Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror and vampire novel written by American author Anne Rice. It was published in 1976 and was her first novel. The story is based on a short story Rice wrote in 1968. The novel follows vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, who tells his life story to a reporter. Rice wrote the book shortly after the death of her young daughter, Michele, who inspired the character of Claudia, a child vampire.
At first, the book received mixed reviews from critics. However, it was followed by many popular sequels, all called The Vampire Chronicles. A movie version of the book was released in 1994, and a television series began in 2022. The novel has also been adapted into a comic book three times.
Plot summary
A vampire named Louis de Pointe du Lac shares his 200-year-long life story with a reporter called only "the boy."
In 1791, Louis is a young man who owns a large indigo plantation in colonial Louisiana. After his younger brother Paul dies, Louis becomes very sad and starts wandering the streets at night, drunk and messy, hoping someone will kill him. One night, a vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt notices Louis's sadness. Lestat believes that becoming a vampire will help Louis forget his grief. Louis agrees to become a vampire and is turned into one by Lestat.
At first, Louis thinks Lestat is a powerful and special being. However, Louis quickly realizes that Lestat has no moral lessons to share and is not much older than Louis. Lestat's father, who is very old, moves to the plantation. Louis learns that Lestat was not given an education as a child and that his father once thought he was the gentlest of his brothers.
Lestat feeds on slaves, thieves, and other people on the plantation, while Louis refuses to drink human blood. Louis finds it morally wrong to kill humans for survival and only drinks the weaker blood of animals. Louis's slaves begin to suspect him, and Louis and Lestat realize they may be discovered. Lestat's father tries to apologize for how he treated Lestat as a child, but Lestat stays angry and asks Louis to kill him.
Louis burns his plantation to the ground and kills the slaves to keep others from learning about vampires in Louisiana. Over time, Louis begins to follow Lestat's example and starts feeding on humans. He slowly accepts his vampire nature but grows more upset by Lestat's lack of care for the humans he harms.
Louis and Lestat escape to New Orleans, where Louis feeds on a sick five-year-old girl found near her mother's body. Louis begins to think about leaving Lestat. To stop Louis from leaving, Lestat turns the girl into a vampire and names her Claudia. Louis is shocked by this but starts to care for Claudia. Claudia learns to kill easily, but she realizes she will never grow up. Her mind becomes that of a smart, confident woman, but her body remains that of a young girl.
Claudia blames Lestat for her condition. After 60 years, she plans to kill Lestat by poisoning him and cutting his throat. Claudia and Louis dump Lestat's body in a swamp. As they prepare to leave for Europe, Lestat returns, having survived the attack. He confronts Louis and Claudia, but Louis burns their home and escapes with Claudia, leaving Lestat to be burned alive.
In Europe, Louis and Claudia search for other vampires. They find some in Eastern Europe, but these vampires are only mindless, animated corpses. Louis regrets killing Lestat, fearing they may have destroyed the only vampire who could explain their nature. In Paris, they meet Armand, a 400-year-old vampire, and his group at the Théâtre des Vampires.
Armand and his vampires disguise themselves as humans and perform plays in which they kill terrified audiences. Claudia is disgusted by their actions, but Louis and Armand are drawn to each other. Fearing Louis will leave her for Armand, Claudia convinces Louis to turn a Parisian doll maker named Madeleine into a vampire to replace her. Louis, Madeleine, and Claudia live together briefly before being captured by Armand's group.
It is revealed that Lestat survived the fire in New Orleans, though he is scarred and weak. He demands that Claudia be punished for killing him but screams at the coven for not harming Louis. The coven ignores him, locking Louis in a coffin to starve and trapping Claudia and Madeleine in a courtyard. Armand frees Louis, but Madeleine and Claudia are burned to death by the sun. Louis finds their remains and sees Lestat crying over Claudia's dress before disappearing.
Louis returns to the Theatre
Background and publication
In 1970, while Anne Rice was studying creative writing at San Francisco State University, her daughter Michele, who was about four years old, was diagnosed with a serious blood disease called acute granulocytic leukemia. Michele passed away from the illness about two years later, and Rice experienced a deep sadness, using alcohol to help her cope. Later, people who studied Rice’s work said that Michele inspired the character of Claudia in her books.
In 1973, while still grieving Michele’s death, Rice began revising a short story she had written in 1968 or 1969. The story was thirty pages long and written from the perspective of an interviewer. Rice decided to turn the story into a novel after one of her husband’s students encouraged her to expand it. She completed the 338-page novel in five weeks. During the day, she researched vampires, and at night, she wrote the story.
After finishing the novel, Rice faced many rejections from publishers. During this time, she developed obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). She became very worried about germs, believing she made everything she touched dirty. She washed her hands often and repeatedly checked locks on doors and windows. Rice described this period as seeing "every single flaw in our hygiene" and feeling unable to control it, which caused her great distress.
In August 1974, Rice attended a writer’s conference at Squaw Valley, where she met her future literary agent, Phyllis Seidel. In October 1974, Seidel sold the publishing rights to Interview with the Vampire to Alfred A. Knopf for a $12,000 advance, which was much higher than the usual $2,000 for new authors. The book was published in April 1976. In 1977, Rice and her husband traveled to Europe and Egypt for the first time.
When the book was released, critics had mixed opinions. One reviewer called the writing "hypnotically poetic" and "rich in sensory imagery," while others were less favorable. One critic said the book seemed to focus only on romantic themes, and another called it "superficial" and "obviously made." By February 2008, the novel had sold 8 million copies worldwide.
The book led to twelve sequels, known as The Vampire Chronicles, and a spin-off series called New Tales of the Vampires. The first sequel, The Vampire Lestat, was published in 1985 and sold more than 75,000 copies in its first printing. In 1988, The Queen of the Damned sold 405,000 copies and reached the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. Rice’s vampire stories share a fictional world with her Lives of the Mayfair Witches series and the novel The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned.
Adaptations
The film rights to Interview with the Vampire were controlled at different times by Paramount Pictures, Lorimar, and Warner Bros., the film's distributor, before The Geffen Film Company acquired the rights. Director Neil Jordan revised Rice's first screenplay draft, though she received sole credit for the work. Brad Pitt played Louis, Tom Cruise played Lestat, Antonio Banderas appeared as Armand, and young Kirsten Dunst portrayed Claudia, the child vampire. Most filming was completed by October 1993, with only a few scenes involving the interviewer remaining to be added later. Production of these scenes was paused for a few weeks while River Phoenix, cast as the interviewer, finished work on the film Dark Blood. Phoenix died from an overdose later that month, and Christian Slater was then cast as the interviewer, Molloy. Slater gave his entire salary to Earth Save and Earth Trust, two charities Phoenix supported.
The film was released in November 1994 and received mostly positive reviews. It was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Art Direction and Best Original Score. Dunst was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her role. Rice initially disagreed with casting Tom Cruise as Lestat, preferring Rutger Hauer for the part. However, after seeing the film, she supported the decision, stating, "That Tom did make Lestat work was something I could not see in a crystal ball. It's to his credit that he proved me wrong."
In August 2014, Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment acquired the rights to the entire Vampire Chronicles series. Producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci were hired to lead the potential film franchise. The deal also included a screenplay adaptation of The Tale of the Body Thief by Christopher Rice. In May 2016, writer-director Josh Boone shared a photo of a script he and Jill Killington wrote for Interview with the Vampire, based on the novel and its sequel, The Vampire Lestat. However, Universal did not renew the contract that November, and the film and television rights returned to Rice, who began developing the Vampire Chronicles as a television series with Christopher.
Innovation Comics published a 12-issue comic book adaptation of Interview with the Vampire from 1991 to 1994, along with adaptations of The Vampire Lestat (12 issues) and The Queen of the Damned (11 issues). A Japanese manga adaptation by Udou Shinohara was released in 1994 by Tokuma Shoten and appeared in Animage and Chara magazines. In 2012, the graphic novel Interview with the Vampire: Claudia's Story was published by Yen Press, retelling the original novel from Claudia's perspective.
In May 2020, AMC acquired the rights to The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches for film and television projects. AMC ordered a seven-episode first season of Interview with the Vampire. The series is produced by Rolin Jones and Mark Johnson. The show features Jacob Anderson as Louis, Sam Reid as Lestat, Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayles as Claudia, and Assad Zaman as Rashid/Armand. The series premiered on October 2, 2022. The novel's story is adapted in the first two seasons, with elements from The Vampire Lestat used in season two and forming the basis for season three.