Interview with the Vampire: Why Assad Zaman’s First Scene as Armand Came Later in Season 2

Assad Zaman’s first official scene as Armand on Interview with the Vampire hasn’t even aired yet. 

During the ATX Television Festival last week, I participated in a roundtable interview with creator Rolin Jones, executive producer Mark Johnson, and actor Assad Zaman to talk about Interview with the Vampire Season 2.

Among other things, they discussed the transition from Zaman’s character of “Rashid” to Armand and the first scene he filmed playing that character.

On Zaman’s transition to playing Armand:

“I came into this in Season 1, very much knowing where we’re going, having a little bit of an idea, and sort of scrambling all the sort of research and things I could do,” Zaman said. “But what was really nice was being able to observe in Season 1 and see how this world is being constructed and built, and lived in by these actors, and all the set and sound, and then seeing it all came out gave me a foundation to sort of come in.”

“I was terrified, but I was like, ‘Okay, I know where I need to go. How do I get there — I don’t know? The first thing I shot was Episode 5, and that was sort of being thrown straight into the deep end, and I’m really grateful for it,” Zaman added. 

“I think it was the right thing to do because I think the anticipation was so big,” Zaman continued. “It was like over a year of this built-up energy of going, ‘What’s going to happen? How am I going to do this?’ And me sort of trying to picture it. Then in the end, it all goes out the window, you have to sort of go with your instinct.”

“And that work, and the conversations and seeing it, something was going in, I guess, with osmosis, and it manifested to how it is now,” Zaman said.

The first scene Zaman filmed as the character of Armand:

Jones added that Zaman’s first scene as Armand was an upcoming fight scene between him and Louis that we’ll see in Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 5, which was especially intense. 

“Jacob and I were like, what?! This is the first we haven’t even developed a relationship yet,” Zaman said of the scene.

“And of course, also thrown at them, we had recasting,” Jones said. “We had to reorder just to give the actors some time to norm themselves.” That’s also why filming for Zaman began with the fifth episode of the season.

Jones also said that Zaman was “battle-tested” to play Armand.

“He had to do a lot of Armand auditioning in Season 1 to prepare, so we knew that he could do it. If you go back and watch Episode 5 of Season 1, it’s some of the most subtle, nuanced Armand that is just cracking open in there. It’s really quite elegant,” Jones said.

“In the third audition is where Rolin [Jones] told me that Rashid is actually Armand,” Zaman explained. “He was so subtle about it. He was like, ‘Have you read the book yet? And in my head, I was thinking, ‘I’m playing Rashid. Of course I haven’t read the book. I’ve read the thing that you’ve given me; I haven’t had time to read the book.'”

Zaman and Jones’ favorite scene of the season:

When asked about their favorite scene this season, Zaman and Jones had the same answer: it’s an upcoming scene with Armand and Madeleine. 

“It’s just a moment that’s between [Armand] and Madeleine — there’s a moment when he sits on the couch,” Jones said. He was impressed in that moment with how well Zaman had embodied the character of Armand, “not only in the voice, in the generosity of the actor, but in the body. Just watch him sit down on a couch and watch both hands.” 

Zaman said this was his favorite scene to film, largely because of the actress playing Madeleine. 

“I really, really enjoyed that,” Zaman said. “Roxanne [Duran] is a fantastic actor and so much fun to work with. I just really had fun doing that scene.”

*Note: This was just one part of a longer conversation with Assad Zaman, Rolin Jones, and Mark Johnson. More of that conversation will be posted in a separate article.

Check out all of our coverage of the ATX Television Festival right here. There’s still more to come!

Interview with the Vampire airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

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