Interview: Delainey Hayles on ‘Interview with the Vampire’
It’s hard to believe that Interview with the Vampire marks one of Delainey Hayles’ very first on-screen performances. Having appeared on stage in a production of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on the West End and in episodes of shows such as Too Close and Holby City, Hayles was tasked with the tall order of taking over the character of Claudia, a role already established by Bailey Bass in season one.
Bass, who had to depart the series following season 1, delivers a phenomenal performance as the 14-year-old Claudia, a vampire trapped in a child’s body. Hayles proves herself more than capable of stepping up to the plate, bringing a whole new edge to Claudia and anchoring one of the most emotionally brutal seasons of television in recent memory.
It’s a haunting, searing performance, one that needs to be seen to be believed, and one that reveals Hayles as a fearless actor, capable of mining rage, loneliness, and vulnerability without ever losing her grip on the character’s core.
“The season was the highlight of my last two years,” she says of her experience filming the show. “I think about it every day. It was one of those things where I never thought I’d be doing something of this scale and I loved every moment of it.”
Coming in as a recast wasn’t easy. “Obviously, there are going to be a lot of opinions,” she says. “But the love I received was really heartwarming. I really thought it would go the other way.”
Hayles worked closely with showrunner Rolin Jones to find her own version of Claudia, one who finds herself changed by her experiences in the first season. “I had a lot of phone calls with him about where we were taking the character and how she differs from the first season, even though she is the same character,” she explains. “I reverted a lot back to the book. It became like the Bible in a way. I kept going back to it every day.”
That constant revisiting paid off. Hayles’ Claudia feels older, more reflective, angrier, and her performance is grounded in something deeply personal. “I think Claudia has a lot of rage,” she says. “And it’s understandable rage. Playing her was kind of therapeutic, because I got to delve into a part of myself I didn’t think I had. She’s one of the most complex female characters that I’ve seen lately.”
Hayles says Jacob Anderson, who delivers one of the best performances of the decade as the vampire Louis, was her anchor. “Jacob played a big part in the foundation of me finding Claudia,” she says. “We went for a long walk before filming. We just spoke about everything, and he was like, ‘Go kill it.’” The support carried through production. “He was always there, checking in on me on the days we were filming heavy scenes. I cannot thank him enough. He made my season two journey extremely lovely.”
Their dynamic onscreen is the heart and soul of the show, but even that connection starts to fray in season two as Louis becomes increasingly entangled with Armand (played by Assad Zaman) and the Théâtre des Vampires. Claudia, sensing the shift, confronts Louis about his growing closeness to Armand, highlighting how their once-unbreakable bond is being tested.
“They’re both grasping on to the last bit of love they have,” says Hayles of the shifting dynamic between Claudia and Louis. “But it’s not enough. And sometimes that’s the saddest thing, when that’s enough. But with Claudia, she is a grown woman. In the back of her head, she can see what’s happening. They’re at odds, they’re pushing each other away. There’s also this thing of: when do I become enough for somebody? Because she’s not even enough for herself.”
But it’s in Claudia’s bond with dress shop owner Madeleine (played by Roxane Duran) that we see something softer. “You have these two souls that are extremely lonely, and they find each other in that loneliness. I think it’s very pure,” says Hayles. “They’re both very strong females, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need each other. It’s a very pure relationship that blossoms and it’s sadly cut short.”
One of the most quietly devastating aspects of Hayles’ performance is how she conveys Claudia’s discomfort in her own body, something that bubbles beneath every scene. “She is the vampire that I think is the most vampire,” she explains. “But despite that, she cannot fully be a vampire due to her circumstances. It’s a constant suffering.” The pain of being frozen in time, never able to grow into the woman she is mentally and emotionally, hangs over everything she does. “She’s extremely uncomfortable, but she loves being a vampire,” says Hayles. “And finding the balance in that, and playing them against each other, was really fun to do. And it does come out in rage. And it’s not misplaced rage. It’s very valid.”
As Claudia’s arc darkens, Hayles handles every emotional beat with devastating precision. The courtroom scenes, particularly, were some of the most charged. “I think she feels rage from earlier on, because something’s about to happen that is not going to go her way,” she says. “Midway through the trial, she realises, we’re going to go. She’s going through flashbacks, learning things she didn’t know before, and it hones in the point that she was never really enough. What was she made for, actually?”
The weight of the season culminates in Claudia’s final moments. Filming those scenes with Sam Reid, who plays Lestat, was heavy. “I was kind of thankful for the way we did it. We’d film a chunk, then I’d go do prosthetics, so I had small breaks where I could breathe a bit,” she says. “I was happy with how it went. It was very heavy, but acting it alongside Sam, I was waiting for a moment to act with him properly and then when I did, it was everything I had hoped for.”
Hayles, who doesn’t share much screentime with Reid’s Lestat, says the two had discussions about their characters and the similarities between them. “I love working with Sam. Him and Jacob took me out to dinner a couple of times in Prague,” she recalls. “We spoke about the characters and I can’t speak for Sam, but I think we both agreed that they are very similar people. And he knows her, she knows him, and I feel like Louis is the only one who’s living in his little world of what he’s created. [Claudia and Lestat] have an understanding of each other, which is why I think she calls out to him as she’s going. Obviously, he’s the only one in the room that she trusts as well. It’s like, ‘We know we have our differences, but help. You’re my dad.'”
In addition to Reid, Hayles says everyone on set was equally as welcoming to her. “Jacob, Rolin, Assad, they were all very supportive,” she says. “I was the only gal who’s one of the mains, and it never felt like I was just another character. From day one, I was in it.”
Hayles mentions working with Zaman as a particular highlight of her experience on set. “Assad is usually very fun on set. But when he becomes Armand, there’s a quietness to him. It’s very unsettling,” she says. “Before we start doing the scenes, I could see him starting his transformation and it was really lovely to see. And when we come out of takes, he’s back to himself again. Working with Assad was so interesting. I loved it.”
That sense of being part of something bigger resonated most during Claudia’s theatre performances. “We filmed it as if it was an actual theatre show,” she recalls. “Extras from Prague sitting in the seats, different ones every day. I didn’t know there was going to be an audience until I stepped out. And they were like, ‘They’re going to watch you for real, so do a performance.’ I kind of felt at home.”
The scene also called back to Hayles’ roots, and also served as a reminder of what she wants next. “Would I ever go back [to doing theatre]? Oh, I’d love to,” she says. “I love being in a room where you get a reaction straight away and you don’t entirely know what you’re going to do either.”
And as for what’s next? “Hopefully more projects in theatre and in TV and film,” she says, smiling. “But yeah, I’m looking forward to the future.”
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE season 2 is now streaming on AMC+.