Interview with the Vampire: AMC has grand plans for the Anne Rice world
After AMC acquired the rights to Anne Rice\u2019s major literary works in 2020, the network tasked producer Mark Johnson (\u201cBreaking Bad\u201d and \u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d) to oversee its ambitious new project of making shows out of the author\u2019s 18 supernatural novels.\xa0First is \u201cAnne Rice\u2019s Interview with the Vampire\u201d on AMC+, telling the love story of two vampires, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) in early 20th century New Orleans. For the more sensual scenes, an intimacy coordinator was hired. \u201cThey make all of us feel just what they're supposed to do, get more comfortable,\u201d Johnson says, \u201cthen it's up to wonderful actors who make it all seem ad lib, spontaneous.\u201d\xa0For Anderson, who played Grey Worm on the HBO series \u201cGame of Thrones,\u201d having an intimacy director to guide his character\u2019s more sizzling sequences has been an important asset. \u201c[Johnson and I] were talking about demystifying the idea of storytelling as being just purely magic and in the moment and all about feeling, but I think when it comes to intimate scenes, you can't do that,\u201d he says, \u201cthere\u2019s things that can really get into your head if you don't prepare properly.\u201d IWTV\u2019s Executive Producer, Johnson, and actor, Anderson, discuss the making of the new AMC series with Kim Masters.\xa0But first, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav laid off about a quarter of the company\u2019s television division staff this week. What does this mean for the company\u2019s future? Matt Belloni discusses with Lucas Shaw.\xa0