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This article is about Daniel Molloy from the AMC adaptation. You may be looking for Daniel Molloy from the novel or film.

Daniel Molloy is a main character on the AMC gothic horror drama, Interview with the Vampire. He is portrayed by Eric Bogosian in the present day and by Luke Brandon Field in 1973.

Daniel is an investigative journalist nearing the end of his career, who’s given a second chance at the interview of a lifetime after he's contacted by Louis nearly 50 years after their first interview.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Daniel has been married twice[1] and has two daughters[2]. He proposed to his first wife Alice while in Paris.[3]

In 1973, Daniel met Louis in a gay bar. A young journalist at the time, Louis invited Daniel back to his apartment, where they conducted the infamous interview.[4]

Reuniting with Louis[]

49 years after their initial interview, which ended abruptly, Daniel receives a package from Louis de Pointe du Lac, offering him a second chance at the interview of a lifetime, a vampire's life story. Daniel accepts Louis' offer and flies out to him a week later during the pandemic, despite being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Standing in Louis' penthouse apartment in the middle of the day, Daniel questions where his coffin is and why he isn't in it, to which Louis replies that they're standing in it, revealing that the windows of his penthouse shield him from the harmful UV rays of the sun. Daniel recalls how poorly their last interview ended, replaying the final moments after he asked Louis to turn him into a vampire, and in return, Louis erupted in anger and rage before biting Daniel. Louis tells Daniel that he wasn't worthy of his story then, to which Daniel retorts that perhaps Louis' story wasn't worth telling.

Daniel admittedly asked all the wrong questions back then, never checked Louis about the contradictions in his story, and the few good ones he did manage to get out, Louis steamrolled over them. This time around, they're hoping for a different exchange. As Louis recounts his first sexual experience with Lestat, he explains how he didn't view himself as a homosexual man at the time, though he has since embraced his sexuality, which comes as no surprise to Daniel, as the two of them met at a gay bar, though Daniel claims he was simply there to score drugs. He'd been married twice since then. When Daniel was using drugs, Louis asks if he remembers the best high he's ever had and instructs him to multiply it by miles in an effort to explain the euphoric high he felt during that first sexual encounter with Lestat. Lastly, Louis recounts the night Lestat turned him into a vampire, the memory of the ordeal bringing a single bloody tear to his eye.[1]

Interviewing Louis[]

Daniel marvels at the Venetian painting in Louis' dining room before turning his attention to Rashid and questioning his loyalty to Louis, to which Rashid replies that it is his honor to serve a god. Before long, Louis joins Daniel at the table. He recalls with Daniel how Lestat rushed him headlong through his transformation with a night full of firsts: death, rebirth, coming out, homicide, etc. However, Daniel questions the relevance of Louis' sexual nature in regard to the fact that he killed a man. Louis didn't wish to conflate the two, but being transformed by Lestat and bedding down with him was an overture to that side of Louis' nature. He recalls getting into the coffin with Lestat and how they were equals in the quiet dark, but Daniel argues otherwise.

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Daniel questioning Louis

Louis informs Daniel that he no longer kills and that his last victim was in the year 2000. However, Daniel is more interested in if Louis ate his nephew, a question he would not immediately answer. So, he instead asks about the other vampires in the word and if they have mastered their instincts similar to Louis, but it is quite the opposite. Most of them are slaves to blood, exhausted from decades of hiding, and eager to increase their numbers. Daniel again asks if Louis ate the baby and if the pandemic is the opportunity they were waiting for. It is then that they're joined by Damek, an associate of Louis, who essentially acts as a living blood bag. By the end of their second session, Louis reveals that Lestat was wrong and that he was never going to be a natural killer. Instead, he was a shame-ridden, botched vampire. Louis tries to have a human dish at least once a week to maintain the thread, so he has dessert served to him and Daniel. This was the very same dessert Daniel had after he proposed to his first wife. During a moment of vulnerability, Daniel reveals that he and his wife, Alice, were in Paris. He recalls how half of her eyebrow was blonde, which she always dyed brown, but he liked it when she left it alone, Daniel says before ending the interview.[3]

Daniel is skeptical, explaining that the entire rewrite of Louis' story is giving him pause. He plays a recording of their initial interview from 1973, in which Louis spoke of Lestat as a failed teacher, whereas now, in 2022, Louis spoke of him as a compassionate lover. Daniel perceives Louis and Lestat's relationship as abused-abuser and questions what spawned Louis' alternative perspective. Louis quotes an excerpt from Daniel's book, in which he spoke of the "odyssey of recollection." Half a century later from their initial interview, Louis pleads with Daniel to allow him his odyssey. And so, Daniel trashes the old cassettes and deletes the files from his computer. Sometime later, as Louis tells the story of his past hook up with an old love, Daniel questions if it was raining that night. However, Louis could not recall. "The odyssey of recollection," Daniel replies.[5]

Claudia's diaries[]

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Daniel reading Claudia's diaries

Daniel is approached by Rashid, who reveals that he is aware of Daniel's scheduled levodopa transfusion and that they had spoken to his doctor and arranged a physician to administer it at the penthouse tomorrow. While Louis rests, Rashid takes Daniel to the reading room, where he is given access to Claudia's diaries to provide a different perspective. Daniel takes a break from his reading and overhears Rashid praying in the other room, leading him to question how Muhammad felt about vampires and how Rashid could worship two gods. After expressing his feeling towards Claudia, who he liked despite her being a killing machine, he apologized for interrupting Rashid's prayer, to which he replied "Asr namozi," leading Daniel to realize that Rashid isn't from Dubai. Daniel resumes his reading, but not before updating his profile on Rashid. Before long, Louis joins him. Claudia's vivid writing was as if Anne Frank met Stephen King, Daniel remarks. Beginning session four, Daniel asks where the diaries were in 1973. Louis initially claims they were scattered, but he truthfully couldn't bear to share her diaries initially because they spoke of in detail how and when Louis failed her. Louis recalls Charlie's death ushering in one of the darkest eras in their lives. The delicate balance of their household was shattered, and Claudia saw herself as nothing more than a bandage for a poor marriage.[2]

Daniel reads Claudia's diary, chronicling all her kills. A total of 42 pages. He can't fathom what he's reading, but Rashid reveals to Daniel that when he publishes his book and the other vampires get wind, they will make their way to Dubai and rip Louis apart. Daniel is essentially chronicling a suicide. As they reach the part of the story in which Claudia began to show resentment, Louis admits to making her out of remorse and selfishness, but Daniel isn't sympathetic. Additionally, he says that she makes Louis and Lestat look like a couple of whiny, existential queens. She's a goldmine, the girl who moves a million books, Daniel calls her. Louis won't have her exploited, but as Daniel explains, his intentions won't matter once the world gets a hold of her, even with him putting the diaries in proper context. Daniel then discovers four pages have been torn from Claudia's diary, to which Louis replies that he will not exploit her. Still, Daniel pushes to read it. Louis becomes irritated and begins to make Daniel's hand manically bang the table, until Rashid intervenes. Daniel, still recovering, stands to his feet, approaches Louis, slaps him, and resumes the interview.[6]

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Young Daniel and Louis

Daniel learns from Louis that Lestat could fly, which he referred to as the "cloud gift," an ability that only ancient vampires possess. After revealing that he's been dreaming about his and Louis' first meeting, Daniel asks if Louis can fly, which he can't. Louis supposes that Lestat never told him because he thought if he revealed all his power to him, then he would never feel his equal, but Daniel isn't convinced, comparing Louis to a battered wife with Stockholm. As Louis tells Daniel how Claudia fled the city on a train, Daniel recalls this being the part of the story where he originally asked for Louis to turn him. In the eyes of a 20-year-old Daniel, Louis was wasting his gift. Louis would admittedly give Daniel the dark gift now, with him having now lived a full life, getting the chance to watch his daughters grow up and marry. But Daniel was no longer interested. Some point during session 6, Daniel drifts off from his medication. Whilst he sleeps, he dreams of his first encounter with Louis at the bar in 1973. A young journalist at the time, he was invited by Louis back to his room. They were joined by Rashid, who looked as young and youthful as he did present day. Daniel then awakens from his dream, shocked by his discovery.[4]

Session 7[]

Daniel begins session 7 with Louis by asking if an immortal can meet mortality. Louis replies that they can through several methods, namely starvation, drinking the blood of the dead, fire, and lastly, decapitation. However, knowing how to kill Lestat was substantially different from actually doing so. By the end, Louis has shared how he and Claudia "killed" Lestat and left his body in a trunk before heading off to Europe. But Daniel is skeptical of Louis' story, questioning the legitimacy of his retelling due to Claudia's reluctance to burn Lestat. The missing pages and other excerpts he read gave the impression that Claudia hated Louis for a while after New Orleans, and Daniel questions why that was. He also accuses Louis of sparing Lestat, as the trash would be taken to the city dump, filled with plenty of rats for Lestat to feed on and regain his strength. Rashid intervenes and ends the session, and now Daniel turns his attention to Louis' servant and asks how a 200-pound bouncer passes out after Louis fed from him but Rashid, just barely over 100 pounds, seemed rather unaffected.

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Daniel learning the truth about Rashid

Bringing the conversation back to Lestat, who Louis confesses he didn't have the will to burn, Daniel argues Claudia would've happily done so despite Louis initially claiming that she was reluctant. In that, Louis recalls what actually happened after Lestat died. Claudia pushed him to burn Lestat in the incinerator, but he refused, slamming her against the wall and then crying over Lestat's body. As Daniel continues to press for the truth, Rashid comes to Louis' defense, revealing that he's a 514-year-old vampire name Armand and the love of Louis' life.[7]

Daniel begins session 9 of his interview with Louis, which picks up with him and Claudia traveling through Europe during WWII in search of old world vampires. Not long into their session, he turns his attention to one of Louis' servant, who is apparently the real Rashid that Armand was initially disguising himself as. He asks if he's ever read Moby Dick and says that he thinks Armand is hiding something in regard to Louis' past. The following day, to his surprise, Armand has agreed to go on the record.[8]

Daniel and Louis find themselves at odds during the session, with Louis and Armand claiming that he's projecting his own time in Paris on them. 1985 in Paris, Molloy and Alice were in at a brassy when she told him she was pregnant. And he replied, "Yeah." Daniel admits that it was probably that response that angered her most before resuming reading Claudia's diary. Later, during that same session, Daniel mocks Louis after he shares his memory of Lestat's goodbye letter, leading Louis to read Molloy's mind back to a time where Alice was pregnant. She wore that purple dress that Daniel liked, and in that time in Paris, Molloy even felt free to hold her hand for some reason. He worked so hard to get that table in the corner so he could pull out the ring to surprise her, which he did, but when he finally asked her to marry him, she said no. Molloy hands begin to tremor again, which doesn't go unnoticed by Armand, who says Alice wanted to say yes, but she didn't trust Molloy, who hadn't given her a reason to. Louis continues to taunt but Armand reels it back in and proposes they resume the interview.[9]

Daniel is alone at a café when he's approached by a man named Raglan James, who seemingly knows about his interview with Louis and Armand. He works for a shop that's been tracking vampires and claims that the Great Conversion is happening. He tells Daniel that files have been placed on his laptop, but Molloy isn't buying what he's selling and begins to make a scene within the café, forcing Raglan to make an abrupt exit. He then returns to Louis', where he questions how the average vampire keeps humans in line. Armand explains that exposed, they feed or run or kill themselves. At this point, Molloy begins session 11 and they discuss his relationship with Lestat. [10]

Whilst Louis and Armand argue about the Paris photo album, which someone filled with images not taken by Louis, Daniel goes to through his files, searching up the name of Armand's maker. He then begins to have more flashes of Armand, leading him to recall their first encounter in San Francisco. He then proceeds to search through the suspected vampire victims archive that Molloy got from Raglan. Among the list, he sees the name Kathryn Mitchell. He then searches his own name in the archives and finds photos of himself with Louis from the night of their first interview, as well as enhanced audio files from that night, in which Louis became enraged and attacked Molloy until Armand interrupted.[11]

1973 San Francisco interview[]

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Young Daniel goes to Louis' apartment

Back in 1973, Daniel meets Louis in a gay bar called Polynesian Mary's and after flirting and Louis asking to be interviewed, Daniel walks back to Louis' apartment with him. When they get to his apartment, Louis offers him drugs and shows him that he is in fact a vampire, which leaves Daniel momentarily frightened but also quite excited. Daniel is ready to exchange sexual services in exchange for the drugs but Louis turns him down and wants to get back to the interview. From Louis, Daniel learns about his time as a vampire with Lestat and Claudia but he is taken aback when Louis reveals he contemplated killing himself. Daniel asks Louis to turn him into a vampire, claiming that he can be his Claudia or his Lestat, "but better." Louis is frustrated that after all he's told him, Daniel would still ask for the Dark Gift, infuriating him to the point where he attacks Daniel, drains and nearly kills him until Armand intervenes. Daniel is weak and bloody, and with Louis incapacitated due to him nearly killing himself, Daniel's fate is left in Armand's hands. He reads Daniel's mind in hopes of finding out what makes him so fascinating to Louis, but he is without success. Having been there with them for four days, Armand has decided to kill Daniel, hoping to ease his concerns by telling him to rest as he feeds on him, but Louis has gained the strength to get to his feet and tells Armand not to kill the boy.[12]

Present day, with Armand out for lunch, Daniel asks for 20 minutes of honesty from Louis to tell him what actually happened between them during their 1973 interview. Daniel reveals to Louis that he has a copy of their interview. He claims that his assistant cleaned up the original audio and enhanced it, removing the music playing in the background so that they can hear everything, which includes Louis trying to kill himself on the roof, which neither he nor Louis remember happening. In fact, they don't remember anything from that night after Louis attacked Daniel, leading them to realize that Armand must've tampered with their memories, as both their knowledge of that night cut out at the same moment[12]

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Daniel asks Raglan for protection

Daniel and Rashid get dinner together at a local lounge, where they are joined by Raglan, leading him to realize that Rashid is an agent. Daniel asks how big the Talamasca is and who funds them, but the real reason he's asked Raglan to come is for protection, as he fears Armand, but Raglan tells Daniel that he should fear Louis. Raglan offers to help Daniel get his book published when all is said and done, but in return, Raglan's superiors have a few hundred questions they would like for him to weave into his interview. Daniel agrees and picks up where he left off with Louis and Armand, but Armand begins to sense tension from Louis and concludes that Louis remembers what happened in San Francisco and is mad at Armand for erasing it, but Armand claims that Louis asked him to do it. Additionally, the pages torn from Claudia's diary, most of those they did together. And the ones Armand did on his own were to protect him from Daniel. He doesn't owe Daniel his shame or his one act of cowardice. Or the series of abhorrent consequences that followed.[13]

Ending the interview[]

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Daniel exposes Armand

Daniel secretly messages Raglan while conducting the final session of his interview. From Rashid, at the behest of the Talamasca, Daniel receives an envelope, inside is the script from the trial which exposes Armand as a liar. Molloy reveals that it wasn't Armand who saved Louis from death at the trial, but Lestat. Molloy hands Louis the script to read himself. In this, Louis realizes that Armand lied and that he not only helped write the execution play alongside Santiago and Lestat, he directed it, meaning Louis was initially supposed to die with Claudia. Armand claims the script is a forgery and not his notes, but Molloy reveals that it's from the Talamasca. Sam was their guy in Paris, who gave it to them back then, and they gave it to Molloy. A fight erupts between Louis and Armand that ends with Louis breaking up with Armand and kicking him out, but before leaving, out of spite, he turns Daniel into a vampire. Daniel goes on to publish his book, Interview With The Vampire, which becomes a national success. He reaches out to Louis to check up on him and proposes a sequel, but Louis assures Daniel that he is fine and declines his offer.[14]

Appearances[]

Season 1[]

Season 2[]

Gallery[]

References[]

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