Interview with the Vampire (2022) s02e02 Episode Script
Do You Know What It Means to Be Loved by Death
1
Perused a few folklore anthologies,
and now you're going to cross the ocean
and take on a society of monsters.
I've known exactly four
vampires in my life,
and you've all been the worst.
I'm looking for one that
ain't a goddamn bastard!
Parents named me Bruce.
Sent about 20 of us over to
a place called Copenhagen.
LOUIS: Don't start back with your books.
- Your books are bullshit.
- There's a vampire been here.
Another crucifix.
CLAUDIA: Louis!
A woman vampire.
[WOMAN GRUNTS]
ARMAND: The boy we met in San
Francisco he's still in there.
We can have him saying what
happened next in no time.
We're gonna find others like us.
We can't be the only
good ones out there.
[GENTLE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[MUSIC FADES]
[SMOOTH JAZZ]
[LOUIS] Paris Hard to
put it into words now.
For what Paris means to me now
is very different from
what it meant to me then.
- [ARMAND] May I try?
- Please.
Paris was an awakening for Louis.
Paris was a hunger.
[LOUIS] Paris was many
things in those days.
Even now, to think of it,
setting aside certain events,
I feel something close to
happiness when I think of it.
- The name alone Paris.
- [MOLLOY] Paris sucks.
[LOUIS] But you proposed
to your Alice in Paris.
[MOLLOY] And she divorced me
in Staten Island. Paris sucks.
[ARMAND] Paris is a
universe all to herself
[MOLLOY] Macarons are bullshit,
café culture is boring.
[LOUIS] Paris was Nazi
scar tissue at the time.
It was healing, just as
Claudia and I were healing.
Gotta pick twice the pockets
in this town to get anywhere.
[SPEAKS IN FRENCH]
"Confiance en vaut plusieurs
si on prend du temps pour la trouver."
- What?
- "Truth is more valuable
if it takes you a few years to find it."
What you said is,
"Trust is worth several
if we take a few years to find it."
A little rust on the mother tongue.
Lotta rust. And I'm looking
for francs and diamonds.
- Truth don't pay the rent.
- No salt, no butter.
Can't have milk unless
you got a newborn.
And read here, "Hospitals
running low on plaster of Paris
for a record number of broken
bones due to decalcification
and undernourishment."
You want francs in pockets?
These people are broke.
Maybe we chose the wrong town.
I saw a woman tonight in a
patchy five-year-old dress
putting on a brand new lipstick.
And what's that supposed to say?
Says Paris is on her way back.
Give her a little time is all.
What makes you think Paris is a woman?
- Oh, now I know you're hungry.
- Tell me what a woman is?
I'll tell you what a woman is.
Where you want to hunt?
Bourse looks dark.
Always following the blackouts.
Blackouts are easy.
Mmm. So you want a hard
meal, francs and diamonds,
and heaven to open up and rain
down mink stoles, is that it?
[CLAUDIA] That's a start.
[ARMAND] It's custom and practice
for traveling vampires to
make themselves known
- to a local coven.
- [SHE SPEAKS FRENCH] Gauche.
[LOUIS] We didn't get that memo.
[LAUGHING]
- De Gaulle's Paris had me etherized.
- Ah!
The whitest of lies
turning 77 this year.
Do not leave Dubai until
you've made him retract it.
Uh-huh.
If Claudia and I were looking
over our shoulder at all,
it was in astonishment
our skin did not attract
the same attention it did in America.
Right, because there wasn't any racism
in mid-20th century France.
- Oh, I didn't say that.
- He didn't say that.
I think your Algerian inferiors
- of the time might disagree.
- But I wasn't an Algerian.
I was an American and if
there was an assumption
that I'd arrived to blow a trumpet
or sing for my supper,
it did not register as a
slight in those days.
I was just grateful knowing
no one wanted to lynch me
or direct me to the far
end of the café counter.
That's all he was saying, Mr. Molloy.
Are you two gonna finish
each other's sentences
- for the whole session?
- We've been together 77 years, Daniel.
Forty-seven more than
he did with Lestat.
Shall we let the math of that
settle before continuing?
Keep selling it.
[LOUIS] We hid ourselves away
in an inconspicuous
apartment in Le Neuvieme,
passing ourselves off as
moneyed Americans,
over-spending for black
market baguettes.
It was the perfect cover.
[ARMAND] Yes, perfectly situated,
one floor above the owners,
and one floor below the
students and sex workers.
Literally encircled by curious
and money-hungry motivations.
[LOUIS] We never brought our kills home.
- We used the sewers for that.
- Mm-hm.
[ARMAND] Waterways of
which they had no expertise.
The flow controls, the pumping stations.
We were constantly cleaning up for them.
[MOLLOY] And yet you never
made contact with him?
Thank you! Five months of anxiety
producing choices and not one "bonjour"
- or "prépare-toi à mourir".
- Custom and practice.
[LOUIS] A true Parisian vampire
is a prideful monster.
[ARMAND] They lived two kilometers
from our theater in Pigalle.
[LOUIS] I had endured hundreds of nights
in the theater with Lestat.
I was not seeking more.
A theater called Theatre Des Vampires.
[BOTH] A company that had been
in existence for 150 years!
[ARMAND CHUCKLES] 77 years
and it still feels like a slight.
[WHISPERS] Pride.
[ARMAND] The reports were confounding.
Were they romantic? No.
Who was the master? Neither, it seemed.
The male hunted to please her,
the girl suffered philosophical
conversation to please him.
The American vampires appeared
to be as dull and plain
as their tourists and soldiers were.
[LOUIS] Rude.
I took up photography as a hobby.
[ARMAND] Vampires
with hobbies! Insanity!
[MOLLOY] Killing time when
you weren't killing Parisians.
[LOUIS] Oh, wrestling
time to the ground,
staring it into submission.
Holding it in your hand.
"I was there. This occurred."
[MOLLOY] How's that any
different from the photos
- I keep on my phone?
- [ARMAND] It isn't.
It's a human perspective of time.
[LOUIS] When you have the ability
to stretch a millisecond into an hour,
it's a reduction.
I hadn't come to that conclusion yet.
I liked taking photographs.
It took my mind off things.
[JAZZ MUSIC REACHES A CRESCENDO]
[SLOW JAZZ]
[CLAUDIA TELEPATHICALLY]
What are you looking for
- when you take a picture?
- [LOUIS] I don't know.
A surprise maybe.
Something off. Like a hat
that's too small for a head.
Or someone realizing they
forgot to do something
- and they stop.
- Okay.
Then you can get mindful about it.
Ask yourself what brought them here?
What brought you here?
Is it coming together random?
Choreographed? The metro
late for him. The rain
Sometimes I want the short answer.
You listen to their thoughts.
You know what's coming.
You take the picture.
Well, if you knew the answer,
why did you ask?
Is the coming together
random, choreographed?
Let a brother primp a bit.
Let me think I'm deeper than I am.
Is that how you sell yourself yourself?
I'm just trying to get
through nights, sis.
I shortcut it. You caught me.
Take the win.
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
Who are you, Louis?
I'm your brother.
Who are you outside of me?
I'm the reticent vampire of
the Ninth Arrondissement.
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
- I walk the night
capturing disappointment and regret
as only the reticent vampire can.
- Hah!
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
If there was no me
and there was no him
[HE SCOFFS]
who would you be?
What do you want?
How are you gonna get there?
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[MOLLOY] She had a point.
- [LOUIS] Yes.
- Paris sucks.
That's not the point she was making.
Sure it is. She's miserable,
but she doesn't want to fuck
with your too delusional
"left bank dilettante" vibe.
She wasn't telling me something
I didn't know about myself.
She was giving me permission
to explore a life apart from her.
- It's Alice, Louis, not Claudia.
- Excuse me?
Oh, I see. I've triggered a memory.
No, it's Claudia. It's her journal.
- "Louis needs Paris. I don't "
- It's 1985.
You and Alice are at a brasserie,
talking past each other
and she tells you she's pregnant.
The fishing rod in the head again?
And you say, "Yeah,
let's talk about it later tonight."
I've gotta knock out another chapter.
One a week.
I leave before the bill is paid,
I never finish the novel.
I think it was the "yeah" that
pissed her off most. Yeah?
Yeah.
"Louis needs Paris.
[MOLLOY AND CLAUDIA TOGETHER]
I don't know what I need.
Maybe a new brain in my head.
[CLAUDIA] Why can't I tell him this?
I suppose I'm afraid my joylessness
will take away his happiness
and maybe I don't want his feelings
to depend on mine anymore.
Maybe I want to be joyfully joyless.
A forever switch of
wild opposites at play."
[RAIN PATTERING]
[MAN] Oh!
[MAN COMPLAINING IN FRENCH]
[PEOPLE COMPLAINING IN FRENCH]
[MAN IN FRENCH] Mademoiselle ?
American? Your French is ugly.
You can take it in for me. Yes?
You do alterations?
Please, don't pretend to be
something you're not, yeah?
Believe me, womanhood
will happen soon enough.
Never thought about choosing to pretend.
Life hasn't been kind
enough to allow me that.
Maybe if it had been, I'd be a lonely
dressmaker in an empty shop,
denying my only potential customer.
Respect my time.
No!
The dress, for my body.
And I'll need some gloves.
I'm thinking white.
Real Rashid. Just in time
for the big "meet cute".
What weirdness have
you brought us today?
[RASHID] The Paris Albums, 1946-1949.
Oh, you really shouldn't wear gloves
when handling historical
documents, Real Rashid.
- It reduces dexterity.
- It's just Rashid.
Makes it more likely you'll rip a page
in the item being examined.
Thank you, Rashid.
So?
Photos are the record of time passing.
- Outward evidence.
- [ARMAND] They do not lie,
but neither do they tell
you a thorough story.
[GENTLE PIANO]
Who are the young men? Vampires?
Those were our young friends.
Humans. Guys.
[ARMAND] Some are very
old now, most are dead.
And some we simply drained for sport.
Well generally me.
Louis has his ways.
[GENTLE PIANO]
[ARMAND] You could tell from
his walk, he was an American.
[MOLLOY] I'm an American.
What exactly is an American walk?
[ARMAND] Two wars had
made a certain impression
on the men of France.
There was no way to describe
it other than optimistic.
[LOUIS] There was a
park I'd heard about.
I would go to this park often.
I was an armored thing that spring,
someone steady on his feet, but
With a history of chasing
the wrong kind of love.
I'll describe it myself, thank you.
Yes.
But with a history of chasing
the wrong kind of love.
Well, where better to
explore who you are,
to find the right kind of love,
than in a public park?
[ARMAND] I had lost patience.
I was convinced we were being toyed with
and I could hold back
the coven only so long.
I knew the park well myself,
knew what went on in the rambles there,
so I was not surprised to
find him without the girl.
[MEN PANTING]
I would confront the elder
and make him aware
of the ways rogue vampires
were dealt with in Paris.
[LOUIS] He looked like a boy
masquerading as a gentleman.
But I sensed his ancient
power right away.
[ARMAND] He was awkward.
His attempt to blend in as some layman,
thinking he could fade into the
landscape, it was absurd.
I mean
he was alarmingly handsome
in the muted lamplight.
[LOUIS] I thought he
was going to kill me.
[ARMAND LAUGHS SOFTLY]
So?
- Yeah?
- Who broke the ice?
What were the first words
of the ancient vampire
to the future love of his life?
[TOGETHER] I will not
- Please.
- No.
Please.
He said, "I will not harm you."
And I never have.
[POIGNANT CLASSICAL MUSIC]
[ARMAND] Come.
And bring the petite beauty with you.
You are most welcome.
[SWINGING JAZZ]
- [LOUIS] Claudia!
- [DOOR SLAMS]
Claudia!
Claudia!
[PANTING]
I found someone. Or they found me.
Found us!
[CLAUDIA] Give me that. Let me see.
[ARMAND] Five months removed
from their velvet-heeled arrival,
the Americans were
finally coming to Pigalle.
[LOUIS] The perfumed armpit of Paris.
Entradas. Tickets. Des billets.
Monsieur de Pointe du Lac.
Our finest seats.
[SWINGING JAZZ]
[LOUIS] The house was only half full.
A mixture of slavish devotees
and over-served tourists.
[ARMAND] We had become amusingly passé
amongst the theater community
and found a more receptive audience
from our Anglican friends
now invading Paris postwar.
Five out of every seven performances
were in the King's English.
[LOUIS] Some had been
there dozens of times.
And some couldn't care
less what was spoken.
[ARMAND] They were all the same to us.
Cattle for our nightly sabbath.
[LOUIS] But we were there for vampires
and we felt their numbers
in the charged air.
[FRENCH MAN] Places! Projections! Music!
[JAZZY FANFARE]
- Screams and lights.
- [RECORDED SCREAMING]
And Santiago!
[SANTIAGO] Ladies and gentlemen!
Madames and messieurs!
[RECORDED SCREAMING]
Offal and offalesses.
[RECORDED SCREAMING]
[LIGHT CLICKS, DRUMROLL]
- Welcome!
- [PLAYFUL PIANO MUSIC]
To the displacement of reason.
And the excretion of pathetic desires.
By that I mean
- Good evening.
- [AUDIENCE] Good evening!
- [HE SNARLS]
- [MAN LAUGHS]
What you're about to see
is, for you, an outrage
that masks a birth and
a rebirth of what is
[CLAUDIA] The rope's limp.
He's really flying.
- [LOUIS] I know!
- Instead of mere human drama,
we here at Theatre Des Vampires,
delve into the underbelly
of the human soul,
to present to you the
highest form of art
in the lowest of ways!
- [AUDIENCE LAUGHS]
- [MAN WHOOPS, SHOUTS IN FRENCH]
Have you repressions that need airing?
Oh, you've come to the right place.
Phobias toward your next of kin?
Amis, we assist in turning
down the sheets!
Bloodlust?!
Fear of the insane?!
I salute your honesty.
Right after I take my
boot from your arse!
- [LAUGHTER]
- But seriously, mes amis,
being vampires, and by nature
superior to you mortals,
we can replicate the
level of bilge necessary
to disrupt your tiny ship
called human decency.
In fact, we capsize it.
So, if you don't leave here tonight
seeing the world upside down and
liking very much what you see,
and feel,
then we here at Theatre Des Vampires,
have failed in our jobs
which is, at the heart of it,
to laugh alongside your misery
while you cry and scream for more.
[AUDIENCE] More!
[CHEERING, WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE]
[HUSH DESCENDS]
Everything you're about to see
is real.
Remember that when
you leave here tonight.
You are all complicit
repugnant
and appalling!
[MURMURING, NERVOUS LAUGHTER]
And
I love you for it.
And I welcome you
even as you disgust me!
[PLAYFUL PIANO MUSIC]
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
[SHOUTS FROM AUDIENCE]
[MAN] Well done! Superb! Superb!
[SLOW PIANO MUSIC]
[PROJECTOR RATTLING]
Why does the Master have
us tend to the prized,
singular plant at night,
when the rest of the garden
is tended by day?
[LOUIS] The actors performed
in front of a cinema screen,
interacting with animations
and bits of film
in near perfect synchronization.
The effect was wondrous.
[ARMAND] The modern cinema
had an enormous influence
on my aesthetic and
the light of the projector
on the faces of our actors
lent a romantic air
to their performances.
[SCREAMS AND LAUGHTER]
[LOUIS] The plays were weird.
[ARMAND] The plays were timeless,
updated for the age
and all from our 150 year repertoire.
[LOUIS] They were weird!
And always ended in death
or some kind of cruel,
barely motivated violence.
[ARMAND] Life is cruel. Life is violent.
[LOUIS] Claudia absolutely loved them.
And it was the first time in Paris
I had seen a smile or a
laugh come out of her
that wasn't for my benefit.
But what was truly
confusing that first night
were the efforts to make
it all appear as farce.
Syrup!
The fake vampire teeth, the fake blood,
- the trick rope.
- [ARMAND] It was all a seduction,
to lure the cattle into a
willing belief of disbelief.
The only play that
mattered was the last.
[GENTLE PIANO MUSIC]
[SANTIAGO] Woodcutter!
- Woodcutter!
- Who are you?
I am what you think I am, woodcutter.
Go away.
[AUDIENCE GASPS]
The clock in your heart.
- The gears have stopped meshing.
- [WOMAN SCREAMS]
Help me, someone! Please!
What is this?
[WOODCUTTER] She's
disrupted the performance!
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
[SANTIAGO] No! No, no, no, no!
Let her speak, Sam. Let her speak.
[SANTIAGO] Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
Now, now, now, now.
This is an "English only" performance.
Start again.
[SOBBING] My
My name is Annika Rooman.
I live in Antwerp.
I was taken from my
hotel room last night.
These people are vampires!
True vampires!
- This This is real!
- [LAUGHTER FROM AUDIENCE]
- Call my husband!
- I'll call him for you, baby.
[LAUGHTER]
[SHE SOBS]
[SUSPENSEFUL DRUMBEAT]
[CURTAIN SLIDING]
[SHE WHIMPERS]
Suppose we were to let you go.
- P-Please! Y-Yes.
- Yes?
Yes.
Suppose the Reaper had a heart
that could resist your Belgian beauty.
Someone would have to take your place.
Your husband?
Oh?
Your son?
I I can't I can't and I wouldn't.
How about
him?
Mmm. Mm, mm.
Oh, dear man,
whose flesh has run in every
direction from his mustache,
I want you to remember this
the next time you're in the pew,
you turn to your neighbor and say,
"Peace be unto you."
They'll give you up
in a wink!
[ANNIKA SOBBING]
[POIGNANT VIOLIN]
Not his time, Annika.
- [ANNIKA SOBS]
- Shh, shh.
- [SANTIAGO SHUSHES]
- [ANNIKA CRYING]
[SANTIAGO] Now, now. There, there.
It must be.
Annika Rooman of Antwerp.
Death
awaits everyone
everywhere.
Why not here?
Unconscious death is
the fate of all mortals.
Up.
Up.
Up.
We are conscious death, Annika.
And that would make you
a bride.
[SANTIAGO EXHALES DEEPLY]
Do you know what it means
to be loved by death?
No pain.
[SOFTLY] No pain.
[GASPS FROM AUDIENCE]
[TENSE MUSIC]
[HE EXCLAIMS]
- [SNARLING]
- [AUDIENCE GASPS]
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
[SNARLING]
[VAMPIRES SHRIEKING]
[ANNIKA SCREAMS]
[SNARLING CONTINUES]
[LIGHT CLICKS]
- Bravo!
- Santiago!
[WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE]
[UNCERTAIN APPLAUSE]
Bravo!
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
[PLAYFUL PIANO]
[MAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
[ALL CHATTER IN FRENCH]
Our coven has been here since
the reign of Charlemagne,
but we only became a theater company
after Danton was guillotined.
Ah! Do I hear French from the
lips of an English company?
Ah, better, better.
If you desire to seduce on stage,
you must live it off stage! Thank you.
London was not made overnight, Maitre.
And that is why several Toulousian G's
pricked my ear in act four.
- Did you catch that Englishman?
- Oh, I did, Maitre.
Otherwise very committed
tonight, Madame.
- Merci.
- That goes for the entire company.
Very committed tonight! Bravo! Brava!
Even as they wipe their greasepaint,
as if this were an ordinary night.
[SANTIAGO] Five months of nights.
Five insolent months of nights,
waiting for you to humble
us with your appearance.
I ask you, Maitre,
was it worth the wait?
- [WOMAN GIGGLES]
- Oi!
- Oh, Estelle!
- [ALL SPEAKING AT ONCE]
- The Americans are here!
- [CHEERING]
[MAN] Bonsoir !
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Welcome.
[ARMAND] Louis and Claudia.
- The Theatre Des Vampires.
- [ALL] Fuck off!
Eglee, front of house.
Romaine, stage management, props.
- Luchenbaum, costumes.
- Stunning work.
Ah, Samuel Barclay,
playwright in residence.
Sam. Call me Sam.
Basilic, Planche,
Merde'em, the orchestra.
- Nice drumming, drums.
- Thank you.
Tuan and Quang Pham.
Projections, scenery, swing actor.
Father and son. They joined the coven
on an eventful pre-century
tour of the colonies.
- Oh, the son looks
- Older than the father. Yes.
Quang here refused the dark
gift until he could be on stage.
My son is rebellious.
- English!
- Father is an asshole.
Landing us our core acting company.
Gustave, Celeste, Estelle and Santiago.
You were amazing.
I was, wasn't I? Love the dress.
Oh. Thank you.
Do American vampiresses
all wear pastels?
Claudia is the only American vampiress,
so I say that's a yes.
And are all American
vampires as alluring as you?
- Uh [MAN LAUGHS]
- No.
Louis was expelled for his beauty.
Oh, such a burden, beauty.
[ALL LAUGHING]
Who's your maker?
- My maker?
- Mmm.
Eglee here does star charts for us all.
Night you were given the gift,
phase of the moon, name of the maker.
- [EGLEE] I don't really need
- D'you both have the same maker?
We did. Yeah.
His name was Bruce.
Bruce?
- Is he Scottish?
- [LAUGHTER]
He said he was from Copenhagen.
We met him on the
road just outside of
- Chicago.
- We traveled a lot.
As you do, when the kills pile up.
We don't like to talk about him much.
He threw himself into
a fire in front of us.
And once again, Santiago,
it seems you've missed the
vein and drawn air instead.
- Hmm!
- I got a question.
Who's that handsome man
on the wall up there?
[ARMAND] Ah! With us in spirit always.
Our co-founder and the finest
actor ever to walk our stage.
Lestat de Lioncourt.
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
Should have seen that coming.
Did not see that one coming.
Big red flag, huh?
- The biggest.
- You must understand
- Oh, I understand.
- In a community as small as ours,
such crossings of immortal
paths is expected,
perhaps more common
than you would think.
And Juan looked up at the painting
and saw that Theresa's
dead husband was Roberto.
He had eloped with his enemy's widow.
It's a telenovela! I mean, come on!
Lestat's painting on the wall!
Are you kidding me? Really?
Oh, and that means
That means you knew
Lestat before he did!
- Yes, Armand knew Lestat.
- Wait a minute.
And yes, he was briefly with Lestat.
- You both fucked Lestat?!
- A hundred plus years apart.
- They were not compatible.
- He tasted like vermouth
and annihilation.
You shared a boyfriend!
This is great!
I fucked Santiago too.
And Celeste, and Estelle.
Even had an aerobic evening
with Tuan and Quang Pham
in the back row of a cinema
- watching 'Now, Voyager'.
- Did you?
It's repertory theatre, Mr. Molloy.
It's how one endures.
Lestat's appearance is important,
just not in the way
you think it is, Daniel.
Oh, I'm done thinking.
Bring me the tequila and some popcorn,
let's flip to channel 300-something,
it's a Univision night!
[CLAUDIA] I saw his stupid face up there
and had to think of something quick.
You couldn't make up a name?
Best lies got some truth to 'em.
And that's the only
other vampire I knew.
- It's gonna be fine.
- Fine?
Yeah, fine. What about Lestat?
He's 100-something-year-old
painting in a frame.
They got a fucking shrine!
What if they find out we killed him?
- One of us would have to tell them.
- Or think it!
Well, I thought it the second
I saw his face in the frame,
but there they were inviting us back,
- five minutes later.
- To kill us.
And right after that I
invaded their thoughts,
and not one, not one of them,
thought anything other than
I want to lick these two,
so we need to stay away
from Estelle if we can.
But they knew nothing
and they're gonna continue
knowing nothing,
'cos you're gonna keep that
loose head of yours tight
because I wanna go back, Louis.
- Are you crazy?
- What about the play?
When they all pounced on that woman,
drained her right in front
of their dumb faces?
Tell me you did not feel pride.
- I did not feel pride.
- Yes, you did!
Past your empathy for that woman,
past your fear of being exposed.
Vampire pride.
Those Frenchies love being vampires.
And they shamed us because
we never felt that way
and we fucking should!
- I'm going back. I want more.
- It's not safe there!
Fourteen hapless vampires
being led by a vampire
with skin darker than yours?
What else is there to be scared of?
Other than your own lust?
- Oh, you felt my lust?
- Armand?
Oh, yeah. Felt his too.
Now I know what two blood fat
cocks slapping hands feel like,
so thank you for that.
Take your people pictures!
Worship them in the
red light all you want!
I want to be with my own!
Don't ruin this for me, Louis.
I need this!
[LOUIS] The coven had
lifted Claudia's spirits,
but seeing Lestat's
portrait put me on edge.
I needed confirmation of his death,
and then I remembered
his frequent money wires
came from a law firm with
an address in the Marais,
Roget & Associates.
We were very close friends.
We owned some real estate together.
A townhouse on Royal Street
in New Orleans.
Maybe your records reflect that?
[CLOCK STRIKES THE HOUR]
We were separated by war,
Mr. Lioncourt and myself.
I had some work in Europe.
I lost my American
passport doing that work.
I'm in the process of
Uh, I'm not here for money.
I'm here to know if you've
heard from him.
If
If he is alive, and if so
We have not heard from
Monsieur de Lioncourt
since February 1940,
when we processed several
wires for him, uh,
for a party he was throwing.
I know who you are, Monsieur.
And I know what you meant
to our cherished client,
Monsieur de Lioncourt.
You say
You said "meant".
Perhaps he is dead.
Or "sleeping". Hmm?
I have no confirmation
of his actual death,
and cannot declare him
legally dead for years,
but seeing as you are now here in Paris,
and the fact he has made no
withdrawals from his account,
between us, it is confirmation enough
for me to pass this box to you,
as instructed in case of, uh
Well
I have a client arriving in 20 minutes.
You may have the office.
[DOOR OPENS]
[GENTLE CLASSICAL PIANO]
Hmm.
[LESTAT] In the event
that you are reading this,
something dreadful has occurred,
which is not my own death, but rather
the fact that we both now
exist in two different worlds.
Do not waste your life
seeking revenge on the person
or persons who did this.
Do not give them the
satisfaction of the hunt.
Let treachery eat away
at them from within.
And you
you go carry on with your living.
Know only this, mon cher,
you are the only being I trust,
and whom I love, above
and beyond myself.
All my love belongs to you.
You are its keeper.
A veil will now forever
separate our union.
But it is a thin veil
and I am always on the other side,
face pressed up against your longing.
Lestat de Lioncourt.
Lestat, Lestat, Lestat.
Love of my life,
or is it more "rebound of
my life" with you two?
It's a haunting memory
Louis just shared with you.
What a comfort, your ability to continue
pulling humor from his pain.
- Cathartic.
- [MOLLOY] It's a joke. It's a joke.
- You serve it up.
- Alice is in her third trimester.
She's steps in gum on the
corner of Rues Palatine
- and Servandoni.
- The old parlor trick.
She makes you scrape it off
- with a credit card.
- It's not a credit card.
I have no credit. It's a library card.
She was wearing that short
purple dress you favored.
- I liked the way she walked in it.
- You felt freer
- She was confident in it.
- to hold her hand in Paris.
- I wonder why that is?
- Hitting the garage door, Louis.
All the crap, have at it!
You worked so hard to get
that table right in the corner,
so you could pull out the ring.
The ring! Yeah, that's good.
Just at the right moment
to surprise her.
- Which I did.
- And what did she say
when you finally asked her to marry you?
In middle school you stole your
dad's Playboy magazines.
- Sold them at recess.
- [LOUIS] Danny.
I'll ask for a third time.
What did Alice say when you
finally asked her to marry you?
[ARMAND] Louis, perhaps we should
She said no.
She wanted to say yes,
but she didn't trust you.
You hadn't given her a reason to.
[LOUIS] Would you like to know
what she thinks of you now?
If she thinks of you now?
We could do that.
Or we could simply
return to the interview.
If you're willing to ask your
questions and then listen,
which is your job.
Yes.
Good.
So
your question.
Um
What happened next?
[LOUIS] They invited us for a hunt.
[ARMAND] Claudia had attended
a month of performances
and the coven felt she had
proven herself sincere.
[LOUIS] I nodded off one night
while Santiago was hamming it up.
Apparently, that made me persona
non grata with the leading man.
[SMOOTH JAZZ]
We played follow the leader.
A slithering creature
with multiple heads,
rounding roundabouts
with ravenous intent.
Waiting for Maitre to make the call.
[ARMAND] When you share a victim,
as they did every night on stage,
it's merely a taste, an amuse-bouche.
- [LAUGHTER]
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[LOUIS] When you travel as a pack,
you take on a collective hunger.
The longer the ride, the
more intense the craving.
[MAN] I am in Paris with
my Parisienne family!
[CLAUDIA WHOOPS]
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
- [WOMAN LAUGHS]
[CLAUDIA SCREAMS AND WHOOPS]
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[CLAUDIA IN FRENCH]
Allez ! Allez ! Allez !
[WOMAN LAUGHS]
[INTENSE JAZZ]
[ARMAND] Put your camera
away, my American friend.
Be one with us.
[LOUIS] Where are you taking us?
[ARMAND] As far as
our petrol will take us.
[ENGINES REVVING]
[LOUIS] Esurient hearts beating as one.
The rumbling beast of
the moveable feast!
The estate of the family De LaCroix.
Whilst their countrymen
clutch ration cards,
they've made quite a killing
manipulating the black markets.
Santiago.
Give us the layout, would you, love?
- [GENDARME SPLUTTERS]
- [SANTIAGO GRUNTS]
Fourteen rooms. Nineteen
guests plus their hosts.
Thirteen men, eight women.
And, and Oh!
Small firearms in the library bureau.
[GENDARME GASPS]
- Enjoy yourselves.
- Mmm!
You coming?
I ate before the play. I'm gonna
[INDISTINCT CHATTER,
DISTANT MUSIC PLAYS]
[SCREAMING]
I understand you supplement your diet.
I feast human every other night.
It's my way.
You're not gonna ?
I am now where I most want to be.
[SCREAMING CONTINUES]
- Nice night.
- Mmm.
Very nice.
You carry yourself well.
- [CRASHING, SCREAMING]
- Merci.
I like how you withhold.
Don't know about that. Cautious maybe.
It's alluring.
It's practiced.
I find myself thinking,
"What is in there?"
Been thinking the same about you.
Been thinking about you often.
- Tricky.
- What's that?
- Us.
- [VAMPIRE] Oh. Yes!
- My word, yes!
- Mmm.
Coven life can get
labyrinthian depths of
It can be tricky.
[MAN SHOUTS IN FRENCH]
[CLAUDIA] Yes!
- She is something, your Claudia.
- A spark in the dark.
- Pity she was made so young.
- [GLASS SHATTERS]
Imagine her in a body equal to her mind.
She's managed through it.
Particularly skilled at
blocking her thoughts.
[MAN SCREAMS]
You must work harder on that.
[VAMPIRE] Merci !
I could help you hone that skill.
Oh, yeah?
- That'd be great.
- Good.
Because I do believe
I felt some trepidation
when the name Lestat was uttered.
Who?
My dear American friend,
who thinks of me often and who has
dominated my mind ever
since I laid eyes upon him
don't.
I don't know the particulars of
your acquaintance with him.
You can tell me when you're ready.
But a few of the coven can be volatile
and quite unforgiving when lied to.
Shut your mind if you
hear his name again.
Also, mon ami, may I suggest
you never visit Roget,
Abert & Associates again.
That sort of enquiry can
open all sorts of trouble.
As you suggest, Maitre.
Armand.
"Maitre" is a coven endearment.
[SANTIAGO] Come on, people, come on!
Armand for you.
[CELESTE] Caught a lively
one for tomorrow's show.
- [SANTIAGO] Pip's a savage!
- Oh, Louis! I see it now!
It's different here! I love it!
I never want to hunt alone again!
I never want to leave!
[IN FRENCH] Je vous aime tous !
J'adore être une vampire !
- [BOTH] In English!
- I love everybody
and everything in this every
moment, right every now!
[WHOOPING AND LAUGHTER]
[ENGINES REVVING]
[MAN SCREAMS]
[ROMANTIC JAZZ]
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
MAN: It was 1556.
I felt his presence before I saw him.
And here he was.
MAN #2: We might be
having a good time now,
but there's danger if
they find out we lied.
How do you get them to accept death?
The great conversion. It's real.
Aah! To hell with you!
How long are we going
to play games, Louis?
"Do you know what it means
to be loved by death?"
is something that
No pain.
Santiago says to his victims on stage
as he basically lulls
them into their death.
♪
So all of a sudden, we're in Paris
and we're in exciting post-war Paris.
There's a certain intellectual fervor
that is taking over
this particular city.
Paris is everything that
Claudia's been waiting for.
I love getting old baguettes,
and, like, Louis,
wearing this little scarf
is what Louis imagines
French people wear.
I'm the reticent vampire of
the Ninth Arrondissement.
I don't think Louis is really
playing at stereotypes
of an American tourist.
I think he is that. He's living it.
He is the stereotype of
an American tourist.
What do you want?
How are you going to get there?
There's some giddiness there,
and there's some humor
that they haven't had.
Certainly not since they killed Lestat.
Our finest seats.
O'BYRNE: And then they get
to meet these vampires.
And this is really the thing
that Claudia has been
desperately seeking.
And in Armand, we have someone
that is really intriguing to Louis.
So both of them are over the moon.
You learn when they go to the
theater and they meet the coven,
Claudia is someone that needs community.
Louis is someone that needs to
know that community is there,
but to be away from it a lot.
♪
Welcome to "The Displacement of Reason".
What sold Prague to us as a
shooting location for Paris
was not the physical Prague,
which is one of the most
beautiful cities in the world
and can recreate Paris
in many, many ways.
It was this huge factory
we walked into looking
for the vampire theater.
The Americans are here!
And almost immediately,
I just saw the sparkle on
Marla LePere-Schloop's eyes,
and our production designers,
and we said, "Okay, we're home."
This is where we need to be.
It's just spectacular.
That was a key factor that
brought us to Prague,
was landing this location
and understanding
how vital that was going
to be to season two.
The prospect of getting
to work on a TV show
where there's a theater company
was just too exciting to pass up,
and we wanted to have an
exciting leading man, Santiago.
So we got the great Ben Daniels.
We here at Theatre Des Vampires,
delve into the underbelly
of the human soul.
ANDERSON: Santiago
and the whole coven
it's like a breath of fresh air.
It's like this new mischievous
energy that comes into the show.
HAYLES: This is what
she's been waiting for.
And she envisions a family
with these coven members,
just living her best
life, eating people.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
JOHNSON: Santiago is certainly
the most theatrical
of everybody in the vampire theater.
Everything you're about to see
JOHNSON: He thinks
he's Laurence Olivier.
is real
JOHNSON: But he is mesmerizing,
and he is captivating.
and appalling!
JOHNSON: And the audience loves him.
I love you for it.
And Claudia immediately falls
in love with what he represents
and wants to be a part of it.
[SCREAMING]
SANTIAGO: No, no, no, no, no, no.
Let her speak, sir.
I'd like to point out,
also, just a little aside,
that the woman who plays Annika,
the first victim we see, is actually
our director's assistant.
We found out that she is an
actress, a very good actress,
and primarily an actress.
Sinead, who played the woman,
she was very, very good
at being terrified.
It was very upsetting to see
because it was like all
of her in her entirety.
But for Claudia, I think
Claudia fully was like,
"Where are the stairs to the stage?
Like, get me on there right now."
Up.
JOHNSON: It was just so funny
to be working alongside the set
next to somebody who all
of a sudden is on stage
being devoured by Santiago
and later the rest of the company.
And it's brutal and beautiful
and just so theatrical and so brilliant.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Bravo!
ANDERSON: There's, like, 14
vampires now on the show.
And I was like, "Wow, this is intense.
This is like a new thing."
And they all had relationships already,
and they've been rehearsing
and they've been, like,
shooting these plays.
It was really helpful for me personally
to walk into this whole
world of vampires.
It was, like, unfamiliar
and different as well
to what we established in season one,
but also just, like, a very funny,
very lovely group of people.
I ask you now was it worth the wait?
♪
Malloy is finally getting his footing
when it comes to how to deal
with the fact that there are now
two vampires instead of one.
Are you two going to finish
each other's sentences
for the whole session?
We've been together 77 years, Daniel.
What was fun was realizing
that we'd spent all of season one
with Rashid lingering in the background.
You're lingering, Rashid.
It was fun for me to
see, like, little things
that Assad was doing in
season one as Rashid,
where you can see him under it
What do you think will
happen to Mr. du Lac
when you publish this book?
I love working with Assad.
He's so intense
and it's wonderful to play
against. It's really fun.
She wanted to say yes,
but she didn't trust you.
You hadn't given her a reason to.
ZAMAN: It's not Malloy's
fault that he's here.
He was brought here by Louis.
But now that he is here and he's prying,
Armand has to preserve
their relationship
and their history together.
If you're willing to ask your
questions and then listen.
It becomes a battle of wits.
What happened next?
♪
O'BYRNE: And we have this
phenomenal scene in front of this
we always called it the Murder Mansion.
It's described exactly how we see it.
They arrive, and then Louis and Armand
have this wonderful flirtation.
- Enjoy yourselves.
- Mmm.
That might have been one
of the best days of my life.
It was [LAUGHS] It was
- Honestly, it was just adults playing.
- You coming?
A hit before the play?
HAYLES: What I really liked
about Levan's direction in this
is that when we got in the mansion,
it was like, "You're vampires.
- Go have fun. Be vampires."
- [SHOUTING]
ZAMAN: The chaos in the background
and vintage noir romance
happening in the foreground.
She's something, your Claudia.
Spark in the dark.
The thing that I remember most
about filming the Murder Mansion scene
was that it's like
[IMITATES GLASS SHATTERING] "Ah! Ah!"
Just, like, all this madness
happening behind him.
You must work harder on that.
And every single time something
smashed or popped,
I was like just jumping.
You're not going in?
I am now where I most want to be.
But somehow, Assad
just managed to, like
just very focused and didn't flinch.
Perused a few folklore anthologies,
and now you're going to cross the ocean
and take on a society of monsters.
I've known exactly four
vampires in my life,
and you've all been the worst.
I'm looking for one that
ain't a goddamn bastard!
Parents named me Bruce.
Sent about 20 of us over to
a place called Copenhagen.
LOUIS: Don't start back with your books.
- Your books are bullshit.
- There's a vampire been here.
Another crucifix.
CLAUDIA: Louis!
A woman vampire.
[WOMAN GRUNTS]
ARMAND: The boy we met in San
Francisco he's still in there.
We can have him saying what
happened next in no time.
We're gonna find others like us.
We can't be the only
good ones out there.
[GENTLE ORCHESTRAL MUSIC]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[MUSIC FADES]
[SMOOTH JAZZ]
[LOUIS] Paris Hard to
put it into words now.
For what Paris means to me now
is very different from
what it meant to me then.
- [ARMAND] May I try?
- Please.
Paris was an awakening for Louis.
Paris was a hunger.
[LOUIS] Paris was many
things in those days.
Even now, to think of it,
setting aside certain events,
I feel something close to
happiness when I think of it.
- The name alone Paris.
- [MOLLOY] Paris sucks.
[LOUIS] But you proposed
to your Alice in Paris.
[MOLLOY] And she divorced me
in Staten Island. Paris sucks.
[ARMAND] Paris is a
universe all to herself
[MOLLOY] Macarons are bullshit,
café culture is boring.
[LOUIS] Paris was Nazi
scar tissue at the time.
It was healing, just as
Claudia and I were healing.
Gotta pick twice the pockets
in this town to get anywhere.
[SPEAKS IN FRENCH]
"Confiance en vaut plusieurs
si on prend du temps pour la trouver."
- What?
- "Truth is more valuable
if it takes you a few years to find it."
What you said is,
"Trust is worth several
if we take a few years to find it."
A little rust on the mother tongue.
Lotta rust. And I'm looking
for francs and diamonds.
- Truth don't pay the rent.
- No salt, no butter.
Can't have milk unless
you got a newborn.
And read here, "Hospitals
running low on plaster of Paris
for a record number of broken
bones due to decalcification
and undernourishment."
You want francs in pockets?
These people are broke.
Maybe we chose the wrong town.
I saw a woman tonight in a
patchy five-year-old dress
putting on a brand new lipstick.
And what's that supposed to say?
Says Paris is on her way back.
Give her a little time is all.
What makes you think Paris is a woman?
- Oh, now I know you're hungry.
- Tell me what a woman is?
I'll tell you what a woman is.
Where you want to hunt?
Bourse looks dark.
Always following the blackouts.
Blackouts are easy.
Mmm. So you want a hard
meal, francs and diamonds,
and heaven to open up and rain
down mink stoles, is that it?
[CLAUDIA] That's a start.
[ARMAND] It's custom and practice
for traveling vampires to
make themselves known
- to a local coven.
- [SHE SPEAKS FRENCH] Gauche.
[LOUIS] We didn't get that memo.
[LAUGHING]
- De Gaulle's Paris had me etherized.
- Ah!
The whitest of lies
turning 77 this year.
Do not leave Dubai until
you've made him retract it.
Uh-huh.
If Claudia and I were looking
over our shoulder at all,
it was in astonishment
our skin did not attract
the same attention it did in America.
Right, because there wasn't any racism
in mid-20th century France.
- Oh, I didn't say that.
- He didn't say that.
I think your Algerian inferiors
- of the time might disagree.
- But I wasn't an Algerian.
I was an American and if
there was an assumption
that I'd arrived to blow a trumpet
or sing for my supper,
it did not register as a
slight in those days.
I was just grateful knowing
no one wanted to lynch me
or direct me to the far
end of the café counter.
That's all he was saying, Mr. Molloy.
Are you two gonna finish
each other's sentences
- for the whole session?
- We've been together 77 years, Daniel.
Forty-seven more than
he did with Lestat.
Shall we let the math of that
settle before continuing?
Keep selling it.
[LOUIS] We hid ourselves away
in an inconspicuous
apartment in Le Neuvieme,
passing ourselves off as
moneyed Americans,
over-spending for black
market baguettes.
It was the perfect cover.
[ARMAND] Yes, perfectly situated,
one floor above the owners,
and one floor below the
students and sex workers.
Literally encircled by curious
and money-hungry motivations.
[LOUIS] We never brought our kills home.
- We used the sewers for that.
- Mm-hm.
[ARMAND] Waterways of
which they had no expertise.
The flow controls, the pumping stations.
We were constantly cleaning up for them.
[MOLLOY] And yet you never
made contact with him?
Thank you! Five months of anxiety
producing choices and not one "bonjour"
- or "prépare-toi à mourir".
- Custom and practice.
[LOUIS] A true Parisian vampire
is a prideful monster.
[ARMAND] They lived two kilometers
from our theater in Pigalle.
[LOUIS] I had endured hundreds of nights
in the theater with Lestat.
I was not seeking more.
A theater called Theatre Des Vampires.
[BOTH] A company that had been
in existence for 150 years!
[ARMAND CHUCKLES] 77 years
and it still feels like a slight.
[WHISPERS] Pride.
[ARMAND] The reports were confounding.
Were they romantic? No.
Who was the master? Neither, it seemed.
The male hunted to please her,
the girl suffered philosophical
conversation to please him.
The American vampires appeared
to be as dull and plain
as their tourists and soldiers were.
[LOUIS] Rude.
I took up photography as a hobby.
[ARMAND] Vampires
with hobbies! Insanity!
[MOLLOY] Killing time when
you weren't killing Parisians.
[LOUIS] Oh, wrestling
time to the ground,
staring it into submission.
Holding it in your hand.
"I was there. This occurred."
[MOLLOY] How's that any
different from the photos
- I keep on my phone?
- [ARMAND] It isn't.
It's a human perspective of time.
[LOUIS] When you have the ability
to stretch a millisecond into an hour,
it's a reduction.
I hadn't come to that conclusion yet.
I liked taking photographs.
It took my mind off things.
[JAZZ MUSIC REACHES A CRESCENDO]
[SLOW JAZZ]
[CLAUDIA TELEPATHICALLY]
What are you looking for
- when you take a picture?
- [LOUIS] I don't know.
A surprise maybe.
Something off. Like a hat
that's too small for a head.
Or someone realizing they
forgot to do something
- and they stop.
- Okay.
Then you can get mindful about it.
Ask yourself what brought them here?
What brought you here?
Is it coming together random?
Choreographed? The metro
late for him. The rain
Sometimes I want the short answer.
You listen to their thoughts.
You know what's coming.
You take the picture.
Well, if you knew the answer,
why did you ask?
Is the coming together
random, choreographed?
Let a brother primp a bit.
Let me think I'm deeper than I am.
Is that how you sell yourself yourself?
I'm just trying to get
through nights, sis.
I shortcut it. You caught me.
Take the win.
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
Who are you, Louis?
I'm your brother.
Who are you outside of me?
I'm the reticent vampire of
the Ninth Arrondissement.
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
- I walk the night
capturing disappointment and regret
as only the reticent vampire can.
- Hah!
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
If there was no me
and there was no him
[HE SCOFFS]
who would you be?
What do you want?
How are you gonna get there?
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[MOLLOY] She had a point.
- [LOUIS] Yes.
- Paris sucks.
That's not the point she was making.
Sure it is. She's miserable,
but she doesn't want to fuck
with your too delusional
"left bank dilettante" vibe.
She wasn't telling me something
I didn't know about myself.
She was giving me permission
to explore a life apart from her.
- It's Alice, Louis, not Claudia.
- Excuse me?
Oh, I see. I've triggered a memory.
No, it's Claudia. It's her journal.
- "Louis needs Paris. I don't "
- It's 1985.
You and Alice are at a brasserie,
talking past each other
and she tells you she's pregnant.
The fishing rod in the head again?
And you say, "Yeah,
let's talk about it later tonight."
I've gotta knock out another chapter.
One a week.
I leave before the bill is paid,
I never finish the novel.
I think it was the "yeah" that
pissed her off most. Yeah?
Yeah.
"Louis needs Paris.
[MOLLOY AND CLAUDIA TOGETHER]
I don't know what I need.
Maybe a new brain in my head.
[CLAUDIA] Why can't I tell him this?
I suppose I'm afraid my joylessness
will take away his happiness
and maybe I don't want his feelings
to depend on mine anymore.
Maybe I want to be joyfully joyless.
A forever switch of
wild opposites at play."
[RAIN PATTERING]
[MAN] Oh!
[MAN COMPLAINING IN FRENCH]
[PEOPLE COMPLAINING IN FRENCH]
[MAN IN FRENCH] Mademoiselle ?
American? Your French is ugly.
You can take it in for me. Yes?
You do alterations?
Please, don't pretend to be
something you're not, yeah?
Believe me, womanhood
will happen soon enough.
Never thought about choosing to pretend.
Life hasn't been kind
enough to allow me that.
Maybe if it had been, I'd be a lonely
dressmaker in an empty shop,
denying my only potential customer.
Respect my time.
No!
The dress, for my body.
And I'll need some gloves.
I'm thinking white.
Real Rashid. Just in time
for the big "meet cute".
What weirdness have
you brought us today?
[RASHID] The Paris Albums, 1946-1949.
Oh, you really shouldn't wear gloves
when handling historical
documents, Real Rashid.
- It reduces dexterity.
- It's just Rashid.
Makes it more likely you'll rip a page
in the item being examined.
Thank you, Rashid.
So?
Photos are the record of time passing.
- Outward evidence.
- [ARMAND] They do not lie,
but neither do they tell
you a thorough story.
[GENTLE PIANO]
Who are the young men? Vampires?
Those were our young friends.
Humans. Guys.
[ARMAND] Some are very
old now, most are dead.
And some we simply drained for sport.
Well generally me.
Louis has his ways.
[GENTLE PIANO]
[ARMAND] You could tell from
his walk, he was an American.
[MOLLOY] I'm an American.
What exactly is an American walk?
[ARMAND] Two wars had
made a certain impression
on the men of France.
There was no way to describe
it other than optimistic.
[LOUIS] There was a
park I'd heard about.
I would go to this park often.
I was an armored thing that spring,
someone steady on his feet, but
With a history of chasing
the wrong kind of love.
I'll describe it myself, thank you.
Yes.
But with a history of chasing
the wrong kind of love.
Well, where better to
explore who you are,
to find the right kind of love,
than in a public park?
[ARMAND] I had lost patience.
I was convinced we were being toyed with
and I could hold back
the coven only so long.
I knew the park well myself,
knew what went on in the rambles there,
so I was not surprised to
find him without the girl.
[MEN PANTING]
I would confront the elder
and make him aware
of the ways rogue vampires
were dealt with in Paris.
[LOUIS] He looked like a boy
masquerading as a gentleman.
But I sensed his ancient
power right away.
[ARMAND] He was awkward.
His attempt to blend in as some layman,
thinking he could fade into the
landscape, it was absurd.
I mean
he was alarmingly handsome
in the muted lamplight.
[LOUIS] I thought he
was going to kill me.
[ARMAND LAUGHS SOFTLY]
So?
- Yeah?
- Who broke the ice?
What were the first words
of the ancient vampire
to the future love of his life?
[TOGETHER] I will not
- Please.
- No.
Please.
He said, "I will not harm you."
And I never have.
[POIGNANT CLASSICAL MUSIC]
[ARMAND] Come.
And bring the petite beauty with you.
You are most welcome.
[SWINGING JAZZ]
- [LOUIS] Claudia!
- [DOOR SLAMS]
Claudia!
Claudia!
[PANTING]
I found someone. Or they found me.
Found us!
[CLAUDIA] Give me that. Let me see.
[ARMAND] Five months removed
from their velvet-heeled arrival,
the Americans were
finally coming to Pigalle.
[LOUIS] The perfumed armpit of Paris.
Entradas. Tickets. Des billets.
Monsieur de Pointe du Lac.
Our finest seats.
[SWINGING JAZZ]
[LOUIS] The house was only half full.
A mixture of slavish devotees
and over-served tourists.
[ARMAND] We had become amusingly passé
amongst the theater community
and found a more receptive audience
from our Anglican friends
now invading Paris postwar.
Five out of every seven performances
were in the King's English.
[LOUIS] Some had been
there dozens of times.
And some couldn't care
less what was spoken.
[ARMAND] They were all the same to us.
Cattle for our nightly sabbath.
[LOUIS] But we were there for vampires
and we felt their numbers
in the charged air.
[FRENCH MAN] Places! Projections! Music!
[JAZZY FANFARE]
- Screams and lights.
- [RECORDED SCREAMING]
And Santiago!
[SANTIAGO] Ladies and gentlemen!
Madames and messieurs!
[RECORDED SCREAMING]
Offal and offalesses.
[RECORDED SCREAMING]
[LIGHT CLICKS, DRUMROLL]
- Welcome!
- [PLAYFUL PIANO MUSIC]
To the displacement of reason.
And the excretion of pathetic desires.
By that I mean
- Good evening.
- [AUDIENCE] Good evening!
- [HE SNARLS]
- [MAN LAUGHS]
What you're about to see
is, for you, an outrage
that masks a birth and
a rebirth of what is
[CLAUDIA] The rope's limp.
He's really flying.
- [LOUIS] I know!
- Instead of mere human drama,
we here at Theatre Des Vampires,
delve into the underbelly
of the human soul,
to present to you the
highest form of art
in the lowest of ways!
- [AUDIENCE LAUGHS]
- [MAN WHOOPS, SHOUTS IN FRENCH]
Have you repressions that need airing?
Oh, you've come to the right place.
Phobias toward your next of kin?
Amis, we assist in turning
down the sheets!
Bloodlust?!
Fear of the insane?!
I salute your honesty.
Right after I take my
boot from your arse!
- [LAUGHTER]
- But seriously, mes amis,
being vampires, and by nature
superior to you mortals,
we can replicate the
level of bilge necessary
to disrupt your tiny ship
called human decency.
In fact, we capsize it.
So, if you don't leave here tonight
seeing the world upside down and
liking very much what you see,
and feel,
then we here at Theatre Des Vampires,
have failed in our jobs
which is, at the heart of it,
to laugh alongside your misery
while you cry and scream for more.
[AUDIENCE] More!
[CHEERING, WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE]
[HUSH DESCENDS]
Everything you're about to see
is real.
Remember that when
you leave here tonight.
You are all complicit
repugnant
and appalling!
[MURMURING, NERVOUS LAUGHTER]
And
I love you for it.
And I welcome you
even as you disgust me!
[PLAYFUL PIANO MUSIC]
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
[SHOUTS FROM AUDIENCE]
[MAN] Well done! Superb! Superb!
[SLOW PIANO MUSIC]
[PROJECTOR RATTLING]
Why does the Master have
us tend to the prized,
singular plant at night,
when the rest of the garden
is tended by day?
[LOUIS] The actors performed
in front of a cinema screen,
interacting with animations
and bits of film
in near perfect synchronization.
The effect was wondrous.
[ARMAND] The modern cinema
had an enormous influence
on my aesthetic and
the light of the projector
on the faces of our actors
lent a romantic air
to their performances.
[SCREAMS AND LAUGHTER]
[LOUIS] The plays were weird.
[ARMAND] The plays were timeless,
updated for the age
and all from our 150 year repertoire.
[LOUIS] They were weird!
And always ended in death
or some kind of cruel,
barely motivated violence.
[ARMAND] Life is cruel. Life is violent.
[LOUIS] Claudia absolutely loved them.
And it was the first time in Paris
I had seen a smile or a
laugh come out of her
that wasn't for my benefit.
But what was truly
confusing that first night
were the efforts to make
it all appear as farce.
Syrup!
The fake vampire teeth, the fake blood,
- the trick rope.
- [ARMAND] It was all a seduction,
to lure the cattle into a
willing belief of disbelief.
The only play that
mattered was the last.
[GENTLE PIANO MUSIC]
[SANTIAGO] Woodcutter!
- Woodcutter!
- Who are you?
I am what you think I am, woodcutter.
Go away.
[AUDIENCE GASPS]
The clock in your heart.
- The gears have stopped meshing.
- [WOMAN SCREAMS]
Help me, someone! Please!
What is this?
[WOODCUTTER] She's
disrupted the performance!
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
[SANTIAGO] No! No, no, no, no!
Let her speak, Sam. Let her speak.
[SANTIAGO] Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
Now, now, now, now.
This is an "English only" performance.
Start again.
[SOBBING] My
My name is Annika Rooman.
I live in Antwerp.
I was taken from my
hotel room last night.
These people are vampires!
True vampires!
- This This is real!
- [LAUGHTER FROM AUDIENCE]
- Call my husband!
- I'll call him for you, baby.
[LAUGHTER]
[SHE SOBS]
[SUSPENSEFUL DRUMBEAT]
[CURTAIN SLIDING]
[SHE WHIMPERS]
Suppose we were to let you go.
- P-Please! Y-Yes.
- Yes?
Yes.
Suppose the Reaper had a heart
that could resist your Belgian beauty.
Someone would have to take your place.
Your husband?
Oh?
Your son?
I I can't I can't and I wouldn't.
How about
him?
Mmm. Mm, mm.
Oh, dear man,
whose flesh has run in every
direction from his mustache,
I want you to remember this
the next time you're in the pew,
you turn to your neighbor and say,
"Peace be unto you."
They'll give you up
in a wink!
[ANNIKA SOBBING]
[POIGNANT VIOLIN]
Not his time, Annika.
- [ANNIKA SOBS]
- Shh, shh.
- [SANTIAGO SHUSHES]
- [ANNIKA CRYING]
[SANTIAGO] Now, now. There, there.
It must be.
Annika Rooman of Antwerp.
Death
awaits everyone
everywhere.
Why not here?
Unconscious death is
the fate of all mortals.
Up.
Up.
Up.
We are conscious death, Annika.
And that would make you
a bride.
[SANTIAGO EXHALES DEEPLY]
Do you know what it means
to be loved by death?
No pain.
[SOFTLY] No pain.
[GASPS FROM AUDIENCE]
[TENSE MUSIC]
[HE EXCLAIMS]
- [SNARLING]
- [AUDIENCE GASPS]
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
[SNARLING]
[VAMPIRES SHRIEKING]
[ANNIKA SCREAMS]
[SNARLING CONTINUES]
[LIGHT CLICKS]
- Bravo!
- Santiago!
[WHOOPING AND APPLAUSE]
[UNCERTAIN APPLAUSE]
Bravo!
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
[PLAYFUL PIANO]
[MAN SPEAKING IN FRENCH]
[ALL CHATTER IN FRENCH]
Our coven has been here since
the reign of Charlemagne,
but we only became a theater company
after Danton was guillotined.
Ah! Do I hear French from the
lips of an English company?
Ah, better, better.
If you desire to seduce on stage,
you must live it off stage! Thank you.
London was not made overnight, Maitre.
And that is why several Toulousian G's
pricked my ear in act four.
- Did you catch that Englishman?
- Oh, I did, Maitre.
Otherwise very committed
tonight, Madame.
- Merci.
- That goes for the entire company.
Very committed tonight! Bravo! Brava!
Even as they wipe their greasepaint,
as if this were an ordinary night.
[SANTIAGO] Five months of nights.
Five insolent months of nights,
waiting for you to humble
us with your appearance.
I ask you, Maitre,
was it worth the wait?
- [WOMAN GIGGLES]
- Oi!
- Oh, Estelle!
- [ALL SPEAKING AT ONCE]
- The Americans are here!
- [CHEERING]
[MAN] Bonsoir !
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Welcome.
[ARMAND] Louis and Claudia.
- The Theatre Des Vampires.
- [ALL] Fuck off!
Eglee, front of house.
Romaine, stage management, props.
- Luchenbaum, costumes.
- Stunning work.
Ah, Samuel Barclay,
playwright in residence.
Sam. Call me Sam.
Basilic, Planche,
Merde'em, the orchestra.
- Nice drumming, drums.
- Thank you.
Tuan and Quang Pham.
Projections, scenery, swing actor.
Father and son. They joined the coven
on an eventful pre-century
tour of the colonies.
- Oh, the son looks
- Older than the father. Yes.
Quang here refused the dark
gift until he could be on stage.
My son is rebellious.
- English!
- Father is an asshole.
Landing us our core acting company.
Gustave, Celeste, Estelle and Santiago.
You were amazing.
I was, wasn't I? Love the dress.
Oh. Thank you.
Do American vampiresses
all wear pastels?
Claudia is the only American vampiress,
so I say that's a yes.
And are all American
vampires as alluring as you?
- Uh [MAN LAUGHS]
- No.
Louis was expelled for his beauty.
Oh, such a burden, beauty.
[ALL LAUGHING]
Who's your maker?
- My maker?
- Mmm.
Eglee here does star charts for us all.
Night you were given the gift,
phase of the moon, name of the maker.
- [EGLEE] I don't really need
- D'you both have the same maker?
We did. Yeah.
His name was Bruce.
Bruce?
- Is he Scottish?
- [LAUGHTER]
He said he was from Copenhagen.
We met him on the
road just outside of
- Chicago.
- We traveled a lot.
As you do, when the kills pile up.
We don't like to talk about him much.
He threw himself into
a fire in front of us.
And once again, Santiago,
it seems you've missed the
vein and drawn air instead.
- Hmm!
- I got a question.
Who's that handsome man
on the wall up there?
[ARMAND] Ah! With us in spirit always.
Our co-founder and the finest
actor ever to walk our stage.
Lestat de Lioncourt.
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
Should have seen that coming.
Did not see that one coming.
Big red flag, huh?
- The biggest.
- You must understand
- Oh, I understand.
- In a community as small as ours,
such crossings of immortal
paths is expected,
perhaps more common
than you would think.
And Juan looked up at the painting
and saw that Theresa's
dead husband was Roberto.
He had eloped with his enemy's widow.
It's a telenovela! I mean, come on!
Lestat's painting on the wall!
Are you kidding me? Really?
Oh, and that means
That means you knew
Lestat before he did!
- Yes, Armand knew Lestat.
- Wait a minute.
And yes, he was briefly with Lestat.
- You both fucked Lestat?!
- A hundred plus years apart.
- They were not compatible.
- He tasted like vermouth
and annihilation.
You shared a boyfriend!
This is great!
I fucked Santiago too.
And Celeste, and Estelle.
Even had an aerobic evening
with Tuan and Quang Pham
in the back row of a cinema
- watching 'Now, Voyager'.
- Did you?
It's repertory theatre, Mr. Molloy.
It's how one endures.
Lestat's appearance is important,
just not in the way
you think it is, Daniel.
Oh, I'm done thinking.
Bring me the tequila and some popcorn,
let's flip to channel 300-something,
it's a Univision night!
[CLAUDIA] I saw his stupid face up there
and had to think of something quick.
You couldn't make up a name?
Best lies got some truth to 'em.
And that's the only
other vampire I knew.
- It's gonna be fine.
- Fine?
Yeah, fine. What about Lestat?
He's 100-something-year-old
painting in a frame.
They got a fucking shrine!
What if they find out we killed him?
- One of us would have to tell them.
- Or think it!
Well, I thought it the second
I saw his face in the frame,
but there they were inviting us back,
- five minutes later.
- To kill us.
And right after that I
invaded their thoughts,
and not one, not one of them,
thought anything other than
I want to lick these two,
so we need to stay away
from Estelle if we can.
But they knew nothing
and they're gonna continue
knowing nothing,
'cos you're gonna keep that
loose head of yours tight
because I wanna go back, Louis.
- Are you crazy?
- What about the play?
When they all pounced on that woman,
drained her right in front
of their dumb faces?
Tell me you did not feel pride.
- I did not feel pride.
- Yes, you did!
Past your empathy for that woman,
past your fear of being exposed.
Vampire pride.
Those Frenchies love being vampires.
And they shamed us because
we never felt that way
and we fucking should!
- I'm going back. I want more.
- It's not safe there!
Fourteen hapless vampires
being led by a vampire
with skin darker than yours?
What else is there to be scared of?
Other than your own lust?
- Oh, you felt my lust?
- Armand?
Oh, yeah. Felt his too.
Now I know what two blood fat
cocks slapping hands feel like,
so thank you for that.
Take your people pictures!
Worship them in the
red light all you want!
I want to be with my own!
Don't ruin this for me, Louis.
I need this!
[LOUIS] The coven had
lifted Claudia's spirits,
but seeing Lestat's
portrait put me on edge.
I needed confirmation of his death,
and then I remembered
his frequent money wires
came from a law firm with
an address in the Marais,
Roget & Associates.
We were very close friends.
We owned some real estate together.
A townhouse on Royal Street
in New Orleans.
Maybe your records reflect that?
[CLOCK STRIKES THE HOUR]
We were separated by war,
Mr. Lioncourt and myself.
I had some work in Europe.
I lost my American
passport doing that work.
I'm in the process of
Uh, I'm not here for money.
I'm here to know if you've
heard from him.
If
If he is alive, and if so
We have not heard from
Monsieur de Lioncourt
since February 1940,
when we processed several
wires for him, uh,
for a party he was throwing.
I know who you are, Monsieur.
And I know what you meant
to our cherished client,
Monsieur de Lioncourt.
You say
You said "meant".
Perhaps he is dead.
Or "sleeping". Hmm?
I have no confirmation
of his actual death,
and cannot declare him
legally dead for years,
but seeing as you are now here in Paris,
and the fact he has made no
withdrawals from his account,
between us, it is confirmation enough
for me to pass this box to you,
as instructed in case of, uh
Well
I have a client arriving in 20 minutes.
You may have the office.
[DOOR OPENS]
[GENTLE CLASSICAL PIANO]
Hmm.
[LESTAT] In the event
that you are reading this,
something dreadful has occurred,
which is not my own death, but rather
the fact that we both now
exist in two different worlds.
Do not waste your life
seeking revenge on the person
or persons who did this.
Do not give them the
satisfaction of the hunt.
Let treachery eat away
at them from within.
And you
you go carry on with your living.
Know only this, mon cher,
you are the only being I trust,
and whom I love, above
and beyond myself.
All my love belongs to you.
You are its keeper.
A veil will now forever
separate our union.
But it is a thin veil
and I am always on the other side,
face pressed up against your longing.
Lestat de Lioncourt.
Lestat, Lestat, Lestat.
Love of my life,
or is it more "rebound of
my life" with you two?
It's a haunting memory
Louis just shared with you.
What a comfort, your ability to continue
pulling humor from his pain.
- Cathartic.
- [MOLLOY] It's a joke. It's a joke.
- You serve it up.
- Alice is in her third trimester.
She's steps in gum on the
corner of Rues Palatine
- and Servandoni.
- The old parlor trick.
She makes you scrape it off
- with a credit card.
- It's not a credit card.
I have no credit. It's a library card.
She was wearing that short
purple dress you favored.
- I liked the way she walked in it.
- You felt freer
- She was confident in it.
- to hold her hand in Paris.
- I wonder why that is?
- Hitting the garage door, Louis.
All the crap, have at it!
You worked so hard to get
that table right in the corner,
so you could pull out the ring.
The ring! Yeah, that's good.
Just at the right moment
to surprise her.
- Which I did.
- And what did she say
when you finally asked her to marry you?
In middle school you stole your
dad's Playboy magazines.
- Sold them at recess.
- [LOUIS] Danny.
I'll ask for a third time.
What did Alice say when you
finally asked her to marry you?
[ARMAND] Louis, perhaps we should
She said no.
She wanted to say yes,
but she didn't trust you.
You hadn't given her a reason to.
[LOUIS] Would you like to know
what she thinks of you now?
If she thinks of you now?
We could do that.
Or we could simply
return to the interview.
If you're willing to ask your
questions and then listen,
which is your job.
Yes.
Good.
So
your question.
Um
What happened next?
[LOUIS] They invited us for a hunt.
[ARMAND] Claudia had attended
a month of performances
and the coven felt she had
proven herself sincere.
[LOUIS] I nodded off one night
while Santiago was hamming it up.
Apparently, that made me persona
non grata with the leading man.
[SMOOTH JAZZ]
We played follow the leader.
A slithering creature
with multiple heads,
rounding roundabouts
with ravenous intent.
Waiting for Maitre to make the call.
[ARMAND] When you share a victim,
as they did every night on stage,
it's merely a taste, an amuse-bouche.
- [LAUGHTER]
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[LOUIS] When you travel as a pack,
you take on a collective hunger.
The longer the ride, the
more intense the craving.
[MAN] I am in Paris with
my Parisienne family!
[CLAUDIA WHOOPS]
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
- [WOMAN LAUGHS]
[CLAUDIA SCREAMS AND WHOOPS]
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[CLAUDIA IN FRENCH]
Allez ! Allez ! Allez !
[WOMAN LAUGHS]
[INTENSE JAZZ]
[ARMAND] Put your camera
away, my American friend.
Be one with us.
[LOUIS] Where are you taking us?
[ARMAND] As far as
our petrol will take us.
[ENGINES REVVING]
[LOUIS] Esurient hearts beating as one.
The rumbling beast of
the moveable feast!
The estate of the family De LaCroix.
Whilst their countrymen
clutch ration cards,
they've made quite a killing
manipulating the black markets.
Santiago.
Give us the layout, would you, love?
- [GENDARME SPLUTTERS]
- [SANTIAGO GRUNTS]
Fourteen rooms. Nineteen
guests plus their hosts.
Thirteen men, eight women.
And, and Oh!
Small firearms in the library bureau.
[GENDARME GASPS]
- Enjoy yourselves.
- Mmm!
You coming?
I ate before the play. I'm gonna
[INDISTINCT CHATTER,
DISTANT MUSIC PLAYS]
[SCREAMING]
I understand you supplement your diet.
I feast human every other night.
It's my way.
You're not gonna ?
I am now where I most want to be.
[SCREAMING CONTINUES]
- Nice night.
- Mmm.
Very nice.
You carry yourself well.
- [CRASHING, SCREAMING]
- Merci.
I like how you withhold.
Don't know about that. Cautious maybe.
It's alluring.
It's practiced.
I find myself thinking,
"What is in there?"
Been thinking the same about you.
Been thinking about you often.
- Tricky.
- What's that?
- Us.
- [VAMPIRE] Oh. Yes!
- My word, yes!
- Mmm.
Coven life can get
labyrinthian depths of
It can be tricky.
[MAN SHOUTS IN FRENCH]
[CLAUDIA] Yes!
- She is something, your Claudia.
- A spark in the dark.
- Pity she was made so young.
- [GLASS SHATTERS]
Imagine her in a body equal to her mind.
She's managed through it.
Particularly skilled at
blocking her thoughts.
[MAN SCREAMS]
You must work harder on that.
[VAMPIRE] Merci !
I could help you hone that skill.
Oh, yeah?
- That'd be great.
- Good.
Because I do believe
I felt some trepidation
when the name Lestat was uttered.
Who?
My dear American friend,
who thinks of me often and who has
dominated my mind ever
since I laid eyes upon him
don't.
I don't know the particulars of
your acquaintance with him.
You can tell me when you're ready.
But a few of the coven can be volatile
and quite unforgiving when lied to.
Shut your mind if you
hear his name again.
Also, mon ami, may I suggest
you never visit Roget,
Abert & Associates again.
That sort of enquiry can
open all sorts of trouble.
As you suggest, Maitre.
Armand.
"Maitre" is a coven endearment.
[SANTIAGO] Come on, people, come on!
Armand for you.
[CELESTE] Caught a lively
one for tomorrow's show.
- [SANTIAGO] Pip's a savage!
- Oh, Louis! I see it now!
It's different here! I love it!
I never want to hunt alone again!
I never want to leave!
[IN FRENCH] Je vous aime tous !
J'adore être une vampire !
- [BOTH] In English!
- I love everybody
and everything in this every
moment, right every now!
[WHOOPING AND LAUGHTER]
[ENGINES REVVING]
[MAN SCREAMS]
[ROMANTIC JAZZ]
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
MAN: It was 1556.
I felt his presence before I saw him.
And here he was.
MAN #2: We might be
having a good time now,
but there's danger if
they find out we lied.
How do you get them to accept death?
The great conversion. It's real.
Aah! To hell with you!
How long are we going
to play games, Louis?
"Do you know what it means
to be loved by death?"
is something that
No pain.
Santiago says to his victims on stage
as he basically lulls
them into their death.
♪
So all of a sudden, we're in Paris
and we're in exciting post-war Paris.
There's a certain intellectual fervor
that is taking over
this particular city.
Paris is everything that
Claudia's been waiting for.
I love getting old baguettes,
and, like, Louis,
wearing this little scarf
is what Louis imagines
French people wear.
I'm the reticent vampire of
the Ninth Arrondissement.
I don't think Louis is really
playing at stereotypes
of an American tourist.
I think he is that. He's living it.
He is the stereotype of
an American tourist.
What do you want?
How are you going to get there?
There's some giddiness there,
and there's some humor
that they haven't had.
Certainly not since they killed Lestat.
Our finest seats.
O'BYRNE: And then they get
to meet these vampires.
And this is really the thing
that Claudia has been
desperately seeking.
And in Armand, we have someone
that is really intriguing to Louis.
So both of them are over the moon.
You learn when they go to the
theater and they meet the coven,
Claudia is someone that needs community.
Louis is someone that needs to
know that community is there,
but to be away from it a lot.
♪
Welcome to "The Displacement of Reason".
What sold Prague to us as a
shooting location for Paris
was not the physical Prague,
which is one of the most
beautiful cities in the world
and can recreate Paris
in many, many ways.
It was this huge factory
we walked into looking
for the vampire theater.
The Americans are here!
And almost immediately,
I just saw the sparkle on
Marla LePere-Schloop's eyes,
and our production designers,
and we said, "Okay, we're home."
This is where we need to be.
It's just spectacular.
That was a key factor that
brought us to Prague,
was landing this location
and understanding
how vital that was going
to be to season two.
The prospect of getting
to work on a TV show
where there's a theater company
was just too exciting to pass up,
and we wanted to have an
exciting leading man, Santiago.
So we got the great Ben Daniels.
We here at Theatre Des Vampires,
delve into the underbelly
of the human soul.
ANDERSON: Santiago
and the whole coven
it's like a breath of fresh air.
It's like this new mischievous
energy that comes into the show.
HAYLES: This is what
she's been waiting for.
And she envisions a family
with these coven members,
just living her best
life, eating people.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
JOHNSON: Santiago is certainly
the most theatrical
of everybody in the vampire theater.
Everything you're about to see
JOHNSON: He thinks
he's Laurence Olivier.
is real
JOHNSON: But he is mesmerizing,
and he is captivating.
and appalling!
JOHNSON: And the audience loves him.
I love you for it.
And Claudia immediately falls
in love with what he represents
and wants to be a part of it.
[SCREAMING]
SANTIAGO: No, no, no, no, no, no.
Let her speak, sir.
I'd like to point out,
also, just a little aside,
that the woman who plays Annika,
the first victim we see, is actually
our director's assistant.
We found out that she is an
actress, a very good actress,
and primarily an actress.
Sinead, who played the woman,
she was very, very good
at being terrified.
It was very upsetting to see
because it was like all
of her in her entirety.
But for Claudia, I think
Claudia fully was like,
"Where are the stairs to the stage?
Like, get me on there right now."
Up.
JOHNSON: It was just so funny
to be working alongside the set
next to somebody who all
of a sudden is on stage
being devoured by Santiago
and later the rest of the company.
And it's brutal and beautiful
and just so theatrical and so brilliant.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Bravo!
ANDERSON: There's, like, 14
vampires now on the show.
And I was like, "Wow, this is intense.
This is like a new thing."
And they all had relationships already,
and they've been rehearsing
and they've been, like,
shooting these plays.
It was really helpful for me personally
to walk into this whole
world of vampires.
It was, like, unfamiliar
and different as well
to what we established in season one,
but also just, like, a very funny,
very lovely group of people.
I ask you now was it worth the wait?
♪
Malloy is finally getting his footing
when it comes to how to deal
with the fact that there are now
two vampires instead of one.
Are you two going to finish
each other's sentences
for the whole session?
We've been together 77 years, Daniel.
What was fun was realizing
that we'd spent all of season one
with Rashid lingering in the background.
You're lingering, Rashid.
It was fun for me to
see, like, little things
that Assad was doing in
season one as Rashid,
where you can see him under it
What do you think will
happen to Mr. du Lac
when you publish this book?
I love working with Assad.
He's so intense
and it's wonderful to play
against. It's really fun.
She wanted to say yes,
but she didn't trust you.
You hadn't given her a reason to.
ZAMAN: It's not Malloy's
fault that he's here.
He was brought here by Louis.
But now that he is here and he's prying,
Armand has to preserve
their relationship
and their history together.
If you're willing to ask your
questions and then listen.
It becomes a battle of wits.
What happened next?
♪
O'BYRNE: And we have this
phenomenal scene in front of this
we always called it the Murder Mansion.
It's described exactly how we see it.
They arrive, and then Louis and Armand
have this wonderful flirtation.
- Enjoy yourselves.
- Mmm.
That might have been one
of the best days of my life.
It was [LAUGHS] It was
- Honestly, it was just adults playing.
- You coming?
A hit before the play?
HAYLES: What I really liked
about Levan's direction in this
is that when we got in the mansion,
it was like, "You're vampires.
- Go have fun. Be vampires."
- [SHOUTING]
ZAMAN: The chaos in the background
and vintage noir romance
happening in the foreground.
She's something, your Claudia.
Spark in the dark.
The thing that I remember most
about filming the Murder Mansion scene
was that it's like
[IMITATES GLASS SHATTERING] "Ah! Ah!"
Just, like, all this madness
happening behind him.
You must work harder on that.
And every single time something
smashed or popped,
I was like just jumping.
You're not going in?
I am now where I most want to be.
But somehow, Assad
just managed to, like
just very focused and didn't flinch.