Alfre Woodard in Salem's Lot 2024
Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody | Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max

Stephen King’s 1975 horror novel ‘Salem’s Lot has been re-adapted for Max. Gary Dauberman (IT Chapter 1 and 2, The Nun, Annabelle) wrote and directed the film, which follows writer Ben Mears as he returns to his hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine. It coincides with the arrival of two mysterious men who move into an abandoned mansion on a hill overlooking the town. Soon after, residents begin missing and turning up dead.

We spoke with Salem’s Lot stars Lewis Pullman (as Ben Mears), Makenzie Leigh (as Susan Norton), Alfre Woodard (as Dr. Cody), and Spencer Treat Clark (as Mike Ryerson) ahead of the film’s streaming debut. When asked about one of the film’s scariest scenes, in which Ben, Susan, and Dr. Cody confront one of the undead, we were surprised to discover how authentic and difficult things really were.

Alfre Woodard explains:

“It was fun sometimes. It was painful physically sometimes. It was creepy because it was all real morgue equipment. It wasn’t like, oh, let’s get some new morgue equipment. It was stuff that had been used before, and it was dated, which made it look like torture implements. Everything that I touched, I said, okay, no, I’m not touching that . . . I’m not touching that thing that drains the blood out of people.

It was funny, because it always is when you’re pretending to be scared. We’d laugh when (Danielle Perry), who plays Marjorie Glick, is doing stuff, and it’s all fun and games when it’s her. But then, when the vampire comes flying across the room at Dr. Cody, that’s the stunt woman. She is muscle-bound and strong. So the first time she hit me, I went against the wall. I said, okay, Alfre, come on. Use your core, plant your feet, and don’t knock your head against the wall.

I had said I wanted to fight the vampire. Well, I didn’t know I was going to be fighting somebody as strong as a vampire. I didn’t even have to work at it. I could have kept her off if I was strong enough. I was trying, but I couldn’t. So I got the fight, and, you know, the floor is cement, it’s wet, and they kept wetting it down. The building is hundreds of years old, and it was awful. Nobody cleaned it up.

It was full and rich because the actors were there, and all the people were dressing the set, and our stunt people were there. There was a lot of energy, so you knew it was going to be good. But it also was tiring and hilarious and scary AF when you . . . walk out into the night, and it’s like, oh, Lord, somebody please walk me to the bathroom so that the vampires I don’t believe in don’t get me.”

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Alfre Woodard, John Benjamin Hickey, Makenzie Leigh, Lewis Pullman, Jordan Preston Carter in Salem's Lot 2024
L to R: Makenzie Leigh, Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Jordan Preston Carter, and John Benjamin Hickey | Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max

When asked what it was like working with actual equipment, Makenzie Leigh was caught off guard, replying, “I didn’t know we were shooting in a morgue! That’s news to me. That’s terrifying.” She quickly asked co-star Lewis Pullman, “Did you know that?” He confirmed, “Yeah, we sure were. We sure were doing that, yeah.”

Pullman continues, “That was one of my favorite scenes as well. But, to be totally honest, it was one of the more unpleasant scenes to shoot.” Leigh agrees, saying, “It’s so unpleasant. I say the film was really fun, but that one was really hard.” Pullman reflected, “It’s one of those ones that took us like two weeks, and we were down in that basement.”

Leigh expanded on how physically and emotionally taxing it was, telling us the scene was “the one that you felt like you had to emotionally, absolutely nail the truth of the thing. But also, there were so many takes of her coming towards us. And at some point, you’re like, okay, how do I keep the adrenaline up? So that was me, just pacing back and forth in the morgue and screaming and imagining really bad things happening to my poor family.”

We also discussed Pullman’s action-heavy scenes with Jordan Preston Carter, who plays Mark Petrie. It seems the young actor was prepared for anything that came his way. Pullman explains:

“Some high-octane stuff he had to do at such a young age, but he’s definitely there. He was an absolute consummate professional. I mean, more so than me. I was trying to make jokes, and he was like, no, dude, we are working. He is serious about it, which really was helpful for me. I loved my scenes with him because he’s such an imaginative guy.

We would play these games in between takes where I’d be like, all right, Jordan, you have five seconds to pick out one thing from this room that you’re going to want for a vampire attack. What do you get? And he’d be like, I’d get the whole chair, disassemble it, and sharpen it for stakes, whatever. He constantly had his head in the game.

It was a great, constant little anchor for me. I really love working with him, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.”

Morgue Vampire in Salem's Lot 2024
Courtesy of New Line Cinema/Max

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Another standout moment features Spencer Treat Clark as cemetery worker Mike Ryerson. As day turns to night, Mike discovers that the dead in ‘Salem’s Lot aren’t staying dead for long. When we asked about filming this scene, he told us:

“I was really looking forward to that whole sequence in the graveyard. It starts during the funeral, and that was super fun to film. It’s all one location, so we got to film that all on the same day and then at night. And it was outside.

There are benefits to filming indoors, too; it’s controlled when it’s a million degrees and raining on you and stuff. But when you can get outside, especially in such a special location like that, I’ll take it any day of the week.”

We want to thank Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, and Spencer Treat Clark for their time. Salem’s Lot will stream on Max beginning October 3rd.

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