Nearly 50 years ago, Pulitzer Prize finalist Eric Bogosian was gripped with a very particular fascination. 鈥淲hen I first came to New York as a young theatre intern, Frank Langella was doing Dracula on Broadway. I was there with a girlfriend, and we were probably in the last row of the balcony. And I felt like he was breathing down my neck,鈥� Bogosian widens his eyes, suppressing a smile for dramatic effect. 鈥淭hat power, that energy that he could create, thrilled me.鈥�
That titillating thrill embedded itself deep into Bogosian, awakening an inclination toward the vampire鈥檚 allure that has persisted for decades. 鈥淚 love the eroticism of vampire stuff. I love these movies and plays more than anything. I petitioned Francis Ford Coppola to be in his Dracula, but unfortunately, I wasn't a big enough star,鈥� Bogosian shrugs. 鈥淏ut he did invite me to the set, and I got to hang around with him and look at all the storyboards for that movie. That was really exciting.鈥�
As the years went on, Bogosian鈥檚 fascination crystallized into a specific desire for his career: One way or another, he was determined to play a vampire. 鈥淚t's just always on my mind,鈥� Bogosian smiles. 鈥淚 think there's something about the power of a vampire. And hey, the biting the neck stuff is just sexy to me, so that doesn鈥檛 hurt.鈥�
Now 71, Bogosian is finally getting his wish. As Daniel Molloy, the sharp-witted journalist tasked with unraveling the tapestry of vampiric memory in AMC鈥檚 Interview with the Vampire, Bogosian spent two seasons flirting with the line between man and monster before (spoiler alert) finally being transformed into a vampire in the show's Season 2 finale.
Initially eager for immortality in his 20s, the young Malloy鈥檚 (played Luke Brandon Field) lived experiences appeared to have soured him on the idea by the time Bogosian鈥檚 elder Molloy first appears in Season 1. While (spoiler alert) his transformation at the end of Season 2 isn鈥檛 exactly the pinnacle of consent, Bogosian isn鈥檛 surprised Molloy took it in stride.
鈥淲hen he says he doesn't want it in the first season, I don't think he trusts these guys very much. I mean, he could say, 鈥榊eah, give it to me鈥�, and the next thing you know, he's dinner. But really, deep down? He wants it. Those last moments of the last episode, you see how much fun he's having being awful. He's wanted to be this for a while, and he's gotten all this new energy. He鈥檚 fully been corrupted.鈥� Bogosian laughs.
Bogosian may not have immortal energy, but he鈥檚 certainly lived a vigorous life. Descended from Armenian genocide survivors, Bogosian came of age in Woburn, Massachusetts before attending the University of Chicago and Oberlin College. A vividly talented monologist, Bogosian has been one of the defining voices of the Off-Broadway scene throughout the last quarter of the 20th century through his shows Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll; Pounding Nails in the Floor with my Forehead; Wake Up and Smell the Coffee; Drinking in America; Funhouse; Men Inside; SubUrbia; and more.
In the late 1980s, Bogosian鈥檚 play Talk Radio launched him into public acclaim, far beyond the footprint of Off-Broadway. Serving as both the playwright and the star, Bogosian became a Pulitzer finalist for the play, which centered on a shock jock radio host and his increasing dependency on the American far-right movement. Bogosian later adapted the play for the Oliver Stone-directed film adaptation, in which Bogosian reprised his role; the film was one of the top grossing thrillers of 1988.
鈥淟ook, I was an actor when I was a kid. I had a lot of great stuff happen at a certain point in the 1980s, and then it sort of went away,鈥� Bogosian shrugs. After spending nearly 15 years as a writer within the studio system, Bogosian was inspired to return to performance in the most utilitarian of places. 鈥淥ne day, I got in a subway here in New York, and there was one of those subway sayings that said, 鈥業t's never too late to be what you could have been鈥�. And I said, 鈥楽crew it. I love acting so much. I'm gonna get back in the game鈥�.鈥�
As Bogosian has kickstarted his performance career for the 21st century, he has found renewed fulfillment on screen (although he isn鈥檛 walking away from Off-Broadway by any means; his play Drinking in America was restaged at the Minetta Lane Theatre just last season). On the small screen, Bogosian has put in work as a major player in Law and Order, The Get Down, Succession, and Billions, while the big screen saw a vivid performance from Bogosian in the film Uncut Gems.
It is playing Molloy on Interview with the Vampire, however, that has given Bogosian a chance at a new life. 鈥淚 only have 20 or 25 years left. But Daniel is starting from scratch. In a way, he's kind of reborn. He is in uncharted territory, he鈥檚 left his old life and legacy behind, and is given a fresh start. We don鈥檛 always get to do that, but he does.鈥�
That Molloy will now spend eternity in his mature body is a captivating contrast to the fetishization of youth that tends to permeate vampire stories. While Molloy鈥檚 dalliances have been contained to youthful flashbacks so far, Bogosian is looking forward to what may be in store for the newly energized present-day Molloy.
鈥淟ook, I don't know about other people, but my libido has never gone to sleep, and I'm ready to rock,鈥� Bogosian smiles. 鈥�Anne Rice is sexy, and we reflect a lot of that in the show, that carnality. I'm all for it when it's lyrical, which it is in this show. Louis bossing Armand around, Claudia bringing her friend into the fold, it is all super erotic, but it's eloquent. There's a lot of kissing. There's a lot of killing. I don't know how physical I'm expected to get next season, but maybe that'll be the next thing that I've never done before.鈥�
While Molloy is just now venturing into the kissing-and-killing side of the show, Bogosian has already crossed into unknown territory in the visceral vulnerability between himself and Jacob Anderson鈥檚 Louis.
鈥淲e've discovered it as we've been shooting the scenes,鈥� Bogosian explains, referring to the unlikely friendship that has blossomed between Molloy and Louis. 鈥淵ou can't take away Jacob's immense charisma. When I'm sitting there with him and he's telling me the story, Jacob doesn't do voice over. He learns all the scenes, and then we shoot them with him telling these mesmerizing stories to me, and I'm getting hypnotized by Jacob. We can really fly. I mean really, this guy has such magnetism.鈥�
As Molloy leaves the Dubai penthouse and ventures out on an immortal life of his own, Bogosian can鈥檛 help but laugh at the idea of sitting down for a follow up interview with Lestat de Lioncourt, the central instigator with whom Molloy has yet to interact.
鈥淗is first question? Why didn't you tell Louis what was going on in the hole after the aftermath of the courtroom debacle? If Daniel were to sit down with Lestat, he would be kind of in awe of this myth that has been created, up to this point. He'd be sort of taken aback for a minute, just to say, 鈥業 don't even know where to start with you鈥�.鈥� Bogosian throws up his hands, eyes twinkling. 鈥淚 mean really, where do we even start?鈥�
Though Interview has been renewed for a third season, Bogosian isn鈥檛 a fan of prognosticating. 鈥淚t's funny the way all this works for me. I live in the moment that I am being presented via the script. When I do plays, whether I'm in it or I wrote it, we have these Q&A's, which Off-Broadway theatres love, and they'll ask questions like, 鈥榃hat happened to those people after the end of the play?鈥� And it's like, 鈥榃ell, the play is over. They鈥檙e not real.鈥� I sit with what鈥檚 in front of me on the page, and until I get further pages from Rolin [Jones, the showrunner, who鈥檚 also a Pulitzer finalist].鈥�
Bogosian shrugs, smirking to himself before venturing into Molloy鈥檚 offscreen transformation anyway. 鈥淚 mean look, Daniel and Armand [played by Assad Zaman]. Armand has certainly got reason to be pissed off at me. And he's been told to lay off, and then he just can't help himself, and he jumps me somewhere along the line. Now, he could have killed me, but maybe it's even more fun to 鈥榙oom me鈥� to the dark gift. Maybe we just got really drunk together one night and said, 鈥榃hat the fuck, let's do this.鈥� I don鈥檛 have any answers yet either.鈥�
READ: How Assad Zaman Is Bringing The Th茅芒tre des Vampires to Life in Interview With The Vampire
As a new legion of fans have descended upon Bogosian thanks to his performance on the AMC drama, so too have comparisons to the late Anthony Bourdain. While Bogosian and Bourdain鈥檚 upbringings were vastly different, their similar physique and blunt delivery have inspired numerous fans to make connections between the two.
鈥淚'd say both of us owe tribute to Lou Reed, in terms of black leather jackets, curly black hair, and that certain tone of voice that鈥檚 sort of baked in sarcasm,鈥� Bogosian states, cocking his head to the side as if shaking loose a memory. 鈥淧eople mention this Anthony Bourdain stuff to me all the time. And there is something to Daniel being an investigative journalist, and the amount of courage that that requires, and the courage Anthony Bourdain obviously had鈥hat's Daniel's DNA, and I think it was Anthony Bourdain鈥檚 too. When he would jump off a cliff or drink a bottle of alcohol that had a snake in it, he could have died right then and there, but he had to find out. I think that is what people mean, when they say we鈥檙e so similar; they mean the character. I wouldn鈥檛 drink that bottle, but Daniel would if that was what it took to get the story.鈥�
In between seasons of Interview with the Vampire, Bogosian is spending his time working on a new version of his 100 Monologues series鈥攁 slate of monologues Bogosian wrote and performed Off-Broadway between 1980 and 2006. In recent years, Bogosian has been steadily inviting a wide range of artists to record each monologue as a way of preserving the performance of them outside of Bogosians own memory.
鈥淲e now live in a world where we are immortal,鈥� Bogosian explains, referring to the creeping, amber-like preservation of the internet. 鈥淥ne of the nice things about delivering a performance on screen is that it is captured. No one can take that away from you. And that is a kind of immortality, I think.鈥� including Peter Dinklage, Michael Shannon, Natasha Lyonne, Winona Ryder, Sebastian Stan, and more.
Bogosian isn鈥檛 just redeveloping his previous work; there is new material on the horizon. 鈥淚鈥檝e been working on a two-hander with a beautiful actor named Patrick Ssenjovu,鈥� Bogosian shares. 鈥淭hat may show up on the boards sometime in the next year or so. And I鈥檓 spending as much time as I can with my grandson, Leon. He鈥檚 two and a half, and he鈥檚 just joyous. We were at the Museum of Natural History yesterday and he was introducing himself to people鈥� He has no fear. He knows more at two and a half than I knew it at eight or nine, or maybe even 20. We old folks think we know everything, and try to boss people around. But when you鈥檙e young you know things we鈥檝e forgotten. And I鈥檓 doing my best to remain teachable for him.鈥�
Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire is now streaming on AMC+.
