Spilling Set Secrets With The Stars Of Interview With The Vampire S2

On April 30, century-spanning gothic gore came to New York City as Bustle hosted an immersive experience in partnership with AMC to usher in Season 2 of Interview With The Vampire. The upcoming season follows the cannibalistic crew to Paris, where Louis and Claudia join the ranks of a new community of vampires, but quickly learn that while death may fade, the truth never stays buried for long.

At a labyrinthian hotel nestled on Manhattan’s west side, the show’s stars traded their usual colored contact lenses and blood-soaked fangs for smart suits and coiffed hair. An exclusive screening of the Season 2 premiere was followed by a speakeasy-style afterparty and pop-up interactive theater moments that would have the Théâtre Des Vampires shaking.

Our favorite family-unit-gone-wrong, Jacob Anderson (Louis du Pointe du Lac), Sam Reid (Lestat de Lioncourt), and Delainey Hayles (Claudia) walked the blood-red carpet, along with players Eric Bogosian (Daniel Molloy), Assad Zaman (Armand), and more. We caught up with the cast before the evening commenced to talk set secrets, the coffee order they can’t film without, and everything fans can expect from act two of this twisted tale.

Here’s what they had to say.

What was your go-to snack craving on set?

Jacob Anderson: Oatmeal cream pies. It was insane the amount of oatmeal cream pies we ate.

Assad Zaman: These traditional chocolate wafer bars that were everywhere while filming in Prague.

What's your early-morning call time coffee order?

JA: Black as the void, dark, sweet coffee

SR: Iced coffee. I drink a lot of coffee. As a general rule, I need to have four coffees before I’m in front of the camera. I read the other day that coffee’s not so bad for you.

JA: You know what’s good for you? Sleep.

Delainey Hayles: I drank so much coffee on set that it didn’t work for me anymore. So diet soda became my thing. It was electric. I get so hyper.

JA: Do not let this woman near any kind of fizzy drink.

How did you pass the time during breaks from filming?

JA: I played music, like, obnoxiously loud all day.

SR: He would come in to set with a speaker above his head.

JA: [laughing] It seems like a joke but it’s not.

Eric Bogosian: We also went to this big cemetery in Prague and hung out there. That was fun.

Did you keep any mementos from set?

JA: I took some programs from the Théâtre Des Vampires.

SR: I took the costume that [Lestat] was killed in.

DH: I grabbed one of Claudia’s dresses. There were different versions, some with blood, some without. I took one without.

AZ: I kept Armand’s calling card from the Théâtre Des Vampires that he gives to Louis when they first meet.

EB: I always steal as much costume as possible.

Do you relate to your characters in any way?

JA: Yeah, sadly — [laughs]. I fear that all of Louis’ worst qualities belong to me. No, but I do relate to the dark humor of the show.

SR: Sometimes I have dreams of the characters I’m playing, but I’ve never had a Lestat dream. I’m so happy he hasn’t infiltrated my sleep...yet.

DH: No.

AZ: During filming either I meshed into Armand or Armand meshed into me. Sometimes I couldn’t tell the difference, which is something I’ve never experienced as an actor.

EB: In my case I am the character [Daniel Molloy], so I don’t have to fake it at all.

Which character from the show would you least like to come across in a dark alley?

EB: There are some nasty characters in this show who aren’t even the leads. The worst would probably be the monster from the woods in the first episode. Or Santiago. He’s kind of a sick f*ck too.

DH: That’s a very good question. I think I’d like to run into Santiago. I’d probably avoid Armand on a bad day.

What was your reaction when reading the script for S2?

AZ: I was struck by how big [the writers] expanded on what felt like a more self-contained love story in Season 1. The scale was just so huge this season.

EB: The scripts are so complex — multi, multi layered. I honestly couldn’t completely understand them until we shot the scenes. I had to go over and over and over and over the script. It was a pretty cool experience.

Interview With The Vampire Season 2 premieres May 12 on AMC and AMC+. Catch up on the first season now on AMC+.