By WILLIAM J. WRIGHT
Following its world premiere last month at Beyond Fest, Annabelle scribe Gary Dauberman‘s adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling vampire novel SALEM’S LOT is here at last. Originally slated for a 2022 release, the film, which debuts October 3 on streaming service Max, faced many setbacks, including delays during post-production brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dauberman’s film is the third onscreen adaptation of King’s perennially popular book, following Tobe Hooper’s 1979 CBS miniseries and TNT’s 2004 version starring Rob Lowe and Rutger Hauer. Recently, RUE MORGUE sat down with much of SALEM’S LOT’s principal cast for some exclusive comments.
Academy Award-nominee Alfre Woodard is no stranger to director Gary Dauberman’s work. Woodard, best known for powerful dramatic roles in such films as Crooklyn and 12 Years a Slave, earned her horror cred as Evelyn in 2014’s Annabelle. In SALEM’S LOT, Woodard takes on the role of Dr. Cody, one of a cadre of fearless vampire killers who joins writer Ben Mears in a quest to end the bloodthirsty Kurt Barlowe’s reign of terror. Those familiar with King’s book no doubt recall that the character, Jimmy Cody, was written as a white man in King’s novel and portrayed as such in the previous TV versions. Although SALEM’S LOT hews closely to much of the original story in some aspects, the reimagining of Cody is a welcome change, thanks to Woodard’s incomparable skills as an actor. However, backlash from King purists and certain vocal elements of the fan community is inevitable. Woodard, however, takes such criticism in stride. Above all, it is her interpretation of Cody and her performance that must come first.
“I feel like the work I do is, if nothing else, honest,” Woodard explains. “People will say it’s strong; It’s not strong. It’s recognizable, so different kinds of people feel it in different ways. But I, like Dr. Cody, only know my reality. That’s the only thing. If anything else in my head is there, I’m not being Dr Cody. I’m performing. I’m acting. That’s the training you give yourself to master that discipline.”
As for possible negative reactions to Cody’s alteration from fans, Woodard hopes they will keep an open mind and try something new. “So, I don’t know about you, but I like fish, and I’ll say I only want to eat, you know, ocean perch,” muses Woodard. “And I might say that because I had some that was so freakin’ good. It’s like, ‘You don’t have perch? I’m not going to eat!’ But if somebody says, “Here, let me grill you this grouper, let me, let me give you a North Atlantic salmon that’s not even cooked.’ And then you realize, oh, my goodness, there’s so many fish that please me, satisfy me, and they all have omega threes! … I would hope that people would give themselves the freedom to enjoy [this film] and if they don’t like the salmon uncooked, they don’t have to eat it anymore. It’s a hard life if you put constraints on the bounty of possibilities when it comes to cinema.”
However, one element that remains largely unchanged in this new version is the ultimately doomed relationship between Ben Mears, portrayed by Lewis Pullman (The Strangers: They Prey at Night, Top Gun: Maverick), whose tragic past and search for inspiration lead him back to his soon-to-be vampire-infested hometown, and Susan Norton, played by Makenzie Leigh (Gotham). Unlike previous adaptations which had the luxury of developing these characters over two installments, Dauberman’s feature-length film must establish their connection quickly in the midst of the vampiric onslaught. Fortunately, Pullman and Leigh had no trouble striking the right chord.
“My feeling is that chemistry, when it comes to acting, is kind of just [working with] an actor who you feel like really immediately has a presence that you believe, and everything that they say is just very easy to kind of go with,” says Leigh. “Whether that’s romantic love or whether it’s platonic, that chemistry is basically, like, I believe everything you’re putting down, and I can just kind of follow you. That didn’t really have to be built. I felt it when I was doing chemistry reads with Lewis on Zoom. It was pretty easy and pretty instant because he’s a great actor.”
Pullman agrees with his co-star’s assessment of their onscreen bond, adding, “It doesn’t always work out, you know. And it was such a joy working with Makenzie because certain actors go into [a role] and their objectives are all very self-serving, or they all end up kind of rounding a corner and ending up back at themselves. [An actor who is] present, listening, giving, generous, just reads as somebody who’s connecting with somebody – and wants to connect with somebody. And that’s a rare breed.”
Although a relatively minor character in King’s novel, gravedigger and all-around handyman Mike Ryerson figures prominently in many of SALEM’S LOT’s most frightening scenes. Ryerson was memorably portrayed by the late Geoffrey Lewis in Tobe Hooper’s 1979 TV version. (His delivery of the line “Look at me, teacher…” remains nightmare fuel for a generation of horror fans.) Actor Spencer Treat Clark takes on the role in this new version, with those big, scary shoes to fill. However, he was determined to avoid allowing previous interpretations of the character (or the story) to influence his performance.
“I chose not to watch the [original] miniseries. I just feel like that would be far too much pressure. [SALEM’S LOT] has such a great fanbase of people who are protective of both the book and the miniseries, so I just had to divorce myself from it completely,” Clark says. “The irony is, I still haven’t watched it. I always intended to watch it after the fact, and this is a great reminder that I should go back and revisit it. I just had to avoid any association with it and do my own thing.”
For Clark, getting a handle on the film’s 1970s setting was key to finding his way into Ryerson. “It’s set in the ’70s because Stephen King wrote in the ’70s … It would have been a such a mistake to have it set in 2024. Just having the sideburns and the long hair – it just felt really right once we got into it. I knew who this guy was. I grew up in New England and it just didn’t feel like that far of a reach. I think that the challenge was sort of finding the transition from human to vampire and sort of feeling what that feels like – what’s echoing from his past and where he is going.”
