‘Interview with the Vampire’: ‘AMC has grand plans for the Anne Rice world’

After AMC acquired the rights to Anne Rice’s major literary works in 2020, the network tasked producer Mark Johnson (“Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul”) to oversee its ambitious new project of making shows out of the author’s 18 supernatural novels. First is “ Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire ” on AMC+, telling the love story of two vampires, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) in early 20th century New Orleans. For the more sensual scenes, an intimacy coordinator was hired. “They make all of us feel just what they're supposed to do, get more comfortable,” Johnson says, “then it's up to wonderful actors who make it all seem ad lib, spontaneous.” For Anderson, who played Grey Worm on the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” having an intimacy director to guide his character’s more sizzling sequences has been an important asset. “[Johnson and I] were talking about demystifying the idea of storytelling as being just purely magic and in the moment and all about feeling, but I think when it comes to intimate scenes, you can't do that,” he says, “there’s things that can really get into your head if you don't prepare properly.” IWTV’s Executive Producer, Johnson, and actor, Anderson, discuss the making of the new AMC series with Kim Masters. But first, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav laid off about a quarter of the company’s television division staff this week. What does this mean for the company’s future? Matt Belloni discusses with Lucas Shaw.