The Vampire Lestat reintroduces Anne Rice’s epic Brat Prince as a rock star on the rise. Told from Lestat’s perspective, Interview with the Vampire Season 3 is a wild ride, full of sex, violence, and allusions to other art and artists.
Show creator Rolin Jones is dropping some inspiration points for the scorching soundtrack that includes songs from composer Daniel Hart, like “Long Face,” “All Fall Down,” “Black Licorice,” and “Your Biggest Fan.”
But beyond that, Lestat (Sam Reid) and his band’s actions mirror some real rock-star behavior. Let’s dive in.
Lestat’s auction is part Banksy, part Wu-Tang Clan.
The odd auction that opens the show begins with an auctioneer presenting two lots, each featuring recordings from The Vampire Lestat. Then, he sets the first on fire, destroying its contents.
This shocking scene is reminiscent of the auction in 2018, when a paper version of Banksy’s “Girl with Balloon” was on the block at Sotheby’s. After the gavel came down, declaring the sale price at $1.4 million dollars, the painted paper slid into a hidden shredder at the bottom of the frame, destroying its bottom half.
Sotheby’s insisted they had no idea that was going to happen, and the buyer — who remained anonymous — opted to keep the painting, though it was partially shredded. Retitled Love Is in the Bin, the piece was re-auctioned in 2021, and sold for roughly $25 million.
In The Vampire Lestat, the auction’s second lot includes “a singular vinyl pressing of The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt.” The only recording of Lestat’s works can be purchased for a hefty sum.
That reminded us of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the Wu-Tang Clan album that was only ever pressed onto one two-CD set, which was auctioned off in 2015. The winner of that auction was rat-faced pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli, who paid $2 million for it. However, in 2018, Shkreli’s conviction for securities fraud led to the U.S. Government confiscating the album, which was sold as part of the forfeiture money judgement against him.
Lestat has René Magritte’s The Lovers in his home.
Since Louis (Jacob Anderson) found Lestat in a decaying house in New Orleans last season, the blond bombshell cleaned up and moved onto to a posh neighborhood in Montréal. While he talks to Louis over FaceTime, a wide shot of his home shows René Magritte’s The Lovers on the wall.
The 1928 painting is part of a series the Belgian surrealist did. It features two figures, one in a black suit and the other in a pink, sleeveless blouse, kissing. But their heads are entirely covered in a white cloth.
It’s a piece of art that is sexy and mysterious. But it can be read as a painting that depicts a fear of true intimacy.
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Lestat stays at a hotel called Dracula’s Daughter.
Released in 1936, Dracula’s Daughter is often cited as one of the earliest examples of queer horror. Directed by Lambert Hillyer, this sequel to Universal’s 1931 Dracula stars Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zaleska, aka Dracula’s daughter. With her fanged father dead, she hopes to set herself free of his influence and her vampiric yearning for blood. But when she meets a beautiful mortal named Lili, her hunger is impossible to ignore.
Critics have long noted the sapphic undertones in this story, and Rolin Jones might be giving a nod to the storytellers who gave us vampires before Anne Rice wrote her novels. He might also be setting up a parallel about a fledgling that desperately wants to escape the power of her father/maker.
Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) even calls Lestat “Countess” (or “cuntess,” if you look at the closed captions) as he enters the tour bus. So, could this mean The Vampire Lestat will delve into its eponymous blood-sucker’s trauma over his making by Magnus?
Lestat has plenty of modern musical influences.
Over the course of the episode, Lestat and his bandmates reference Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and The Smiths, while Daniel mentions T. Rex.
After coming off stage their first night in Detroit, drummer TC (known as Tough Cookie in Anne Rice’s novel) scoffs at Lestat’s stage persona as his “Ozzy schtick.”
Soon thereafter, as Lestat piles onto the tour bus, Daniel says he skipped the show, opting for blood-drugs and T. Rex on Spotify. Fans who’ve been listening to The Vampire Lestat‘s released tracks on streaming might well see the similarities between the 1960’s English rock band and Lestat’s glam rock sound.
When acknowledging Daniel’s documentary, Lestat says, “I’ve seen a rough cut. It’s truthful and daring, with less Warren Beatty.” He’s alluding to Madonna: Truth or Dare, the 1991 documentary that chronicled the queen of pop’s “Blonde Ambition World Tour” — and gave viewers a peek into her romantic relationship with then-boyfriend Warren Beatty.
Lestat later name-drops the artists he sees as comparable to himself, saying, “David, Freddie, Prince Rogers are all gone… It’s my era now.” In conjunction, we can safely assume Lestat is referencing glam rock icon David Bowie, Queen’s original and incomparable front man Freddie Mercury, and America’s own Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson. With all these legendary and fabulous performers passed, Lestat strides in their footsteps.
Later, when Lestat’s being badgered at the urinals by two members of Detroit’s fan gang, he dismisses Rus’ declaration that “Long Face sucks” by saying, “‘Frankly, Mr. Shankly’ almost ruined ‘The Queen is Dead,'” alluding to two songs from the ’80s English rock band The Smiths. In Lestat’s own way, he seems to be alluding to the idea that “opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. And everyone thinks everyone else’s stinks.”
TC takes a page from Chapelle Roan.
When AMC announced Interview with the Vampire would be adapting Rice’s second novel next, I suggested a celebrity cameo that would be pitch-perfect for the Brat Prince: Chapelle Roan.
Outspoken, queer, and wildly fun, Roan’s stage persona seems a sublime fit for the world of Lestat and company. While she’s not made an appearance in the show itself, it seems showrunner Rolin Jones has nodded to her with a scene set on a red carpet.
In front of the aforementioned Dracula’s Daughter hotel, TC and the other bandmates — minus Lestat — are on a red carpet, with paparazzi snapping away. While Larry, Alex, and Salamander seem content to caper for the cameras with heart hands and smiles, TC seethes, shouting, “Don’t tell me to pose. Fuck you.”
Roan fans might recall how in 2024 at the MTV Video Music Awards, Roan snapped back at a rude photographer, shouting, “Shut the fuck up.”
We love a queen with boundaries.
How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.
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