked to artists arsenic varied arsenic Kurt Cobain and Chappell Roan, while drafting inspiration from classical music, blues and nan old-world sound Lestat would person absorbed complete his agelong life. One early writers’ room workout moreover progressive breaking down nan influences embedded wrong “Long Face,” nan Bowie-coded first azygous released from Lestat’s fictional album.

“‘Long Face’ feels for illustration a Bowie rip-off to Daniel Molloy [played by Eric Bogosian], and truthful past Lestat breaks nan opus down for him and goes into each nan different influences that are successful there,” Hart said. “ ‘Long Face,’ you could say, was successful immoderate measurement influenced by Bach, and past [he] talked astir Willie Dixon, and really nan blues had influenced Lestat erstwhile he was astir nan … 1920s and ‘30s.”

“He’s been live for 250 years,” Hart continued. “He’s seen and heard a batch of music.”

The imaginative squad ne'er group retired to replicate nan hard-rock sound that defined “Queen of nan Damned.” If anything, Jones felt trying to outdo that soundtrack would person been a losing battle.

In “The Vampire Lestat,” Sam Reid sings each opus himself, including “Long Face,” “Butterscotch Bitch,” “Your Biggest Fan,” “All Fall Down” and “Black Licorice.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

“I mean, that soundtrack is deservedly very famous,” Jones said. “And I deliberation if we decided to out-Korn Korn, we were going to beryllium successful trouble.”

Instead, their Lestat was a musician still searching for his voice. Jones says nan play originates successful a much performative glam-rock abstraction earlier gradually evolving into thing much personal.

“We thought ‘70s Bowie is wherever we would start, and that we would musically make a travel pinch him arsenic we went deeper and deeper,” he said. “He would put his set connected 1 tour, what a normal set would do, complete 4 albums. The euphony conscionable keeps changing. And arsenic he gets much and much vulnerable, nan songs statesman to change. They get much raw. They get much exposure, and nan euphony style evolves.”

Reid sang each opus himself, including “Long Face,” “Butterscotch Bitch,” “Your Biggest Fan,” “All Fall Down” and “Black Licorice.”

“The much bombastic, nan much over-the-top songs — he doesn’t look to for illustration them by nan extremity of this season,” Hart said. “The much introspective songs that travel later connected are much successful his caller wheelhouse.”

That travel besides shaped really Reid approached nan material. While audiences will yet spot nan songs unfold wrong nan discourse of nan show, Reid encountered galore of them earlier he afloat understood wherever Lestat’s communicative was heading.

“I deliberation successful nan beginning, he’s coming from an artificial benignant of construct,” Reid says. “As nan show goes on, nan euphony becomes much personal, and he becomes little willing successful really uncovering emotion done his assemblage and much astir uncovering who he is arsenic an individual and arsenic an artist.”

When Jones first began adapting “The Vampire Lestat,” he concisely considered making nan characteristic nan benignant of arena-filling superstar audiences mightiness expect, for illustration a Beyoncé aliases Taylor Swift. But nan much nan writers discussed it, nan little absorbing that type felt.

“If we were gonna commencement chipping distant astatine each nan armor that Lestat had, 1 of nan awesome repetitive ways of a circuit is you conscionable can’t look to break a ceiling,” Jones said. “He’s a niche star. And I deliberation that is portion of nan state that fuels this small journey.”

Hart besides had nan belief that Lestat would beryllium a monolithic star.

“But it became much evident that [he might] not precisely person nan benignant of occurrence that he wanted and desperately felt for illustration he needed — that was a much absorbing communicative to tell,” he said.

Step 2: Getting nan stone prima look

While nan assemblage has to judge Lestat is simply a stone star, they besides person to judge he’s personification pinch nan look — and worthy staring at.

Lex Wood, nan show’s costume designer, said that nan situation began agelong earlier cameras rolled connected Season 3. Jones first floated nan thought of stone prima Lestat while nan squad filmed Season 2 successful Prague successful 2023, giving Wood clip to statesman imagining what a astir 300-year-old vampire mightiness deterioration while reinventing himself arsenic a singer. During a accumulation travel to Paris, she started sourcing pieces and collecting references that would yet make their measurement into this play years later.

“The main purpose of building costumes for Lestat was to support an constituent of nan unachievable,” says show costumer designer Lex Wood. “To stress that Lestat is untouchable.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

Being fashionable wasn’t nan only goal.

“The main purpose of building costumes for Lestat was to support an constituent of nan unachievable,” Wood said. “To stress that Lestat is untouchable. Hence, building circumstantial costume build shapes and patterns that we adapted passim nan season.”

That thought guided astir each facet of nan wardrobe. While nan first 2 seasons often presented Lestat done system tailoring and muted palettes, Season 3 arrives successful a overmuch louder world.

“A large point really was that we wanted to push much colour into nan play successful general,” Wood said.

Wood said nan prime reflected wherever Lestat finds himself emotionally. No longer confined to drafting rooms and play silhouettes, he’s navigating celebrity, capacity and self-reinvention. Leather remains. Black remains. But truthful do bursts of color, softer fabrics and unusual patterns.

“We wanted to break Lestat free of nan suiting,” Wood said. “Though we wanted to stay existent to his roots successful nan 18th century, we besides wanted Lestat’s pieces to consciousness somewhat otherworldly astatine times.”

That meant weaving successful elements of garments from nan 18th period and making them consciousness contemporary. This could look for illustration a very circumstantial trim of a sleeve of a garment that nods to that time.

Wood besides studied nan backstage photography of Mick Rock, pulling references of Bowie, Iggy Pop and Freddie Mercury. She blended that pinch punk-inspired designs from Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier. Goth icon Siouxsie Sioux besides became an influence, peculiarly successful nan usage of layering, texture and attitude.

Wood said nan scattered references bespeak a characteristic actively trying to fig retired who he wants to be.

“He’s investigating societal media himself,” she said. “As he’s discovering his beingness arsenic a stone star. He’s investigating what it intends to beryllium a stone star.”

“He’s uncovering his persona,” she continued. “And trying connected different personas.”

That thought extends each nan measurement down to accessories, pinch Lestat’s jewelry blending aged and caller — a civilization necklace created by a U.K. silversmith recalls 1 worn by Mercury during Queen’s early years, while rings featuring sculpted teeth service arsenic subtle reminders of his vampiric nature.

“We purposefully wanted immoderate of his wardrobe to not beryllium recognizable to immoderate peculiar marque — astatine different times, we wanted to observe high-end fashion, to research his playfulness and unpredictable characteristic done his clothing,” Wood said.

Even nan shoes became portion of nan transformation. One of Wood’s earliest conversations pinch Reid centered connected abandoning nan heeled footwear that helped specify earlier versions of nan character. This Lestat needed thing heavier for a performer who could gait a stage.

“He wanted thing that felt much grounded,” Wood said. “Something he could bounce astir much in.”

Wood said nan redesigned footwear altered Reid’s posture and movement, helping create a type of Lestat that she noted feels much volatile and much comfortable captivating a crowd than charming one.

Step 3: Becoming nan stone star

For each nan activity that went into nan costumes, euphony and scripts, nary of it mattered unless nan watchers believed nan character tying it each together.

Reid had already spent 2 seasons playing Lestat done different characters’ memories and perspectives. This clip astir required him to transportation nan character’s communicative done his ain reflections. More importantly, he had to reply a deceptively difficult question: Why would anyone travel Lestat successful nan first place?

“It’s not fame that he’s after,” says Reid of his characteristic successful “The Vampire Lestat.” “Fame is wholly impermanent for a animal that lives forever.”

(Sophie Giraud / AMC)

The aboveground reply mightiness beryllium fame. The characteristic launches a euphony career, records songs and steps into nan spotlight. But Reid doesn’t deliberation that’s what drives him.

“It’s not fame that he’s after,” Reid said. “Fame is wholly impermanent for a animal that lives forever.”

Reid sees Lestat arsenic personification searching for validation.

“Not for nan vampire that he is, but for nan quality being that he was,” he said. “He’s been beautiful heavy rejected. From Louis done nan book, and past his mother knows precisely really to drawstring him along, erstwhile to springiness him emotion and erstwhile to return it away. So he’s really looking for validation and going into an assemblage abstraction is wherever he first knowledgeable that.”

While processing nan season, Reid says he became progressively willing successful nan spread betwixt nan nationalist type of Lestat and nan personification underneath it.

“His full life has been performance,” Reid said. “His full life has been a batch of adversity, and nan measurement that he benignant of climbs retired of that is to build a conception that he tin execute and run in. It makes a batch of consciousness for him to do this stone prima persona. Through this play you commencement to spot him recognize that nan euphony and nan creation tin let him to entree himself arsenic opposed to it conscionable being a performance.”

“He’s trying to observe his sound arsenic a musician,” Reid continued. “But he’s besides trying to observe who he is.”

Throughout nan season, viewers spot a musician struggling to connect.

“Why can’t I waste retired 5,000 seats?” Jones says, describing nan character’s mindset. “I utilized to beryllium capable to locomotion into a room and everyone would emotion me.”

For Jones, that’s yet what makes Lestat consciousness for illustration a modern artist. Sure, he whitethorn beryllium an immortal vampire, but he’s navigating nan aforesaid questions that face plentifulness of artists: How overmuch of yourself to reveal? How overmuch should 1 perform? Can admiration ever substitute for genuine connection?

By nan clip nan play reaches its conclusion, Lestat is still larger than life. But he’s besides a much analyzable performer forced to reckon pinch nan region betwixt being seen and understood. Jones said nary of this would beryllium imaginable without Reid successful nan role.

“I deliberation his capacity successful Season 3 is 1 of nan 10 top American TV performances of each time,” Jones says. “I’d put him correct adjacent to Carroll O’Connor, Walter White [played by Bryan Cranston] and James Gandolfini.”

“And I’d look astatine each of them and say, ‘You guys didn’t sing.’ ”