One of Stephen King’s most beloved stories was set to see a new adaptation from filmmaker Gary Dauberman last year, with Salem’s Lot initially slated to premiere in theaters back in September. It was then delayed by WBD to April 2023, before being pulled indefinitely from the Warner Bros. release schedule.
The new adaptation of King’s 1975 novel features actor Lewis Pullman, who recently starred in Top Gun: Maverick, and in an interview with ComicBook.com, Pullman has opened up about filming Salem’s Lot and how Dauberman handled the material.
“It’s a scary thing doing these remakes, man. It’s like, this and [Top Gun: Maverick], there’s such pressure, it’s a hard concoction to conjure up to make it successful,” says Pullman. “But Gary Dauberman, the director, is really keen on doing justice to the book. But also, the previous adaptation was a two-parter because it’s such a hefty book, and there are so many different moving parts and so many characters.”
“So there are some parts where Gary had to press and find what was really at the heart of the movie to keep in, but for the most part, he’s really true to the book and keeping a lot of the original dialogue in there. He’s a Stephen King hound dog, so he doesn’t wanna do Stephen dirty,” Pullman continued.
“So I think it’s in good hands; Gary’s a really smart guy who has a keen eye for things,” he states. “I think not just lean on the jump scares, but lean on the more conceptual and visual things that, rather than a shock that fades out of your body in the next five minutes, something that’s more visual, like an imprint that burnt into your retinas as a disturbing image that you’ll wake up in the middle of the night that you can’t shake out of your head.”
At present, there’s no word as to when – or if – we can expect to see Salem’s Lot, but we will keep you posted.
