Fans of Anne Rice’s legendary vampires have been waiting patiently, and in episode 5 of The Vampire Lestat, “New York,” we finally meet Akasha, the first vampire, known as the Queen of the Damned. She’s portrayed by actress Sheila Atim, who fans might know from roles in The Underground Railroad, The Woman King, Dust Bunny, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. She’s also an accomplished stage actress, singer, composer, and playwright. We got to chat with her about her debut as the ancient Egyptian ruler in The Vampire Lestat. Here’s what Sheila Atim had to say about taking on the epic role of Akasha in The Vampire Lestat.
Nerdist: Akasha has been silent for centuries when she has her keeper Marius bring Lestat to her. What do you think the Queen sees in him compared to all the other immortals that wander the Earth? What does this 6,000-year-old see in this relative baby vamp? Why pick him to be her new keeper?
Sheila Atim: I think she sees potential. I think Akasha sees a real spark in Lestat, and ironically, a life in him, and a thirst for knowledge, and a questioning that I think she also shares. You can tell by Akasha’s speech she makes when she wakes up, it’s all questions. So he’s a curious person. And even in that scene, when Akasha’s waking up, Lestat asks her a question. He says, “Am I evil? Why did she leave me?” He’s kind of a philosopher of sorts, and I think she is too. And her counterpart (Enkil) is now destroyed, and no longer a viable option. So, if she’s going to spend all of her time being kept by somebody, she’d rather it was someone like Lestat than Marius. And then, of course, as she begins to awaken, I think Lestat was the only one who could do it.
Note: The following two questions contain major plot points for Anne Rice’s novel The Queen of the Damned. Which may be SPOILERS for a potential future season of AMC’s Anne Rice Immortal Universe.
Book readers already know what Akasha’s plans are in Queen of the Damned, and there are already hints of it this season. Anne Rice once said in a PBS interview that Akasha’s plans, to kill 90% of the male population to end war and suffering, were obviously evil. But she also conceded that her plan would probably work. Do you agree?
Sheila Atim: That’s interesting. I mean, yeah, it’s drastic, drastic plan, right? I’m not inciting anything [laughs]. But I do think what’s brilliant about putting a story point like this, that is that it is so extreme, into this world is that it does force us to question what that would look like and why and how we feel about that. I think there is something to be said for the way the world is at the moment, and the way the world has been many times over the course of history, when things haven’t been the most fun and enjoyable for everyone. There’s something to be said for the groups that historically appear to be at the center of that. I’m being very careful about how I say that, because I do think that things often get oversimplified so much.
I think there’s so much more to it. There are so many layers and nuances. So I don’t necessarily think that Akasha’s plan would work. But I think it raises an interesting conversation that we definitely need to have. She says, “What’s going on?” You know, and “Why, why, when will it stop, and who will stop it?” Why do we keep finding ourselves in these situations and in these cyclical patterns where time and time again, people are suffering?” Yeah, that’s my diplomatic answer [laughs].
You get an intense scene when you awaken in episode five, and have a very powerful bit of dialogue. At the end of it, Akasha screams “I am the answer!!” Do you feel at the point in time that Akasha already knows the question? Do you think that she already believes that only she can fix the world?
Sheila Atim: I think so, yeah. Well, I think she knows what needs to happen. She maybe doesn’t necessarily know how yet. She’s almost kind of reached an endpoint, and then maybe has to reverse-engineer it all. And she knows that she is the one who has to do it. I think she’s seen enough over the span of history, both in her own time, and also locked away. She knows that it’s going to require some drastic intervention, and that she has the power to enact that. Because she does, in her speech, say, “When will it stop, and who will stop it?” And the fact is, no one is stopping it. So, I think she believes, “I have to do something. It’s probably this, and now, how do I go about that?”
Akasha is such a mythical figure in the world of Anne Rice. How did you go about channeling her kind of ancient awesome spirit?
Sheila Atim: I think getting into the accent for me, or just having an awareness of this kind of ancient Sumerian reference. I think what’s nice about that is the world was so different back then in terms of how it was divided up. So I had real scope to explore kind of the whole of East Africa, where I’m actually from, through to like parts of North Africa and parts of the Middle East. So I just sort of melded all of that together and came up with something accent-wise. And I think having the awareness of all of those cultures in me, which are all very ancient, did a lot of the work, and then just this sense that she’s got this, she’s got a huge amount to say.
We see Akasha in her frozen, statuesque form, but also when she rises. Were any of those scenes where she’s frozen you actually in makeup, and how many were a practical effect?
Sheila Atim: Most of that is me. I’d say. There are one or two shots that are an actual statue. And then there’s me in prosthetics, and so sometimes it was me with just my normal face, and that’s when I’m further along in the whole waking up process. But in the really, really early stages, where she’s lying flat on her back, that’s me with a prosthetic mask on. So it looks like my face is more kind of stone-like. Yeah, it was me, so I was holding my breath and being very still.
The makeup’s incredible, all of the work, the makeup, the costume, even the statue version of me, is so great. It was just such a great team effort. I became so impressed when I arrived in Toronto, and everyone on the crew was like, “So this is what we’ve done.” I was like, “Great, just put me in the chair, and I’ll get onboard with it.” But yeah, the majority of that was me, which was wonderful, even though I’m not saying much. It’s nice that Sam (Reid) gets to be talking to me, more than an inanimate object. Because the point is, even though she’s in stone, she is alive. It kind of makes more sense for him to be talking to me, being super, super still, than to a statue.
Akasha is so powerful and so out of time, but her past is also full of this great tragedy. What do you want viewers to really understand about the character as she appears?
Sheila Atim: What I’ve tried to do in this season is to show the real depth of human emotion in Akasha, because all of us have been humans once, right? I don’t think that goes away. I think if anything becomes exposed, the masks and the layers of what it means to be a person living in the world suddenly become magnified, and the intensity of that passion and drive and human emotion. So I think it’s important that people are able to still connect with Akasha as somebody who was once human and still feels rage as opposed to a kind of godly figure that doesn’t understand or comprehend that. So I think that’s what I want people to take, that righteous rage is real.
There is a lot of backstory to her character that Anne Rice created, and how she came to be the first vampire. Is this all something The Vampire Lestat plans to show in the future? And do you already have thoughts about how to play Akasha potentially in her human form in flashbacks?
Sheila Atim: No. I don’t, because first of all, we’ve got to get there. The whole team, I mean. But I have thoughts. I have fleeting thoughts, but I think to share in it, at this moment, would be premature, because it is such a team effort. And I need to see where the adaptation is taking us, right? Because it is a TV adaptation. There are things where they’ve departed from the book. But I’m very excited about it. I’m very excited about where we could go.
I think her backstory is very important. Because I think her context (for becoming a vampire) is so wildly different to everyone else’s. You know, it’s not the case of “Yeah, I nearly died, and then someone came and brought me back to life,” or, “They were in love with me, and so they kind of killed me, but kept me alive.” Akasha has an an origin story that no one else has. So yeah, it’s going to be really important to make the most of that however we do it. But in terms of the specifics, no, we’re not there yet.
This series has a very intense fanbase. Even though, as we’re recording this, your character has yet to appear, have you already encountered some of the devoted Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat fans, and what’s that been like for you?
Sheila Atim: Yeah, there were so many at the premiere in New York. And it was wonderful. There was so much screaming. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, I look out the car, and I was like surrounded by sound, screaming, all these groups of people, and you know, they were all dressed up and very emphatic and very excited, which is really a wonderful thing when you are a performer, and you spend a lot of your time essentially in kind of make-believe stories. You know, whether they’re fantastical or naturalistic or whatever, you’re often in these like pseudo-fictional or fictional worlds.
It’s nice to be reminded that what you do matters to people because that is why you do it, you know? I mean, also it’s fun. It’s fun, it’s great. I believe there is a bigger purpose in my work, genuinely, but it’s nice to be reminded of that. And I think in a time where there’s a lot of cynicism and pessimism around in the world, around like the future of all of our jobs, our careers, you know, creativity, just to be reminded that what you do actually affects people and there are still people who are really devoted to engaging with TV, film, books, is really hot.
The Vampire Lestat is currently dropping new episodes on Sunday nights on AMC and AMC+.
The post Sheila Atim on Playing Queen Akasha in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
All rights reserved to : USAGOLDMIES . www.usagoldmines.com
You can Enjoy surfing our website categories and read more content in many fields you may like .
Why USAGoldMines ?
USAGoldMines is a comprehensive website offering the latest in financial, crypto, and technical news. With specialized sections for each category, it provides readers with up-to-date market insights, investment trends, and technological advancements, making it a valuable resource for investors and enthusiasts in the fast-paced financial world.