Interview With The Vampire Is Seemingly Paying Tribute To The Late, Great Anthony Bourdain

While there hasn’t been any official confirmation that Bogosian’s performance and the character’s background are inspired by Bourdain, it’s hard to deny the similarities. Bogosian looks a bit like Bourdain, but his voice and inflections are almost identical to the late chef’s. His snarky sense of humor is also reminiscent of Bourdain’s, as he comments on Louis’s various exploits with refreshing candor. While Daniel isn’t the one being interviewed, he occasionally shares snippets of information about his own life, and we discover that he’s a former drug addict (Bourdain struggled with heroin addiction), he used to write about food and restaurants, and he’s been married twice (same as Bourdain). 

Daniel is vital to “Interview” in every iteration because he’s the interviewer, and by proxy serves as a representative for the audience. When Rice wrote her novel in the 1970s and Slater played Daniel in the 1994 movie, stories about vampires were still on the sidelines, mysterious and romantic. Like Daniel, audiences are more jaded to the stories now, and his jokes and reactions to Louis’ grandiose retelling of things helps cement the story in a reality just like ours. He also injects some much-needed humor into the series, providing an important release valve during all of the violence and misery. Despite his sharp sense of humor, Daniel is slowly dying from Parkinson’s disease, which makes his grim commentary all the more poignant.