Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 2
Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 2
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00:00So, Mr. Dulac, how long have you been dead?
00:19I said you'd do it for 10%.
00:2210% for all the work?
00:24These men look down on you.
00:25Do you not know your value?
00:26He wouldn't tell me how he did it.
00:29Don't do that here.
00:30Not with my family.
00:31I love my brother more than anyone on earth.
00:34Paul!
00:35Paul!
00:36Paul's in hell because of you.
00:37Help me, please.
00:38I lay down with the devil.
00:39Be my companion.
00:59It's Venetian, a contemporary of Tintoretto's.
01:29Marius de Romanus.
01:32Never heard of him.
01:33Little of his work survives.
01:35Mr. de Poin-Dulac covets the rare.
01:37Do you hear that?
01:43I keep hearing that sound.
01:45The building sways a bit, but that is according to its design, given the height.
01:49We call it the groan.
01:52It won't disturb your meal, which is ready now.
01:55Did you always work for him?
01:56Please, have a seat.
01:57Sign an NDA?
01:58I mean, is it only work, or are you and he...
02:01I serve a god.
02:04It is my honor to serve.
02:07Mr. de Poin-Dulac will join you at course seven.
02:10Seven?
02:12How many courses are there?
02:15Fattening me up for the inevitable end?
02:18Duck foie gras terrine, pickled fruit, roasted apple bonbon.
02:48There he is.
03:07You missed at least three or four endangered species.
03:09I want to apologize for my outburst earlier.
03:13I can assure you it will not happen again.
03:15Memory is a monster.
03:17We forget.
03:18It doesn't.
03:19Uh, this is session two, Louis de Poin-Dulac.
03:26Can we turn down the music?
03:29Ajo Blanco, bread, crushed almonds, garlic, olive oil, salt, a garnish of green grapes,
03:35and AB negative, fresh from the farm.
03:39Bon appetit.
03:42Part of me wants to ask about the farm.
03:43Two vampires walk into a church.
03:45That's where we left off.
03:48Blissing out post-priesticide.
03:52Bliss was merely a stage in my transformation.
03:56Pain followed, a seizing and unrelenting pain through which I would pass before my apprenticeship
04:02began.
04:03What's happening?
04:05Your body is confused.
04:06Your lungs feel like water.
04:07Your heart fire.
04:08You feel as if you're dying, because you are.
04:16And then there's the ritual.
04:18I recognize the hypocrite I am, emphasizing cleanliness after I overindulged, but at proper
04:24disposal is dependence of a sated vampire, and you don't always have a conveniently located
04:30graveyard nearby, so.
04:35We live off the blood of the living, lap up the blood of the deceased, and it'll suck you
04:39right down into death along with your victim.
04:46Uh!
04:49Uh!
04:52Ah!
04:55Ah!
04:58Liu Wei.
05:01There's his mark.
05:21The
05:43start's blood was giggling inside me, teasing my senses, illuminating the district with
05:50overwhelming detail, as if I had walked my entire life as a dead man, and now, dead,
05:57could finally receive the secrets of existence.
06:01You were fucking loaded.
06:03Beyond articulation.
06:10Your ears will pick up the world like a maddening symphony.
06:14Follow my voice, a single string.
06:18Your eyes were wonder, led by your hunger.
06:23Are you hungry, Louis?
06:27They were your brothers and sisters once, but now they're your savory inferiors.
06:31A young tempranillo, fleshy and tart.
06:36A primitivo, hints of iron, rather plain otherwise.
06:42A pair of oak-aged cabernet, thick-skinned and chewy.
06:49Hunting is an art, you have the power to subdue anyone you want, but sometimes restraint is
06:56your most powerful weapon.
07:09Straight to the prettiest girl at the party, I admire this luck, but you'll spend most
07:15of your return separating from his crew, you'll race the son for the kill, and when he turns
07:19up missing in the morning, you'll have half the frigate on the prowl looking for him.
07:24In the beginning, it's best to let the food come to you.
07:32I was a baby bird in the Stott's nest, not yet ready to hunt, but desperate to feed.
07:40So I'm taking my daughter to look at horses, palominoes, you know, those Indian types that
07:46run free out west, and I gotta tell you, I'm doing pretty good for myself, you know, it's
07:52a new century, new job, so I'm actually entertaining the thought of getting her one of these, you
07:58know, special horse.
07:59We go down to the fairground, she says, daddy, why is that horse walking so funny, why is
08:04his back all crumpled up like that, and I tell her, it's not funny, it's work, he's
08:10gotten grooves all up out of a horse, this is what happens.
08:13Nothing but relentless questions at that age.
08:16That's right, I tell her, this is the nature of the horse, someone has to cue the hooves,
08:21someone has to harvest the hair of the tiller.
08:26You gentlemen down here, what do you grow, cotton?
08:29Sugar.
08:32Sugar.
08:33Sugar.
08:34Careful, monsieur, you're beginning to frighten the man.
08:39So I look at my daughter's tear-stained face, and I say to her, Maggie, that's why your
08:47daddy sells tractors.
08:49International Harvester Farmall, go ahead and take that, might come in handy.
08:55So I am talking about gas-powered, open-geared beasts of burden.
09:01Ooh, la la, fancy right here.
09:08Just to be clear here, gents, we are here to talk about farm equipment, am I right?
09:14Mm-hmm.
09:15And a streamlined tractor, you know, not only gonna increase your harvest, it's gonna keep
09:20your child from tears, oh, thank you.
09:25You are on your sleeve.
09:27Whenever you're ready, Louis.
09:32I knew it!
09:33I knew you!
09:39I'm sorry!
09:42The neck, bite the neck, Louis.
09:46No, you don't bite the blood, you suck it.
09:51Yes, yes, that's better.
09:54Oh, good.
10:01Or our next cup of them thinking Persian.
10:04Arabesque, maybe.
10:06We certainly need a more efficient way of ridding the waste.
10:11The first time is the most unwieldy.
10:15Seigneur Biennatural, you come to enjoy its variations, its little surprises.
10:20I gotta go home.
10:22This is your home now.
10:24Louis, breathe.
10:26I gotta play money from the cribs.
10:28I have all the money we need, breathe.
10:30I have to go see Grace and Paul.
10:33Oh, dear.
10:34You ain't fucking hear me!
10:40I need to go home.
10:46You're going to find that very difficult.
10:54Ah!
11:03What the hell?
11:05Hey, now!
11:07You're coming out hot, pay!
11:09Oh, jeez!
11:11Ah!
11:23Open the fucking door!
11:31The sun gives life to everything but us.
11:34I should have told you that.
11:36The life of a vampire has its challenges.
11:41And its rewards.
11:46But I think New Orleans, with its music, culture, cuisine, shipping yards, conventioneers.
11:55Thrill-seeking tourists, far from their homes.
11:59The laissez-faire attitude of the local police force.
12:02Oh, yes.
12:05The perfect setting for a vampire home.
12:09A vampire romance.
12:11Yeah.
12:20I ain't sleeping in there.
12:24We'll get to your home soon enough.
12:28You've had a long life, Dewey.
12:31And such an extraordinary one.
12:36Have a rest.
12:41It's okay.
12:43You can be on top.
12:50Hell of a bender.
12:52He rushed me headlong through the encounter as if it was something to put behind us.
12:57Death, rebirth, coming out, homicide.
13:01Too many firsts for one night.
13:03Coming out?
13:05You robbed a daughter of her father.
13:07Maybe a pet pony.
13:09How's sexuality play in that?
13:11It's a complicated question, Daniel.
13:14And we shouldn't conflate it with the salesman's death.
13:17Humor me.
13:19To satisfy your fixation.
13:21Being transformed by Lestat.
13:24Being desired by him.
13:26Bedding down with him.
13:28Was an overture of sorts.
13:30To that side of my nature.
13:32The shame of queer theorists everywhere.
13:35I got in that coffin on my own free will.
13:38In the quiet dark.
13:41We were equals.
13:45White master, black student.
13:48But equal in the quiet dark.
13:51Provocation.
13:53Is this the primary tool one walks away with after downloading your internet class?
14:05Rabbit three ways.
14:07And ball-piece rappelling.
14:09Or, rappel sandbox.
14:19Back to the salesman for a sec.
14:22Clearly you were haunted by it.
14:24The taste of his blood in the back of your throat.
14:27Up in your gums.
14:29Let me ask you, Daniel.
14:31Do you contemplate the life of the rabbit?
14:34Before you cut it?
14:36Or do you simply cut?
14:50Vampires are killers.
14:52Apex predators whose all-seeing eyes were meant to give them detachment.
14:58The ability to see a human life in its entirety.
15:02Not with any markish sorrow.
15:05But with the thrilling satisfaction of being the end of that life.
15:13Having a hand in the divine plan.
15:17Don't expect every reader to swallow that one.
15:20That's the purpose.
15:22Our book must be a warning as much as anything.
15:26It was the right line of questioning.
15:29I was haunted by the salesman.
15:32And as a fledgling vampire,
15:35I did not readily take to killing.
15:38When I first started learning English, I aborted.
15:42Every word felt like a doorknob falling out of my mouth.
15:45Chapeau was a hat, the toilet was a star.
15:48Killing folks ain't a second language.
15:50But when I started dreaming in English,
15:53that's when I knew I was going to die.
15:56I embraced it.
15:58And now, I have English consonants to thank for this astonishing joy.
16:03These are nightmares I'm having, Lestat. Not dreams.
16:06Finn! How's your arm?
16:09Is it healing properly?
16:11You might need a proper doctor, my friend.
16:13My arm's fine.
16:15You let me know if you need a doc.
16:17There is something, Mr. Dulac.
16:19The new gaming house you're fixing on for the Alderman.
16:22I want to manage it.
16:25I'm good with people.
16:27I'm good with numbers.
16:29Hmm.
16:31I take it up with family.
16:34Much obliged.
16:38He's lying, you know.
16:40Been figuring the bean counter.
16:42No, he wants the job so he can steal from you.
16:45Overcharged for drinks and women.
16:47Not enough for you to notice, but enough to make him good extra.
16:51He calls it.
16:53And you know that because you got in his head just now.
16:55Vampires can read minds more shallow.
16:58Right.
17:00And you gonna sit on that skill for how long?
17:02A minute.
17:04You gonna make me big?
17:08One might think the ability to read a mind a most useful gift,
17:11but in reality it's quite mundane.
17:13I forget I can do it most days.
17:15Is that right?
17:17Every human thought boils down to three things.
17:19I want food, I want sex, I want to go home.
17:22You see that man right there?
17:24I want you to peel away every sound until you find his heartbeat.
17:28Now hold the heartbeat.
17:30You hear his lungs leaking and flooding air?
17:33His mind is just another bodily sound.
17:36Day and a half since my last meal.
17:39Church says pray about it.
17:42Lord can't make me no food.
17:45I want food. Shall we?
17:48It's not cheating with a woman.
17:50Because I can't get pregnant.
17:52I want sex.
17:55I'm gonna ditch this town and be somebody.
17:58Give it a moment.
18:00Well, I'll just go home.
18:02Wait, I saw a little flash just now of his house.
18:06Yes. You'll see as your powers grow, you can see their thoughts.
18:10Like a one-reeler almost.
18:12Though, I mean, nothing this picture shows.
18:15It's a very distracting gift, the petty musings of meat.
18:18Peel back on me then.
18:20What am I thinking right now?
18:22Hmm.
18:26You'll have to tell me yourself.
18:29A sacrifice is made when the dark gift is shed.
18:32You can't read my mind anymore?
18:35The architects of our creation mean to humble us.
18:39We're at the mercy of the other's discretion.
18:41Just like the meat.
18:43Hmm.
18:45You're not one of them anymore, fledgling.
18:48You chase after phantoms of your former self.
18:51I'll break you of it.
18:57My unwillingness to separate from humanity
19:00was a constant struggle in my vampiric existence.
19:04I felt it was essential to maintain ties.
19:08But it was getting more difficult.
19:11The curtain goes up at eight.
19:13We'll only be here an hour.
19:15I'll see us late when we miss Nora's entrance to the Christmas tree.
19:18You ain't gonna miss anything.
19:20Look what the wind blew in.
19:23Mama.
19:29You remember Lestat?
19:31Madame de Pont-au-Lac, all the kindness for the invitation.
19:34I don't remember inviting him,
19:36but please, take your overdressed self and have a fun time.
19:41I see you have a banjo band in your front yard.
19:45Mm-hmm.
19:47Madame Louis.
19:48Is that necessary?
19:51Move half a mile away.
19:53Don't come see your family for half a season.
19:56Don't come back fragile, son.
19:59Haven't heard a knock on my door.
20:01It's a half mile both ways, Mama.
20:04Hmm.
20:07Look at his nails.
20:09He's getting his fingernails done.
20:11And the glasses.
20:13Some fashion, certain men like him do, Lord.
20:18Eye doc says I gotta wear them from now forward.
20:21Sensitive eyes.
20:26You seen Grace about?
20:33You seen my alligator man?
20:35You seen my lost-it-by-the-punch bowl?
20:38Oh, it's been too long.
20:41Oh, no.
20:45Wait.
20:47Wait.
20:52Oh, my.
20:54You making me an uncle out here?
20:56Who told you?
20:58No one told me.
21:00I can tell by the look on your face.
21:02And?
21:03And what?
21:05Only twins.
21:07You a fool, Dr. Love?
21:09Oh, I miss you, Louis.
21:12Yeah.
21:14You hearing me?
21:17Look at me, Louis.
21:19Take them glasses off and look at your baby sister.
21:22Don't. Give me those back.
21:24Your eyes.
21:27Like a church window.
21:29Say my eyes, say me.
21:32Different you.
21:35Better you, I'd say.
21:38You hide from me this long again,
21:40I'll hunt you down and slap you sideways.
21:42I got you something.
21:44Oh, no, Louis.
21:46What is this?
21:47I don't need your money.
21:48It ain't for you.
21:49It's for the babies.
21:50Stop it with the babies.
21:51One's going to be plenty.
21:53There's two of them.
21:55Well,
21:57this will come in handy then.
21:59If he ain't the businessman you are.
22:02So,
22:04how's it in the district?
22:06Must be good at this here's extra.
22:08Yeah.
22:10Now, I know it's hard to see it now,
22:12but Mr. Finwick going to have himself
22:14the most profitable sporting house
22:16this side of Basin Street.
22:18The alderman certainly thinks so,
22:20but then you have to ask yourself
22:22why he sent me.
22:24New business?
22:25New partner?
22:27No, sir, Mr. Carlo,
22:29I do the same thing myself.
22:31You got your own personal attorney.
22:33Do you, boy?
22:35No, sir.
22:37But then I'm not in a position
22:39But then I'm not an alderman, am I?
22:41No.
22:43You're his partner.
22:45Huh.
22:47These balconies have to be decorative only.
22:49Building consulados for residents,
22:51not for business.
22:53Well, that's only if you call it a balcony.
22:55What are you calling it?
22:57Fire escape.
23:01That's clever, my boy.
23:03That's very clever.
23:05Right.
23:07A dozen rooms,
23:08proper acoustics for the musician,
23:10good for those waiting,
23:12best to drown out the business behind the walls.
23:14Yes.
23:16Well, you really do have a mind
23:18inside that head of yours, don't you?
23:20I know some of the finishes seem penny heavy,
23:22but it's the alderman's name going out there,
23:24so every detail has to shout exclusivity.
23:27Yeah, broad and industrious, huh?
23:30I trust you oversee
23:32in all stages of construction as well?
23:34Yes, sir.
23:36Fire escape.
23:38Now, I must say,
23:40I had my doubts,
23:42but you really have earned your 15%.
23:44You truly are an exceptional Negro.
23:47Thank you, sir.
23:50Oh, fire escape.
23:52Exceptional Negro.
23:54Thank you, sir.
23:56It was the call and response
23:58of my entire life.
24:00I had let them talk to me like that
24:02so long,
24:04I stopped hearing it.
24:06Yes, sir.
24:08Of course, sir.
24:10Subject-verb agreement, sir.
24:12Smile, nod.
24:14Yes, sir.
24:16They all came from the same organ inside me.
24:18An organ unknown to science at the time
24:20because what scientist
24:22would look for an organ
24:24found only in black men
24:26who used their weakness to rise?
24:28But I wasn't a man anymore.
24:30I was something else.
24:32I have powers now
24:34and decades of rage to process,
24:36and it was both random
24:38and unfortunate
24:40the man picked that night
24:42to dabble in fuckery.
24:44If not him,
24:46what would have been the next man?
24:48Louie, my boy!
24:50This was your man's escort
24:52I sent him instead.
24:54I was hungry.
24:56Stone-throat from your place of business.
24:58What were you thinking?
25:00Disrespecting me.
25:01How did he do that?
25:03He told me I did a good job.
25:05You are a library of confusion.
25:07White, Creole, French.
25:09Queer, half-queer, mostly queer.
25:11What is it?
25:13Non-discriminating.
25:15Complicated situation we got here
25:17is what I'm saying.
25:19A couple of parish priests go missing.
25:21People say fine, most likely kid fiddlers.
25:23But this?
25:25This was an important man in town.
25:27The police will be looking for this man, Fletchling.
25:29That's why we got this beast here.
25:31No, you need to show restraint, Fletchling!
25:33You need to stop using that word right now
25:35because it sounds a little like slave.
25:37It's what it feels like sometimes.
25:39And the carousel comes around again.
25:41Fuck you!
25:52I don't like sleeping angry.
26:00For the record,
26:02if disrespect was done to you,
26:04I would have killed him myself.
26:07Well, what can I do to make it up to you?
26:10I want to buy the Fair Play Saloon.
26:13That's ambitious.
26:15You don't want any help,
26:17I'll do it myself.
26:19Ridiculous of you
26:21to mix human and vampire business.
26:23It always ends poorly.
26:28But how can I stop you?
26:30I can't stop you.
26:32I can't stop you.
26:34I can't stop you.
26:36But how can I stop you?
26:41How can I say no to you?
26:46Sign here,
26:48here,
26:49and here.
26:51I do not see the clause in this paperwork
26:53wherein I continue to eat, drink,
26:55and fornicate on the house.
26:57Louie?
26:59You have my word?
27:01My word is thicker than paper.
27:03Tom,
27:04that was a grand and loving gesture
27:06on Lestat's part.
27:08That's a mighty tall ladder you're climbing,
27:10Mr. Dulac.
27:12And I was now the owner
27:14of the brightest club in the district.
27:16My club,
27:18my rules.
27:20I opened the doors
27:22to anyone with money to burn.
27:24I paid the staff better,
27:26paid the band better,
27:28all the while helping those
27:30who have been with me down the block
27:32to better themselves.
27:34And it was a pointless point of pride
27:36that I paid back every cent
27:38I borrowed from Lestat.
27:40It was everything I had ever wanted
27:42or wished for,
27:44and it doubled nicely
27:46as a revolving door of prey.
27:48You fellas know where I can find
27:50a fair play saloon?
27:52We're about five years late.
27:54So how long are you in town for?
27:56From 1912 to 1917,
27:58I made a mountain of money,
28:00enough to retire
28:02and be buried like a pharaoh.
28:04But,
28:06in the essential duties
28:08of the executor in charge,
28:10I had been most delinquent.
28:14I named him Benjamin.
28:17Benny,
28:20did you even meet the twins?
28:22No, ma'am.
28:24Ma'am?
28:26I look that old to you?
28:28No.
28:29I mean, I haven't had the pleasure
28:31of meeting more of the family.
28:33They're so busy with work and,
28:35you know.
28:36Him?
28:38You know my situation.
28:40How are things with you and
28:42is Lestat still around?
28:44Yes, it's Lestat.
28:54Got some gumbo on the stove still.
28:57Tastes great this evening.
29:00Let me fix you something.
29:01I'm good.
29:03Oh, your nephew?
29:10He's the quiet one, this one?
29:13The other two?
29:15The twins?
29:17Lord help us.
29:31All right.
29:33Here it is.
29:35Still warm.
29:37Well.
29:40Look, please.
29:42You look good.
29:44You should stay the night.
29:46I'm going to bed.
29:48I'm going to bed.
29:50I'm going to bed.
29:52I'm going to bed.
29:54I'm going to bed.
29:56I'm going to bed.
29:58I'm going to bed.
30:00You should stay the night.
30:02I'm sure mama would love to see you.
30:12Let's see if it goes back down.
30:14Let's see.
30:16Honey, the twins again.
30:18Okay.
30:20Let me just see what the heck is going on.
30:30Mom!
30:44I no longer kill.
30:46My last victim was in the year 2000.
30:49Some Y2K disagreement?
30:51I want our readers to understand that.
30:53Okay.
30:55Did you eat the baby?
30:57I sit here, a master of my instincts.
31:00And what about the others out there?
31:03Have they mastered theirs?
31:05Just the opposite.
31:07Most of them are slaves to the blood.
31:09Exhausted from decades, centuries of hiding.
31:13Giddy to increase their numbers.
31:17Two questions.
31:19Did you eat the baby?
31:21And is the pandemic the opening they've been waiting for?
31:25Pandemic?
31:27The unraveling of geopolitical foundations?
31:28And you know this how?
31:30You guys have a thread on 8chan?
31:32I hear them.
31:34Our thoughts can travel thousands of miles to one another.
31:36I can stand out on my balcony,
31:38close my eyes,
31:40and they're plotting speech to me.
31:42One of them, a brute in Madagascar,
31:45called it the Great Conversion.
31:47The Great Conversion?
31:49Well, good luck with that.
31:51Because most people I know
31:53like to play a little ball in the afternoon
31:55or maybe going down to the beach, catching a few rays.
31:57Yes.
31:59What on earth would
32:01a meth-addicted son of a coal miner
32:03in West Virginia want with eternal life?
32:05Did you eat the baby?
32:07Or the Arab youth whose family were watching existence
32:09Did you eat the baby?
32:11by a Western drone?
32:13No, I'm sure you're right.
32:15Hello, Damik.
32:17Hey.
32:19He's American, Damik.
32:22You like Dubai?
32:24I haven't had the time to sightsee.
32:27Go to Kite Beach.
32:29It's good.
32:31Kites.
32:33Mmm.
32:35Mmm.
32:37Mmm.
32:39Mmm.
32:41Mmm.
32:43Mmm.
32:45Mmm.
32:47Mmm.
32:49Thank you, Damik.
32:51See you soon.
32:53As I was saying,
32:55I no longer kill.
32:57You might have a drinking problem.
32:59Rashid.
33:05The baby.
33:19Baby!
33:21Baby!
33:23Baby!
33:25Baby!
33:27Baby!
33:29Baby!
33:31Baby!
33:33Baby!
33:35Baby!
33:37Baby!
33:39I had him in my arms.
33:41I was ready to tear into it.
33:43I'm never going to get control over it.
33:45You've been skipping meals lately.
33:46Don't think I haven't noticed.
33:48It's my nephew.
33:51You have to stop seeing them, Lewis.
33:54They'll grow fearful of you if they haven't already.
33:57I can't do it.
33:59It's a rite of passage for all of us.
34:01If you love your family, as I know you do,
34:03spare them all the pain that you are causing them.
34:05I ain't never going to have a family of my own, am I?
34:07No sons, no daughters.
34:10I'm your family, Lewis.
34:12I'm your family.
34:14I'm your family, Lewis.
34:16You should stone me in the incinerator
34:18and make another one.
34:20What a waste that would be.
34:22I've two centuries walked this earth
34:24and can report
34:26you have no twin.
34:28No one as angry,
34:30as stubborn,
34:32as unaccommodating,
34:34as maddening,
34:36as loving,
34:38as dedicated,
34:40as thoughtful,
34:42as imperfectly perfect as you've become.
34:44I'd avenge every sunset, St. Louis,
34:46and I'd have it no other way.
34:48Here's an idea.
34:50Let's take a holiday.
34:52What about Rome?
34:54Rome? Rome, Italy?
34:56Would you prefer Rome, Wisconsin?
34:58I can't just pick up and go to Rome.
35:00I got a business to run.
35:02Leave the Azalea to the capable hands of Miss Bricktop
35:04and follow the Appian Way.
35:06How you going to get coffers across the Atlantic?
35:08That can be an inconvenience,
35:10but not impossible, obviously.
35:12Well, how'd you get them from ship to train to cab?
35:14Can't be jarring, I'll give you that.
35:16Well, maybe there's a deaf, blind porter
35:18we can hire and kill when we get to the hotel.
35:20Well, I've been thinking the England era.
35:22Imagine hunting between the
35:24Cafe Greco and the Spanish steppes.
35:26But you've made your point.
35:28Pity.
35:30We'll just have to settle for Rome coming to us.
35:32Another opera?
35:34Not another opera.
35:36Donizetti's comic masterpiece, Don Pasquale.
35:38I was an acquaintance of his,
35:40and I saw the premiere of The Salvator
35:4273 years ago,
35:44and I saw the American debut,
35:46her fifth opera in a 22-city tour,
35:48so the orchestra should be in excellent form.
35:50I have a private box,
35:52and I had tuxedos made.
35:57I've been neglectful of our romance.
36:02The steadfast pupil deserves a divine reward.
36:07He had a way about him,
36:09those first years, Lestat.
36:11Preternaturally charming,
36:12occasionally thoughtful.
36:14He was my murderer,
36:16my mentor, my lover, and my maker.
36:18All of those things at once.
36:20He didn't choose me to be his doormat.
36:23I knew he enjoyed it when I fought back,
36:25but there was, present,
36:28a kind of worship on my part.
36:32The earth beneath me always felt liquid.
36:39The status I enjoyed in Storyville
36:41did not extend itself to the operators
36:43and patrons of the French Opera House
36:45on Bourbon and Toulouse.
36:48We did what we always did
36:50to avoid conflicts there.
36:52I performed as his valet,
36:54walked the pace behind him,
36:57took his overcoat once we found our seats,
37:01mainstanding in the back of the box
37:03until the lights went down
37:05and only joined next to him
37:07once the overture had begun.
37:09And again,
37:11he had a way about him
37:14so that as I sat there
37:16trying to practice restraint,
37:18simmering in my indignation,
37:22Lestat seized at his opportunity
37:24to disarm me.
37:27There is one thing
37:29about being a vampire
37:31that I must fear above all else
37:35and that is loneliness.
37:36You can't imagine the emptiness,
37:39the void,
37:41stretching out for decades at a time.
37:46You take this feeling away from me, Louis.
37:49We must stay together
37:51and take precaution
37:54and live apart.
37:59How many of us are out there
38:02because we are not alone?
38:06We can't be the only ones.
38:08How many vampires?
38:11Not many, I'm afraid.
38:14Maybe a hundred.
38:17A hundred and one.
38:31The touring production of Don Pasquale
38:33was a cheap affair.
38:35But the soprano
38:37was everything Lestat said she would be.
38:50And music.
38:53That was where Lestat
38:55separated man from food.
38:58Music pierced his damned soul
39:02and any humans
39:04who were involved
39:06in the creation of it
39:08existed on an elevated plane in his eyes.
39:10I was moved to see
39:12he too had his human attachments.
39:15And this woman sang for us,
39:17it seemed,
39:20articulating the difficult love
39:22we often had trouble
39:24expressing ourselves.
39:26There was one issue,
39:28however, that threatened to pop
39:30the bubble of our Italian holiday
39:31and that was the tenor
39:33playing Ernesto.
39:40To be kind,
39:42he did not live
39:44in the soprano's vocal stratosphere.
39:52Ah.
39:55And Lestat was
39:57unamused.
40:01I don't understand
40:03how someone like that
40:05can make it onto a stage.
40:07I understand they're a road company
40:09but are they pulling talent
40:11from roadside gas stations?
40:31It didn't help matters
40:33that the majority
40:35of the audience
40:37didn't seem to notice.
40:39And so Lestat
40:41oscillated his disdain
40:43between the tenor
40:45and the witless swamp dwellers
40:47in the seats below.
40:49The curtain fell
40:51like a guillotine
40:53and Lestat leapt
40:55to his feet
40:57in mock appreciation
40:59which could mean only one thing.
41:02The hunt was on.
41:06I stood in the lobby bar
41:08nursing my complicity
41:10as rounds were bought
41:12and fake praise
41:14was lavished upon the mark
41:16and I was surprised
41:18by a wave of nausea
41:20coming over me.
41:22Here I was,
41:24six years his pupil
41:26and it was no different
41:27than the tractor salesman.
41:29This poor soul
41:31was someone's son,
41:33someone's brother
41:35and he was to be butchered for what?
41:37An offending note?
41:46Wrong.
41:51He sat the tenor down
41:53opened up the score in front of him
41:55and sang as it was written
41:57and you could see
41:59all the doubts the young man had
42:01about his art,
42:03about himself,
42:05exposed on his nodding
42:07agreeable face.
42:09Lestat removed a lifetime
42:11of confidence,
42:13of joy
42:15in less than half an hour.
42:19Here?
42:21It's here.
42:23And where did your voice end?
42:25I'm talking about our poor
42:27Domenico Caetano Maria.
42:30And how can I know all this?
42:34I was in his room
42:36when he wrote it.
42:41So no more of your sound
42:43can pollute this world.
42:45Why do you do this, Lestat?
42:47Well, I like to do it.
42:49I enjoy it.
42:50Well, I don't.
42:52You don't have to humiliate him.
42:54Then you have to enjoy it!
42:56Kill him swiftly if you have to!
42:58But do it!
43:00Embrace what you are!
43:02You are a killer, Louis!
43:07Come now, love.
43:09Let's get you to the couch to die.
43:11I was in denial
43:13for in bringing death
43:15Lestat was an artist.
43:17He had cut the man tenderly
43:19so that he could not call for help.
43:21But also so that his death
43:23was slow,
43:25meditative,
43:27and I felt a charge
43:29witnessing it.
43:31I listened to his thoughts
43:33as Lestat drank.
43:35And this time they came with vision.
43:37I could see
43:39his life as he remembered it.
43:42Scenes from an Italian childhood
43:44that Easter pageant
43:46in a mountain village.
43:48An afternoon
43:50with his father on the sea
43:52watching the fishing boat
43:54slowly encircle
43:56a school of tuna.
43:59Something about a
44:01wet piece of bread in his pocket.
44:03If you listen to me,
44:05if you finally submit
44:07to your nature,
44:09you will be filled, Louis,
44:11with all the life you can hold.
44:13You will see death
44:15in all its beauty.
44:17Life as it is only
44:19known at the very point of death.
44:22You alone of all creatures
44:24can see death
44:26with that impunity.
44:28You alone
44:30under the rising moon
44:32can strike
44:34like the hand of God.
44:36And I'll say it
44:38for a third time
44:40and no more.
44:42He had a way
44:44about him.
44:46And I was still
44:47very much under his power.
44:50We would drain the tenor
44:52for hours that night.
44:54Lestat
44:56completely enthralled.
44:58Myself
45:00pretending to be
45:05afraid to disappoint.
45:12Lestat was wrong.
45:14I was never going to be
45:16a natural.
45:18I was never going to
45:20savor the aftertaste.
45:22I was a shame-ridden second,
45:24a fumbling,
45:26despondent killer,
45:28a botched vampire.
45:35I try to have a human dish
45:37once a week
45:39to maintain the thread.
45:41There was an offhanded
45:43remark in your memoir
45:45but I hope you don't mind.
45:59What does this taste like to you?
46:02Like almost all human food?
46:05Like
46:06paste?
46:08Chalk?
46:10Like
46:11soap?
46:13This is the dessert
46:15I had after I
46:16proposed to my first wife
46:18after I got my shit together.
46:20We were in Paris.
46:22Little café on the Rue Sevendoni
46:24up the way from Saint-Supice.
46:26I know it.
46:27It's a beautiful street.
46:31Alice
46:33half of her eyebrow was blonde
46:35like a mutt.
46:37She always dyed it back to brown.
46:38I liked it when she left it alone.
47:38I was a shame-ridden second,
47:40a fumbling,
47:42despondent killer,
47:44a botched vampire.
47:46I was a shame-ridden second,
47:48a fumbling,
47:50despondent killer,
47:52a fumbling,
47:54despondent killer,
47:56a fumbling,
47:58despondent killer,
48:00a fumbling,
48:02despondent killer,
48:04a fumbling,
48:06despondent killer,
48:08a fumbling,
48:10despondent killer,
48:12a fumbling,
48:14despondent,
48:16despondent killer.
48:26Do you ever think that we
48:28that's to say our kind
48:30were put on earth
48:31for a larger purpose?
48:32How was your night?
48:38Fine.
48:39So you're a big shot businessman now.
48:41I like a little variety.
48:44The devil walks at night.
48:48It's my very nature, that of the devil.
49:02Two vampires walk into a church, that's where we left off.
49:05Blissing out post-priesticide.
49:08Episode 2, After the Phantoms of Your Former Self.
49:11It is Louis de Pontillac as fledgling vampire,
49:14and Lestat as his master teacher.
49:17Are you hungry, Louis?
49:20Louis trying to figure out what this new world is,
49:23what the burdens are, and how to use these powers.
49:26His mind is just another bodily sound.
49:28Day and a half since my last meal.
49:30Part of the tension here becomes about,
49:32I am a different species than these people.
49:34So if you're a vampire, and you're a black man,
49:37and people don't know that you're a vampire,
49:39you are going to run up against a couple of things.
49:41Abrupt and industrious, huh?
49:45And you don't have to pull up with that bullshit anymore.
49:48It was both random and unfortunate,
49:50the man picked that night to dabble in fuckery.
49:54But you can't be dropping bodies left and right.
49:57What were you thinking?
49:58Disrespecting me.
49:59How did he do that?
50:00He told me I did a good job.
50:02You are a library of confusion.
50:04We get to have a little fun with race and sexuality,
50:06and then the burdens of an interracial,
50:08interspecies relationship.
50:10You need to show restraint, fledgling!
50:12You need to stop using that word right now,
50:14because it sounded a little like slave.
50:16But that's what it fucking sound like.
50:17And also, the professor-student relationship is messy.
50:21But something about taking a human life
50:23is not sitting well with Louis.
50:27The complications of trying to have a foot in both worlds
50:31sort of reminds him of what a monster he thinks he's become.
50:38The killing of the tenor is, I think,
50:40the final sort of straw that, like,
50:42this is never going to be comfortable for me.
50:48I'm never going to be a vampire like Lestat.
50:51If you finally submit to your nature,
50:54you will see death in all its beauty.
50:56While he is at his most articulate about what this is about,
50:59Louis fully admits it, of not buying it.
51:02But he was still so under the throes of Lestat,
51:05so he fakes it.
51:08Afraid to disappoint.
51:10The idea of being a botched vampire
51:13that slowly begins to kind of open up something inside Molloy.
51:17I was never going to savor the aftertaste.
51:20I was a shame-ridden second,
51:23a fumbling, despondent killer.
51:26Like any good journalist, he's sniffing around for what the armor is,
51:29but there are things in this story where you sit back and say,
51:32hmm, vampires, they're just like us.
51:35This is the dessert I had after I proposed to my first wife.
51:40He starts opening up a little bit, catches himself,
51:42and turns off the interview,
51:44and I think begins to start that road down,
51:47how am I going to empathize against this predator
51:50that feasts on people like me?
51:53AVAILABLE NOW