Warner BrothersGary Dauberman has been named as the director of the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot’, based on a screenplay he wrote. It was announced about a year ago that Dauberman was working on this picture with his ‘The Conjuring’ collaborator James Wan. Dauberman will also executive produce, while Wan is attached as producer, along with Roy Lee and Mark Wolper.
Dauberman made his directorial debut with last year’s ‘Annabelle Comes Home’, which he also wrote. Among his other writing credits are ‘Annabelle: Creation’, ‘The Nun’, ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’, and both ‘It’ movies, which were, of course, also based on one of King’s classic, and dense novels. Dauberman also created and co-wrote the short-lived, but acclaimed DC Universe series, ‘Swamp Thing’.
‘Salem’s Lot’ was King’s second novel and was first published in 1975. It is also reportedly King’s favorite of his books. It was adapted into a two-part TV miniseries in 1979, and that version was nominated for several Emmy Awards. It was followed by a sequel in 1987, ‘A Return to Salem’s Lot’. In 2004, TNT aired an updated two-part miniseries, starring Rob Lowe in the lead role as Ben Mears.
In the novel, Mears is a writer who moves back to his hometown, Jerusalem’s Lot (nicknamed “Salem’s Lot”) to write about Marsten House, a huge but decrepit old mansion that overlooks the town. Ben discovers that an old European gentleman named Kurt Barlow has purchased the house, and eventually he figures out that Barlow is a vampire and is steadily turning the town’s residents into bloodsuckers as well.
Jerusalem’s Lot and Marsten House are significant settings for the Hulu series ‘Castle Rock’, which is not a direct adaptation of any specific King book, but draws elements from many.
At this early stage, it is not yet known when production on ‘Salem’s Lot’ will begin or when the film will be released, but presumably, nothing major will occur until this COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
Are you a fan of the book or any of the past adaptations of ‘Salem’s Lot’? What do you think of it being turned into a theatrical film?
Source: Deadline
