Stephen King’s support for Salem’s Lot helped it finally get a release date.
The long-delayed adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot is finally headed to MAX on October 3rd, more than two years after it was filmed and after numerous delays. It’s an exciting light at the end of a long tunnel moment when it comes to the film, and for director Gary Dauberman, it’s something that wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for the support of King himself. Speaking with Total Film, Dauberman said that he is “extremely thankful” for King’s support and while he didn’t elaborate on everything that support entailed, Dauberman said that it helped make the film’s arrival possible.
“I’m extremely thankful for Steve’s support,” Dauberman said, adding, “Let’s just say it provided some shock support for the more bumpy portions of this journey and leave it at that.”
Earlier this year, King himself took to social media to not only praise Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot, but also question why it hadn’t been released. At the time of his post in February, the film had previously been scheduled for a September 2022 release date, then was delayed to spring 2023 before losing its release date altogether. It’s only been this week that the film finally got a MAX premiere date.
“Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new SALEM’S LOT and it’s quite good,” King wrote back in February. “Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the f-cking things.”
King also expressed his support for Salem’s Lot in 2023, writing at that time, “The Warner Bros remake of SALEM’S LOT, currently shelved, is muscular and involving,” King said. “It has the feel of ‘Old Hollywood,’ when a film was given a chance to draw a breath before getting to business. When attention spans were longer, in other words. It feels like a horror movie version of slow-burn movies like THE GREAT ESCAPE. It builds very well. There are diversions from the book I don’t agree with, but on the whole, faithful. Best scene: Danny Glick in the hospital, trying to claw down a blood bag. The Glick scene could have been directed by John Carpenter in his prime.”
While Dauberman isn’t sharing what additional support King may have given Salem’s Lot that helped it finally land a release date, King talking about the adaptation continues a long trend of the author speaking out about movies and television projects made based on his works. Over the years, King has frequently shared his feelings about different adaptations. The author generally is always supportive of adaptations ahead of their release but does sometimes have some issues and concerns that he’ll express. Notably, King has been open about his criticisms of The Shining, though in 2019 he also had good things to say about the adaptation of the sequel novel Doctor Sleep. At the time, King commented that Mike Flanagan’s adaptation ended up redeeming everything he ever disliked about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. He also, at one point said that Doctor Sleep “is going to blow your mind” and offered some praise for It: Chapter 2 in the process.
King has also had comments about television adaptations of his work after well after their release as well, as was the case with the television adaptation in Under the Dome. That series ran for three seasons between 2013 and 2015 on CBS and in 2020, King opened up about the aspects of the series that he felt went off the rails.
“Under the Dome was one I felt like went entirely off the rails, because the people are doing things that don’t seem realistic,” King said at the time. “One thing that killed me was you never hear the sound of a generator anywhere. The electric power is fine. Everything looks clean. Everything is great, except that they’re cut off from the world. And that isn’t what would happen.”
He added, “If you ask people to accept those ideas, there has to be a sense of realism that goes with it, that pulls you along.”
Salem’s Lot, starring Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, John Benjamin Hickey, Bill Camp, Jordan Preston Carter, and Pilou Asbaek, arrives on MAX on October 3rd.
