Love Bites: For Sam Reid, Playing the Vampire Lestat Comes With Pleasure—and Perhaps a Nip of Pain

On a balmy June evening, a crowd of vampire obsessives descended upon the Upper West Side’s Beacon Theatre in a sea of black and red. More than 50 years after Anne Rice published her debut novel, fans of Rice’s Vampire Chronicles traded compliments on custom designs and Etsy finds befitting the florid gothic romance: ornate chokers and lengthy crimson talons; bedazzled crop tops and pin-covered tote bags bearing messages like “I ❤️ VAMPIRES”; black lace gloves paired with T-shirts depicting “Loustat,” the couple at the center of AMC’s steamy TV adaptation of Interview With the Vampire. The show follows the dark, century-spanning relationship between brooding 1800s New Orleanian Louis de Pointe du Lac (played by Jacob Anderson) and his maker, Lestat de Lioncourt (played by Sam Reid).