One scene I still find weird to this day......

I always took it that the reporter, despite hearing Louis story, didn't get it. Louis showed him the scary animal side of being a Vampire in that moment.

Anne Rice's book seemed to be about understanding the transition to the the psychology of a monster. It was creating a world that made sense for vampires. She spawned a thousand imitators, of course, all of whom now saw vampires as tragic, romantic heroes like something Byron would have crafted (which, he did, but that's a whole other thing). What Anne Rice remembered that none of her imitators seemed to recall was that vampires are still monsters.

A big part of the story here is Louis fighting with what is now his nature and his natural tendency. That monster lurks inside, waiting to devour. He has an animal side he can suppress, but it's creeping around. He unleashed it a bit on the reporter. Was this revelation deliberate (as wearsalan says) to make a point to the reporter? Maybe. It could just have been that Louis had been narrating his life for several hours and was getting hungry and having a harder and harder time suppressing his appetites and true personality.

I actually haven't seen this movie since theatrical release, but being that it was so faithful to the book, the whole point of that scene is that the reporter was becoming so enthralled with Louis's story that he was beginning to see the vampire's life as cool, sexy and romantic and wondering if he could become one, too.

It's kind of like when someone interviews an incredibly charming sociopath. After awhile, because the sociopath is so suave, the interviewer might think, "Hey, you know, he doesn't seem that dangerous, just a regular guy I could have a beer with..." 🤣

He was doing it because he cares—he wanted to emphasize to the man, No, you do not want this life.