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AMC's Mayfair Witches is set to premiere on Sunday, January 8, on AMC and AMC Plus. Following the success of Interview with the Vampire, the network will look to tell more stories from the Anne Rice catalog to the world at large, with an incredible cast featuring, among others, Alexandra Daddario (True Detective), Harry Hamlin (Clash of the Titans), and Tongayi Chirisa (The Jim Gaffigan Show).
Anne Rice's house on First Street in New Orleans is the stuff of legend, where the iconic writer penned timeless novels that continue to be enjoyed today.
The cast of Mayfair Witches did not manage to procure the same house, but shot in a mansion on the very same street. The location helped them gain an added sense of reverence for the author, according to stars Hamlin and Chirisa.
In this SK POP Exclusive, let's take a deep dive into the magic of the Mayfair House.
"The spirit of Anne Rice lives": Mayfair Witches star Tongayi Chirisa enjoyed his time shooting in New Orleans
The spirit of New Orleans is very much a part of Anne Rice's universe because of its inherent mysticism and voodoo-laden folklore. Shooting at the Mayfair House was a thrill for Harry Hamlin:
"Oh, it's great. What an amazing place to film. They also recreated a lot of it on sound stage too. But we filmed in the house, which was, to just be inside there and soak in the history of that house was truly amazing."
The Mayfair Witches cast was not deterred by not having access to the house that Rice wrote the original novel in. According to Chirisa, the very experience of shooting on First Street made filming very special:
"We actually couldn't get the real one but we were able to get one that was similar. And so, like Harry was saying they actually reproduced the outside but internal stuff they had to do it onstage. But I think the spirit of New Orleans and the spirit of Anne Rice lives because we filmed in the same street that the house was in."
To this day, long after her passing, Anne Rice's immortal works continue to be held in supreme reverence in the city of New Orleans. Chirisa experienced this as a part of the Mayfair Witches cast, because of the love she received from the community:
"And just interacting with people and how much people knew of who she was...getting pedestrians talking about who she was, this house, and Anne, it just added so much more value to what we're doing. And you actually walk into this space with a little more reverence. Because you now have an embodiment of her spirit within the community. So, now you approach it with the kind of respect that it deserves. So, it was special in and of itself. And New Orleans as a whole, it's a magical place."
Will Mayfair Witches become as much of a sensation as AMC's Interview with the Vampire? Only time will tell!
