[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Salem’s Lot.]

The Big Picture

‘Salem’s Lot’ is a 2024 film adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel, following Ben Mears as he discovers a vampire preying on his hometown.
The latest adaptation stars Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, and Bill Camp, bringing a fresh take on the classic story.
The film explores themes of tragedy, love, and heroism, with a focus on the characters’ emotional arcs and thrilling vampire showdowns.

The Max original film Salem’s Lot, the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel, follows author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) as he returns to Jerusalem’s Lot, drawn home for inspiration for his next book. After the arrival of master vampire Kurt Barlow (Alexander Ward) and his human familiar Richard Straker (Pilou Asbæk), Ben realizes something isn’t right. As the townspeople are preyed upon and turned into vampires, the author teams up with longtime resident Susan (Makenzie Leigh), high school English teacher Matthew Burke (Bill Camp), Dr. Cody (Alfre Woodard), local priest Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey) and a young boy (Jordan Preston Carter) determined to stop the vampires, in the hopes of stopping it all before it’s too late.

The work of Stephen King is often adapted, and this is not even the first take on Salem’s Lot. Before Pullman and Leigh took on the characters of Ben Mears and Susan Norton for writer/director Gary Dauberman’s retelling, David Soul and Bonnie Bedelia stepped into the roles for the 1979 version, and Rob Lowe and Samantha Mathis took on the task in 2004. During this interview with Collider, co-stars Pullman and Leigh talked about the importance of King’s support for their film, what makes Susan’s arc such a tragedy, the fun of getting to see your vampire self, that fun final staking moment, and how Mark Petrie is the unsung hero of the story.

Stephen King’s Support of This ‘Salem’s Lot’ Adaptation Went A Long Way

Collider: It’s nice to finally be talking to you guys about Salem’s Lot since it took a while to get here, with this film coming out. Release days and shuffling aren’t uncommon, but it feels like it took a particularly long, silent amount of time to get itself sorted out. Did it help that, in that time, Stephen King was publicly vocal in his support of the film? Who better to have the support of, with this movie?

MAKENZIE LEIGH: Yeah, did a lot. Stephen King’s word holds a lot of weight.

LEWIS PULLMAN: It might have still come out, but that definitely was the straw that broke the camel’s back, that expedited the whole release.

Salem’s Lot is my favorite Stephen King book. The first time I read it, it really just devastated me, primarily because of the love story, and what happened with Susan and what Ben had to do as a result of that. How did you guys feel about the fate of this relationship?

LEIGH: It’s not like I feel this way watching it, but when I was acting it, it was very easy to tap into what felt like a massive tragedy. This is someone who really wanted to get out of their town and to exit the circumstance, but love is also transportive. She found her way out through this character, so I guess that’s good. It’s better to die for love. But when you’re first in love, it’s so scary. In real life, whenever you fall in love with someone, you’re so terrified, and you’re so in touch with the idea of how fragile it is and that maybe you could lose them.

At the same time, you’re making a movie, so what did you think of your vampire self?

LEIGH: That was undoubtedly the most fun I’ve ever had on set, playing a vampire and doing stunts. I was throwing people around, throwing myself around, and growling.

PULLMAN: There was some impressive contortion.

Shooting ‘Salem’s Lot’s Big Drive-In Battle Was Like Making an Action Movie Within the Movie
Image via Max

Lewis, what was it like to shoot such pivotal moments of this at the drive-in? There’s the date that Ben and Susan go on, but then it circles back to having the vampires in the trunks of the cars, later on. Because they feel like very big moments, what did you most enjoy about shooting those scenes?

PULLMAN: I thought that was a really brilliant way to bookend the whole story. It’s such an iconic setting, the drive-in movie theater. It’s so American and so nostalgic, and so it’s very fitting that it all begins and ends there. It was a blast of a scene to shoot. It’s funny that you just call it a scene because it actually took us three weeks to shoot it. It was a long one. It was one of those ones where we were just chipping away at it, 30 seconds of screen time at a time. It was like an action movie, in a lot of ways. It’s a gift because you don’t really have to act as much when you have to put your body through all those things because your mind just follows suit.

Mackenzie, there’s something tragic about Susan going back home to save her mother, only to learn that her mother has already made this choice that ultimately has this tragic outcome. How did you feel about that dynamic?

LEIGH: I felt like homegirl was ignoring her mother for far too long in this movie. I was like, “Excuse me, when was the last time you checked in with her?” Shit’s going crazy. People are dying and it’s like pretty late in the game that she’s like, “Oh, you know what? The woman who birthed me? Let me go see how she’s doing.”

Lewis Pullman Wanted His ‘Salem’s Lot’ Vampire-Staking Skills To Be Believable
Image via Max

When Ben stakes Barlow through the mouth, and there’s that shot through the mouth where you can see you on the other side of the back of Barlow’s head, it’s a really gnarly shot. What did you think of that shot? What was that like to shoot?

PULLMAN: I was very self-conscious about my staking form. I didn’t really play sports, and there’s something about it that’s almost like throwing a ball downward. I worked an embarrassing amount with my stunt double, Taylor McDonald, for how to make it look like I was a guy who could really drive a stake through a brain. It was cool. It’s one of those things where you do it and you understand what’s supposed to happen, but you don’t really know what it’s gonna look like until you watch the final product. That’s one of the most exciting things about getting to watch something you’ve done. You’re like, “Okay, this wasn’t how it looked on the day, but I was so curious to see how it looked, and it looked pretty cool.”

The unsung hero of this story is Mark Petrie. He realizes that there are vampires, he sets his sight on taking care of it, and he even has to stake his best friend. Lewis, what most impressed you about working with your young co-star, especially with the dynamic duo that your characters become?

PULLMAN: They’re like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by the end. Jordan [Preston Carter] is an amazing actor. He had such a difficult task that I cannot imagine doing at his age. I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I was blown away by him, daily. He had such a good attitude. He’s a really hard worker and takes it very seriously, but he also enjoyed being a part of this world. He was really able to exercise his imagination in ways that were very freeing. It was always fun to do a scene with Jordan. He was great. I’m excited to see what he does next.

Salem’s Lot, based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King, is available to stream on Max. Check out the trailer:

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