Adapting Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot scared Lewis Pullman, but not for the reasons you might think.
Pullman acknowledged that, although the story is undeniably scary, trying to turn it into a film that would not tarnish the legacy of Stephen King was just as frightening—if not more so. “Talk about scary for two reasons!” the star of the upcoming horror flick succinctly told Screen Rant.
“[It’s scary] because it’s Stephen King, and the legacy is strong for a reason,” he clarified. “And then also the material.”
Salem’s Lot concerns a writer who returns to his childhood town to find its residents turning into vampires. Published in 1975, it was King’s second novel, and remains a favorite among both the author and his fans. Pullman is no exception, with the Top Gun: Maverick alum admitting that “Salem’s Lot is just one of the coolest books, and I think there’s a reason why it hasn’t been made into a feature.”
Rather than a feature film, Salem’s Lot has been adapted into two miniseries, one in 1979 directed by horror legend Tobe Hooper, and another in 2004 by Academy Award nominee Mikael Salomon. “It’s such a long book. It’s hard to condense that into a feature length film,” Pullman admitted, “but [writer-director] Gary Dauberman has really tapped into the vein of this genre. It feels like he has liberty to play with it a little bit and reinvent it.”
See if Pullman, Dauberman, and the rest of the lot authenticated Salem’s Lot, the first big screen adaptation of King’s iconic story, when it gets released on Sep. 9.
