Interview with the Vampire: Eric Bogosian on Daniel’s ‘white whale’

Interview with the Vampire is a new series based on Anne Rice’s beloved series of books, The Vampire Chronicles. During San Diego Comic-Con 2022, AMC revealed the first trailer for the series as well as a release date: October 2. 

Fans also had a chance to learn more about the show’s cast. During their panel in Ballroom 20, Jacob Anderson (Louis), Sam Reid (Lestat), Bailey Bass (Claudia) and Eric Bogosian (Daniel Molloy) were joined by writer and showrunner Rolin Jones and executive producer Mark Johnson, as well as production designer Mara LePere-Schloop. 

After the panel presentation, members of the press were invited to a press conference and cocktail reception with the cast and crew, where they were able to ask more in-depth questions. 

Bogosian was asked about the kinds of conversations that went into embodying Daniel Molloy from being “the boy” to where he is now. What’s Daniel looking for in revisiting this interview from 40 years in his past. 

Here’s what Bogosian said:

“The first step for me in becoming Daniel Molloy was looking in the mirror because my life’s arc is very similar to this character. I had a fairly rough and tumble time when I was in my late twenties, thirties, and then ended up in a very nice place by the time I was in my forties. And it was pretty cool. And now I’m in my sixties and it’s like, ‘Oh, the glory days were back there.’ It’s not happening anymore. You take that, and you transpose it onto Daniel Molloy. He’s ‘the boy’ in the book who’s very ambitious. In our version he’s got some habits that are not the best habits, but at any rate he’s searching and he finds this vampire thing and becomes this huge event in his life.

Now flash forward. He’s actually been a very successful writer. He’s a really good journalist. He gets the story. He’s actually won a couple of Pulitzers. So he’s a badass journalist, and this is where I’m really not like this character and where we prep this guy. This guy is willing to risk it all to get the story. 

And when the story lands on his doorstep again, to interview the vampire, he’s like, ‘This is dangerous, but this might be it. This might be my last chance at glory and getting it.’ So it’s kind of scary for him because actually getting into a room with a vampire, it’s not the healthiest thing in the world. And yet he’s not going to let this one go. It’s his white whale, you know. He’s going to go get it and it’s dangerous. And he’s good at what he does.

That creates a whole dramatic line through which you’ll end up seeing kind of a wrestling match between Daniel and Louis, as far as where’s the truth and what’s the real story, and what really happened and how did we get to where we are right now?

So there’s a lot for me as an actor, there’s a lot going on. There’s danger, there’s passion, there’s fear. And ultimately I’ve got to say when you’re in your sixties you start thinking about that dirt bath that’s in your future and here you’ve got vampirism right here in front of you, which is immortality, and it’s just dangling there all the time. It means something different in your sixties. What if I didn’t have to die someday? And what if I could be here forever? You know, no one gets out of here alive and these [vampires] live forever. It’s really a game changer.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P0loX83H6A

There has been a lot of speculation about the nature of Daniel’s role in the new AMC series given that he’s no longer “the boy” from the books. However, this change presents lots of opportunities for the series. 

Not only did the interview take place in 1973, but a lot of life happened in those decades in between and it’s entirely possible that the vampire Armand could have been present in Daniel’s life at some point. 

There’s also something to be said about the idea of course correcting the original interview after so many years. Readers know that several members of the Coven of the Articulate (Rice’s name for the vampires who have written their stories to share with the world) have criticized each other for things that either didn’t happen at all, didn’t happen the way they were written or were taken out of context. The idea of Louis as an unreliable narrator, then, is a fascinating one, and it’s something that will be fun to explore in the series. 

What do you think of Eric Bogosian’s take on Daniel Molloy? What are you hoping to see from his performance and from his version of Daniel? Share your thoughts in the comments or hit me up on social media!

Be sure to watch the premiere of Interview with the Vampire on October 2 at 10pm ET/PT on AMC.