Interview with the Vampire (TV Series)

In Throes of Increasing Wonder... (2022)

Sam Reid: Lestat de Lioncourt

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lestat de Lioncourt : What rage you must feel when you choke on your sorrow.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : I came to know Christ in a monastery. I wanted to be a priest. Just like you, Paul. And under the guidance and discipline of the monks who lived there, I came to memorize both testaments, the writings of Assisi, Aquinas, Erasmus, all the saints and scholars. My father, a vulgar man, did not think much of this education. And so he and my brothers conspired to pull me out, lock me away, where, between beatings, starvations and the failure of Christ to intercede the beatings and starvations, I slowly forgot all about the testaments, Assisi, Aquinas, Erasmus, all of it. And so to answer your boring question, there is an ocean between Christ and myself! J'espère que cela satisfera les oiseaux perchés dans la cage de votre esprit!

• Lestat de Lioncourt : The first time I laid eyes on you, your beautiful face, I saw that sorrow. I did not know how it got there or why it was so voluminous. I can take away that sorrow, Louis. I can give you that death you begged your feeble, blind, degenerate, nonexistent god for. But I can do it joyfully. I can swap this life of shame, swap it out for a dark gift and a power you can't begin to imagine. You just have to ask me for it. You just have to nod your beautiful head and say yes.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : This primitive country has picked you clean. It has shackled you in permanent exile. Every room you enter, every hat you're forced to wear. The stern landlord, the deferential businessman, the loyal son! All these roles you conform to, and none of them your true nature! What rage you must feel as you choke on your sorrow. The first time I laid eyes on you, your beautiful face, I saw that sorrow. I did not know how it got there or why it was so voluminous. I can take away that sorrow, Louis. I can give you that death you begged your feeble, blind, degenerate, nonexistent god for. But I can do it joyfully. I can swap this life of shame, swap it out for a dark gift and a power you can't begin to imagine. You just have to ask me for it. You just have to nod your beautiful head and say yes. I love you, Louis. You are loved. I send my love to you, and you send it back round to me. And this circle, this home we've barely had a glimpse of, know it frightens me as much as it does you.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : I had planned to make a new life for myself in St. Louis. That was to be my destiny. And now I know I was right. Only it turns out the saint is not a city, but a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition.

  Lily : You're his destiny, Louis!

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Destined to be very good friends.

• Paul de Pointe du Lac : Are you one with Christ, Monsieur Lioncourt?

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : How 'bout you shut your damn mouth?

  Florence de Pointe du Lac : Louis...

  Lestat de Lioncourt : That's alright, Louis, Madame. The birds speak for him... I came to know Christ in a monastery. I wanted to be a priest. Just like you, Paul.

  [Lestat begins to hypnotize Paul] 

  Lestat de Lioncourt : And under the guidance and discipline of the monks who lived there, I came to memorize both testaments, the writings of Assisi, Aquinas, Erasmus, all the saints and scholars. My father, a vulgar man, did not think much of this education. And so he and my brothers conspired to pull me out, lock me away, where, between beatings, starvations and the failure of Christ to intercede the beatings and starvations, I slowly forgot all about the testaments, Assisi, Aquinas, Erasmus, all of it. And so to answer your boring question, there is an ocean between Christ and myself! J'espère que cela satisfera les oiseaux perchés dans la cage de votre esprit!

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : [slams the table]  Don't do that shit here! Not with my family. You understand?

  Lestat de Lioncourt : [long pause]  I am cursed with my father's temper at times. The rudeness is all mine.

  Florence de Pointe du Lac : That's alright. It's the humidity, it does that sometimes.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : This primitive country has picked you clean. It has shackled you in permanent exile. Every room you enter, every hat you're forced to wear -- the stern landlord, the deferential businessman, the loyal son -- all these roles you conform to, and none of them your true nature! What rage you must feel as you choke on your sorrow.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : Be my companion, Louis. Be all the beautiful things you are, and be them without apology. For all eternity.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : I love you, Louis. You are loved. I send my love to you, and you send it back round to me. And this circle, this home we've barely had a glimpse of, know it frightens me as much as it does you.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : Seul l'impossible peut faire l'impossible.

  Lily : I don't know much what you're saying, but it sure sounds nice.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : 'Only the impossible can do the impossible.'

• Lestat de Lioncourt : Bonsoir, monsieur. You speak French?

  Lily : We speak all sorts of tongues in New Orleans.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : It's a hard table to get. How'd you manage it?

  Lestat de Lioncourt : How'd you manage to get yourself through the front door?

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : Excuse me?

  Lestat de Lioncourt : I mean that as a compliment, a man of your race to have privileges here.

  Lily : Louis has a small empire of his own down the street. It gives him privileges.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : [laughs] 

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : Somethin' funny about that?

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Your name is Louis. Of course it's Louis.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : I didn't get your name, fella.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Je suis désolé. Je m'amuse trop en privé. I know who you are, sir. You're the man who made me buy a townhouse in the Quarter. I owe you everything. Please join us.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : [to Louis, telepathically, during a card came]  These men look down on you. I have to say, I find it appalling how men like yourself are treated in this country of yours... Ten percent. Fifteen percent. Do you not know your value? Do you suffer these indignities for some larger purpose? And do you think two pair will win the hour?

• Lestat de Lioncourt : And the women... All shades of skin-white, black, cinnamon. I've emptied a bank vault sampling, I must say.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : New to the... the New World, I am.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : That explains the clothes.

• Louis de Pointe du Lac : You did good gettin' off that boat when you did. St. Louis is dull as dishwater.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Yes, I feel quite at home here.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : Come to me.

• [in Paul's funeral procession] 

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Mes condoléances.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : Pas ici.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : An elegant coffin. Would you tell me where you purchased?

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : Move on.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : I wait on my balcony every night. You've been avoiding me.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : I have been occupied.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Miss Lily proved herself a poor substitute and I don't take kindly to being avoided.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : It's my brother's funeral!

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Believe me when I tell you, your brother longed for that flagstone.

• Lestat de Lioncourt : Do you think God heard you, Louis? In that tawdry box, through this pig vessel, this-- this charlatan? Do you not see how unworthy he is? How can you humiliate yourself like this?

• Louis de Pointe du Lac : You killed Lily.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Cut short that magnificent life she was living? What a tragedy.

  Louis de Pointe du Lac : Ain't no fever out there. That's you. You bringin' the death to town.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : I give death to those deserving. I'm not the Devil. You were wrong about that. But I can give you death.

• Lily : That's a nice music box you got there.

  Lestat de Lioncourt : It's one of the few things I brought with me from the continent.

  Lily : What's that li'l song playing?

  Lestat de Lioncourt : Do you like it? I composed it for a young violinist I once knew, a boy of infinite beauty and sensitivity.