Sam Reid isn’t a rock star, but he plays one on TV. Although, anyone who attended the June 2 premiere party for “The Vampire Lestat” at New York’s Beacon Theatre could have sworn Reid was the real deal.
In full character as the show’s vampire-turned-rocker Lestat de Lioncourt, Reid performed six original songs from the series composer Daniel Hart over the course of a 30-minute concert, moving with swagger and owning the stage just like a rock star would. “It was just a tremendous showcase of why he was 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 now being based off “The Vampire Lestat,” the second book in Anne Rice’s vampire franchise. That’s why the cabler is treating this as if it’s an entirely new series launch — and in many ways, it is: “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.
“It’s some of the best promotion I’ve ever seen, and honestly necessary,” that attendee said. “The tonal shift is shocking this season. Instead of downplaying it, they threw a freakin’ rock concert and leaned in.”
That premiere event was the culmination of AMC’s music-heavy marketing campaign meant to transition the show into its new form — and perhaps attract a few new fans along the way.
“Interview With the Vampire” already had a solid fan base, but for those who didn’t previously watch, AMC Global Media chief marketing officer Kim Granito was realistic: “People usually, by the time the third season of a show comes around, have decided already they’re probably not going to try it.”
But, in the case of “Lestat,” which premieres Sunday on AMC and AMC+, “this is an entirely new story told from an entirely different angle, from a story and a vibe perspective,” she added. “So, giving it its own title and moment to relaunch the series felt like the right thing to do… If people potentially found Seasons 1 or 2, and it wasn’t for them, this is an entirely new angle.”
“Interview With the Vampire” also received additional sampling via Netflix, helping build more of an audience as they moved on to 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 has produced 20 songs, with five released so far on music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Via Lakeshore Records, AMC recently posted tracks including “Long Face,” “All Fall Down” and a cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself.” They all appear on “Vampire Lestat” artist profile pages on various music services.
“The tracks’ performance on Spotify, and all the platforms that we’re pushing them out on, has been really interesting thing to watch,” Granito said. “On Spotify, so far it’s up to about three and a half million streams, which, this is not a real rock star, so it’s pretty impressive. Then, doing something in world and bringing this character to life felt like a no-brainer for us. So the Beacon was the perfect venue for it. When we announced that we were doing it, we posted the link for the tickets a couple of days later at midnight, and they sold out instantly. The company that manages the ticketing process for us told us it was ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’-level of excitement and response.”
AMC also created a Rolling Stone cover, and ‘The Vampire Lestat” will get some primo space on the Sphere in Las Vegas. (It probably doesn’t hurt that AMC and the Sphere are both in the Dolan family.) Through Amazon Music, the “Vampire Lestat” will also appear on its Times Square billboard.
Other partnerships through the season of “The Vampire Lestat” include Pom Wonderful, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. and Spanish designer Palomo. Reid, as Lestat, will appear in Pom Wonderful spots, while Hart was playing a custom Fender Stratocaster at the recent Beacon Theatre concert.
Beyond all that, AMC also hired famed rock photographer Frank Ockenfels 3 to shoot this season’s key art.
Hunter Ingram
“It wasn’t just about execution and where it shows up, it’s about tone and vibe and staying true to what the audience wants, but also how would a rock star show up in the world,” Granito said. “One of the things we really try to do, especially with the genre content we have, is not treat marketing as just straight promotion and really find on ramps for participation and experiential. What happened on Tuesday night was kind of the perfect execution of that.”