John Benjamin Hickey is set to join the cast of New Line’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, according to a recent report from Deadline.
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The recent Tony Award-nominated actor is set to portray Father Callahan in the film. In the novel that the film will be based on, Callahan joins the fight against vampires in the town after meeting with Ben Mears, the protagonist of the story.
Hickey joins a cast that already features the likes of Lewis Pullman, Alfred Woodard, Makenzie Leigh, Bill Camp, Spencer Treat Clark, and Pilou Asbæk. In the 1975 horror novel, author Ben Mears returns to the town of Jerusalem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.
Gary Dauberman is directing and writing the screenplay for producer James Wan (Conjuring universe, Saw franchise). This will be the latest King project Dauberman has adapted after writing the screenplays for 2017’s IT and 2019’s IT Chapter Two, both of which were directed by Andy Muschietti.
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Salem’s Lot was previously adapted into a miniseries in 1979, directed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper, with David Soul playing the role of Ben Mears. The movie was followed up by the 1987 film A Return to Salem’s Lot from Larry Cohen. In 2004, the story was adapted into another TV miniseries starring Rob Lowe as Ben Mears. This adaptation was written by Peter Filardi, who currently serves as a co-creator, co-writer, and executive producer for Epix’s Stephen King series Chapelwaite, based on King’s short story Jerusalem’s Lot.
