Stephen King loves a good vampire tale almost as much as the entertainment industry loves a good adaptation of his work, andSalem’s Lotis here to offer both. Premiering October on Max, the movie follows author Ben Mears (played byTop Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman), who returns to his hometown in the hopes of finishing his novel with inspiration from the haunted Marsten House. What he finds instead is a vampiric creature who begins turning Jerusalem’s Lot into a waking nightmare.
Written and directed by Gary Dauberman,Salem’s Lotfeatures an ensemble castof top-tier talent in addition to Pullman. Cast members include Spencer Treat Clark, Pilou Asbæk, William Sadler, Makenzie Leigh, and Alexander Ward as the the one and only Kurt Barlow. There have already been two miniseries that adaptedSalem’s Lot, in 1979 and 2004 respectively, but fans are eager to see how the most recent version stacks up.
Salem’s Lot Vampires Explained: Origin, Appearance & Powers
While it’s hard to know exactly what the vampires will be in the new Salem’s Lot adaptation, Stephen King’s book and previous miniseries offer clues.
Screen Rantinterviewed Spencer Treat Clark about his approach to playing Mike Ryerson in thenewSalem’s Lotremake. The actor shared why he hadn’t watched the previous adaptations before filming, revealed his reaction to the vampire aesthetics, and praised Stephen King’s epic bibliography.
Spencer Treat Clark Purposely Stayed Away From Salem’s Lot To Come At Mike Fresh
Screen Rant: How familiar were you with Stephen King andSalem’s Lotbefore joining the project? Did read the novels or watch any of the other adaptations of the film?
Spencer Treat Clark: Joe, that’s a great question. First of all, I’m really glad that Max is releasing it this time of year. They could have released it whenever they want to, but it definitely is a fall film. It really should be around Halloween, and it takes place in real life. During the fall, the movie starts and the leaves are green and it’s ending, and the leaves are falling. The town is falling apart. So I’m really glad that it’s being released right now.
I purposely did not watch the miniseries, especially because the Mike Ryerson portrayal is so iconic. I just had to completely divorce myself from that, and the irony is that I always intended to go back and watch it. Now, coming back and doing press for this and revisiting as people are watching, it’s a great reminder that I do need to go back and watch that iconic miniseries.
I hadn’t read the book either. I’d read a bunch of other Stephen King novels, and I’m a fan of his, but I hadn’t read Salem’s Lot until I got this job. It was one of Stephen King’s favorites, and it’s now - of course - one of mine.
Screen Rant: For those that may not be familiar withSalem’s Lot, tell us a little bit about Mike.
Spencer Treat Clark: One of the cool things that Mike’s character gets to go through is you get to see the transition from human to - spoiler alert - vampire. Many of the people you meet in the beginning of this movie will be a vampire. It’s an inherent to the movie, so I can’t work my way around it.
My presumption is that he grew up in this small town, maybe at one point he had the opportunity to leave, but he decided to stick around. I imagine that he probably had Mr. Burke, one of the characters portrayed brilliantly by [Bill] Camp; Mr. Burke was his fifth grade teacher at one point growing up in this town.
One of the really cool challenges and fun parts was seeing this transition of not just as a human, not just as a vampire, but you get to see him as he’s losing his humanity, and this evil sort of taking him over. The pull of Barlow, and the pull of his own life, and not knowing what’s going on and sort of losing his touch with reality, and all of a sudden everything is becoming a threat. There’s this great scene when I’m in a bar during the middle of the day, and he’s just completely off his rocker saying, “What the hell is going on to me with me? " That was both the fun part and the challenging part about this role.
Salem’s Lot Gives Good Stephen King Vampire Prosthetics
“It’s really the best of the best doing the makeup.”
Screen Rant: How was your experience working with the practical effects and the makeup in this horror film?
Spencer Treat Clark: The makeup on this - it’s really the best of the best doing the makeup. We had contacts and teeth, and it’s really interesting because once you get all that stuff in, it’s very little work for you to do. It’s almost like you have to do less because you just have to trust it, and it’s really Gary [Dauberman] letting you know how things look and playing with it.
I got to do a lot of my vampire stuff early on in the shooting, which meant that I got to be a little bit of a guinea pig to sort of play with things. I’m fortunate that we had a lot of time with movie schedule. It’s not as rushed as when you’re doing television, so we got to play with some of those things. We got to do all sorts of makeup tests, and I have so many pictures that I’m excited to finally be able to share.
Recently, I was going through my phone and kind of looking back on my experience just from my own perspective, and it’s fun. I have so many photos that I was sending my wife back. My wife came and visited me, and there were bloody hand prints from night shoots. She was waking up to get on Zoom for her job back in Los Angeles, and there was blood all over the shower from when I had just come back in a days after night shoot.
Screen Rant: If you had a pair this with another movie that you can watch at home, what would you pairSalem’s Lotwith?
Spencer Treat Clark: Oh, that’s a great question. There’s a lot streaming on Max right now, and I should really have a list of things. But I know they’ve done a really concerted job to build out their catalog, so I’m sure you can find something there on Max that would complicate compliment this beautifully. I’m sure the Max people would appreciate me shouting that out right now if I had the list, but I’m unprepared. That’s a great question.
I think Stephen King has so many movies that you have to double it up with something fromthe Stephen King genre. I just feel like that just makes sense. I know personally for myself, I need to go back and I read a handful of stuff, but I barely touched his catalog because he has so many books. You read four or five [books from] any other author, and you’ve covered most of their catalog. But for someone like Stephen King, you’ve barely scratched the surface.
More About Salem’s Lot (2024)
Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.
Salem’s Lot
Cast
Salem’s Lot is a 2024 remake of the movie of the same name released in 1979. The latest adaptation of Stephen King’s 1975 novel stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, and Bill Camp, with Gary Dauberman writing and directing the Max original film. The plot revolves around a writer who discovers a vampire in his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot upon returning home for inspiration.
