What are you doing with someone like me?

Sophie. She/her. 30s. IWTV, Good Girls, Succession. AO3 flashindie / fandom sideblog of @owlishgirl

[pynkhues]

Kind of unrelated to this blog, but I have this silly little project @theoscarsproject where I try to watch every film that's ever been nominated for an Oscar (chronologically!) and I've been doing it for like, 15 years, and am currently working my way through 1993 (the 66th Academy Awards), and I think it may have the biggest number of queer films nominated ever??

Philadelphia (Best Actor [won], Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song [Won], Best Makeup)

Six Degrees of Separation (Best Supporting Actress)

Belle Epoque (Best Foreign Language Film [won])

Farewell My Concubine (Best Foreign Language Film)

The Wedding Banquet (Best Foreign Language Film)

The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter (Best Documentary)

Orlando (Best Art Direction)

Only to be followed in 1994 by Heavenly Creatures, Strawberry and Chocolate, Interview with the Vampire, and The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and maybe more, those are just the ones I've already seen, haha (I haven't started that year yet!)

[trycijacks]

husband come home the kids miss you

[pynkhues]

Sam can wallpaper his house in both critical and peer praise for his work on this season (and the show broadly), and people on Twitter can't actually do anything about that, no matter how much they might like to think they can.

I think that's what bothers them. I haven't seen nearly as much negativity toward Sam compared to a couple years ago - I don't know if this makes sense but I think the fandom has gotten too big for the people who led that to be as acceptable and dominant as they were back then (even from people who hate the season, it's usually "Sam is amazing but"). But there's definitely been an increase in the vitriol from some quarters through this season. And the WORST vitriol I ever saw directed at him may have been when he was nominated for the critics choice award. Because it does seem like any reminder that Sam is considered an amazing actor, that critics love and praise his performance, that people he works with love and praise him as an actor, does seem to eat at some people. And there's been a LOT of praise this season.

Like Indiewire said, "It’s rare to find television bold enough to commit as fully as “The Vampire Lestat” does, and rarer still to see a performer as magnetic and multifaceted as Reid to carry it through." I see these complaints about the way critics praise Sam, or attempts to claim he's not really all that (though those are rarer than they used to be), and just, sorry he's an incredible actor? Why does that bother some people so much, that he's great and that his talent is often acknowledged?

(x)

Yeah, I think you're probably right. That's interesting though that you think the fandom growth has led to a shift in how these conversations happen / how they're accepted. I guess that is one of the benefits to the ground growing - it's not just more voices but maybe more space around certain types of voices or sources of vitriol that gives everything a bit more breathing room.

As for why it bothers people, I'm not sure. I think a part of it is likely a parasocial attachment to both him and other cast members, but I think parts of it are steeped too in personal insecurity, and these little camps of fandom community that are built on the basis of certain personalities that foster their own little like - - microcultures almost. I think you can see that a lot with how factionalised this fandom is and how cults of personality are built up around particular bloggers/accounts, and all it takes is for one of them to say well, they think Sam's overrated or taking the spotlight from actors they feel are more deserving of acknowledgement for things to escalate really quickly among their followers. It becomes people egging each other on and opinion compounding, because people connect as much in negativity as they do in positivity (gosh, often more! Give someone a common enemy and they'll give you their sword!)

Funnily enough, I actually don't think it's entirely dissimilar to what happens among the fandom internally. Sam's just harder to access than other fans are, which is why they lash out in ways they think will land like review bombing or trying to get tickets to One Night Only to 'jokingly' hate on the music or call in fake threats of harm to him at SDCC to restrict other fans' access. It's all tools of diminishment under the guise of having an opinion, and it feels like it all sprouts from the same soil to me, even if some of it takes root more poisonously than others.

[thesoldiersminute]

Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat Season 3 | Episode 6 "Montreal"

[platoapproved]

I think he carried me home that night. And the next morning I was standing in the crooked stone street in front of his father’s shop, tossing pebbles up at his window. When he stuck his head out, I said: “Do you want to come down and go on with our conversation?”

[pynkhues]

I have a question about how industry works: can actors theorize freely in interviews if certain things will he shown in later seasons or they're bound by some contract about it? For example Sam mentions likely 18th century scenes. Can he say it without repercussions even if they don't come true, or him speaking about it at all basically confirms we're getting more flashbacks?

There's no one rule really about that sort of thing, it really does depend on the working environment of the production itself, and the individual network expectations. The cast and crew on this show have all been very clear that it's a really collaborative creative environment though, and AMC actually pretty rarely censors the cast during press - like Sam was alluding to the show's approach to Gabi's abuse like, what? A year before the season dropped? - so I imagine that sort of public speculation isn't considered an issue for AMC in the same way it generally is for say, HBO.

[pynkhues]

sorry sophie, you're probably getting a lot of anxious sdcc posts. It feels like people are both quite confident that we're getting a renewal at sdcc and worried about what it would mean if we don't, you know? So it's creating an atmosphere of both excitement and anxiety.

Am I right in thinking that it wouldn't seem smart to make a big thing of TVL being in Hall H for the first time, with a really big wrap and a second wrap, and then not announce? Because not announcing seems like it would raise negative questions and what good does that do AMC?

Oh haha, as I was typing this, I saw that IGN and Variety have put up Sheila Atim listed along with Jacob and Assad and Eric for their interviews!!!! Someone said that talent listed as going to SDCC can sometimes change or not be up to date, but them both having her listed seems like she's probably going?! And if she's there, then that seems like 100% they are announcing??

https://www.reddit.com/r/InterviewVampire/comments/1v2msfm/ign_will_be_live_streaming_the_vampire_lestat/

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/variety-interview-studio-san-diego-1236816778/

Don't apologise! I'm sorry it's taking me 95 years to reply to people at the moment, haha, life's just getting in the way (and my inbox has been a little overwhelming!)

And yeah! I'm feeling pretty confident that they're going to announce the renewal at SDCC. With Sheila going now too (which is very exciting!!) it feels like an even bigger indicator that that's the case. We're just going to have to wait and see though.

[endiness]

[pynkhues]

Something clicked into my head when you said lestat associates his softer parts to his femininity because isnt that what gabi is doing by presenting as feminine with lestat because despite gabi always being awful to lestat he doesn't see femininity as an act of violence the way he sees maleness and thats were she keeps him tied to her by presenting a softness through her appearance despite her action says otherwise. If gabi was masculine presenting she won't have control over him because his looking for softness and he doesn't see that in masculinity in maleness he won't want her near him because his reminded of the horrors his gone through because of it he won't seek her out because what he wants is a mother not a father and her not being that means she has no hold on him. He likes her femininity the same way she likes his masculinity its the presentation of masculinity=power,freedom,dominance and femininity=nurturing, love,softness they have a distorted view that they have to act a certain way for being their gender because of society and their environment.

(x)

I think that's definitely a part of it when it comes to their particular dynamic and his tangled up feelings and understanding of these things when it comes to the de Lioncourt family unit. I think it's important to pull them out, because I don't think Lestat necessarily has these same feelings outside of the family he comes from (I don't think he really ascribes these sorts of gendered feelings for instance to Nicki, Louis or Claudia, at least not on the same level, which I think goes back to this idea of the whole de Lioncourt family really having been enmeshed with one another, not just Lestat and Gabi).

Gabi presenting more femininely around and for Lestat is a thread in the books, of course, and it is, I think, tied to this idea of her doing it as a means of comfort when Lestat is distressed. How much of that is tied to her desire to genuinely bring him a degree of peace, versus how it may help to shroud her abuse to appear in a way that nurtures the child still in Lestat, even subconsciously, is an interesting set of ideas to unpack. I'd also add to that - and I do think this is where we're heading with the show - that I think her dressing more femininely around him is likely a reflection of her own trauma too, and the way she still feels shackled to womanhood around Lestat by nature of being his mother.

How she uses sex after all isn't just a tool to control him, but also a knife to try and sever herself from this thing that happened to her, because Lestat isn't just her son, he's the living product of her rape and the endless violation of her mortality. Those things tangling up and making her incapable of fully embracing these masculine parts of herself around him makes it all so complex, and I think lends itself to this idea that they're both performing around each other in ways I don't think either of them particularly want to.

[alivedean]

this show is a comedy → 7/?

[lioncourtz]

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT 03.06 | "Montreal"

[paticmak]

some art from this season

[pynkhues]

Just saw that TV Line had Sam as a performer of the week for episode 3 and Delainey for episode 6

"The Vampire Lestat," by its very nature, is a relentless thrill ride that throws absolutely everything at its viewers and expects them to keep up. There are no breaks on this tour bus. But in its third week on the road, AMC's Anne Rice adaptation truly outdid itself, thanks to an explosive, multi-layered performance from Sam Reid, the man behind the titular bloodsucker. A three-course meal of entertainment, the episode flashed back to several of Lestat's most defining traumas — the loss of his first love, the violinist Nicolas "Nicky" de Lenfent, and the violent nature of Lestat's own transformation at the sadistic hands of his maker Magnus — two experiences made even more visceral by Reid's full embodiment of Lestat's tortured spirit. Effortlessly bouncing between sarcastic merriment and absolute devastation, Reid gave us what felt like the most honest portrayal of Lestat that the character has allowed us to see thus far, much to his own dismay.

https://www.tvline.com/2203067/tatiana-maslany-paula-maximum-pleasure-guaranteed-episode-7-performance/

While we've enjoyed Delainey Hayles' portrayal of Claudia doppelgänger Regina on "The Vampire Lestat," we've sorely missed spending time with her original character, so we were thrilled when Louis and Lestat reached out to Claudia from beyond the grave in the season's penultimate episode. That said, neither the viewers nor the vampires who summoned her were prepared for the explosive wave of unbridled rage she ultimately unleashed during her short but memorable appearance. Years of unimaginable pain and pent-up fury were expelled in the form of truth bombs, each creating a bigger blast than the one that came before, leaving a heap of emotional rubble in their wake. Hearing Claudia finally calling these vampires out for their misdeeds would have been satisfying enough, but Hayles' powerful command of the scene made it an unforgettable experience. And even in her most self-righteous moments, the undercurrent of pain in her voice rang through, constantly adding new layers of heartbreak. Claudia may hate Louis "to the pit of all things," but we love her for getting all of this off her chest — and we'll never stop saying Hayles' name

https://www.tvline.com/2217734/amy-adams-anna-cape-fear-episode-8-performance/

These are both such lovely write-ups, anon! So delighted that Delainey was singled out too, she really is so incredible in that scene, and I really love that that review kind of touches on how different Regina feels from Claudia, which is a testament to her skill as an actress too. Her ability to make Regina-as-Claudia still feel off is just out of this world, and makes her performance as ghost!Claudia all the more powerful in my opinion!

[endiness]

[pynkhues]

Sam said that Lestat isn’t going through a gender crisis tho and that “me too, sometimes” is about him acknowledging his male toxicity. I wish lestat being gender fluid was true but it doesn’t seem to be that

here’s source: https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/sam-reid-vampire-lestat-interview-charts-1236298733/

(x)

I don't think that quote undermines Lestat being fluid or GNC at all, rather it's a reiteration of it? After all, Sam's right, Lestat's not experiencing gender crisis or body dysphoria, he's not distressed or confused about his gender, he's been comfortable embodying both ends of the gender binary since season 1 - since the books - whether that be through drag, feminine and masculine pronouns, identifying as both mother and father, or through his dress and presentation broadly. He's King Queen, as Carol so aptly put it back in s1, everything to everyone, and I think that includes to himself.

His maleness is a part of him, an important part of him, just as his femininity is, and that moment in the show being ultimately about accepting the toxicity socialised into him as a part of that doesn't undermine his gender non-conformity or his fluidity, but rather speaks to his complex feelings around his own behaviour and his affiliation with the male part of him as the violent, uglier part of him, and - in my sense of it - the parts of him he affiliates as softer as the more feminine, which is pretty well reflected in the moments when he uses female pronouns. It's a reflection of his internalised gendering of his own actions and feelings as a part of his non-conforming and fluid identity, which is interesting in and of itself! It also makes for a compelling foundation for where we're heading in the QOTD arc, given Akasha chooses him for his maleness, but her own rage and violence is inherently tied to her femaleness.

[sdeek]

“Daniel stared hard at the creature before him, this thing that looked human and sounded human but was not. There was a horrid shift in his consciousness; he saw this being like a great insect, a monstrous evil predator who had devoured a million human lives. And yet he loved this thing”

[iwtvsource]

Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson Read Thirst Tweets