Sam Reid isn’t a rock star, but he plays one on TV. But anyone who attended the Vampire Lestat premiere party at New York’s Beacon Theater on June 2 could have sworn that Reed is the real deal.
Reed, who plays the show’s vampire-turned-rocker Lestat de Lioncourt, performed six original songs by series composer Daniel Hart during the 30-minute concert, moving with the swagger and dominating the stage like a rock star. “It was a great show of why he’s the right person for the job,” one attendee told Variety.
AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire” has a new title and a new story for Season 3. Because it’s based on Anne Rice’s second book in the vampire series, “Vampire Lestat.” That’s why the cable company is treating this as if it’s the launch of an entirely new series — and in many ways that is true: “The Vampire Lestat,” as the series has been renamed, has a different tone and focus as the action shifts to the character’s transformation into a rock star.
“This is some of the best promo I’ve ever seen, and it’s honestly necessary,” said the attendee. “The change in tone this season is shocking. Instead of playing it down, they put on a hell of a rock concert and leaned into it.”
The premiere event was the culmination of AMC’s music-centric marketing campaign aimed at moving the show into a new format, and perhaps gaining a few new fans in the process.
“Interview with the Vampire” already had a solid fan base, but for those who haven’t watched it before, AMC Global Media Chief Marketing Officer Kim Granito was realistic. “Typically, by the time the third season of a show comes around, people have probably already decided not to watch it.”
But in the case of “Lestat,” which premieres Sunday on AMC and AMC+, “this is a whole new story told from a completely different angle in terms of story and atmosphere,” she added. “So we felt it was the right thing to restart the series by giving it its own title and timing…Even though people potentially found season 1 or 2, it wasn’t for them, but this is a whole new angle.”
“Interview with the Vampire” also received additional sampling via Netflix, which helped it gain more viewers as it moved into the new Season 3 era, she added.
Part of the strategy was the idea of marketing Lestat as a real-world character and musician. The series produced 20 songs, five of which have been released so far on music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. AMC recently posted songs through Lakeshore Records, including “Long Face,” “All Fall Down,” and a cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself.” All of this is displayed on the “Vampire Lestat” artist’s profile page on various music services.
“The track’s performance on Spotify and all the platforms we distribute our music on has been really interesting to watch,” Granito said. “On Spotify, we’re up to about 3.5 million streams so far, which is pretty impressive because he’s not a real rock star. And it felt like a no-brainer for us to do something in the world and bring this character to life.” So the Beacon was the perfect venue for it. When we announced we were doing it, we posted the ticket link a few days later at midnight and it sold out immediately. The company that manages the ticketing process for us told us that.” The excitement and reaction was at the level of “K-POP Demon Hunters.” ”
AMC also created the cover for Rolling Stone magazine, and “Vampire Lestat” will get some prime space at Sphere in Las Vegas (it probably doesn’t hurt that AMC and Sphere are both part of the Dolan family).
Other partnerships throughout “The Vampire Lestat” season include Pom Wonderful, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. and Spanish designer Palomo. Reed appeared in a Pomme Wonderful spot as Lestat, and Hart played a custom Fender Stratocaster at a recent Beacon Theater concert.
Additionally, AMC has hired famed rock photographer Frank Ockenfels 3 to shoot key art for this season.
hunter ingram
“It wasn’t just about the acting and where it shows up, it was about tone and atmosphere and staying true to what the audience wanted, but also about how rock stars show up in the world,” Granito said. “One of the things we’re really trying to do, especially with the genre of content that we have, is to not just treat marketing as promotion, but really see it as a ramp for participation and experience. What happened on Tuesday night was kind of a perfect execution of that.”
