Lewis Pullman Recalls 'Behemoth' “Salem's Lot” Scene That Took 'Three and a Half Weeks' to Film (Exclusive)

'Salem's Lot,' based on Stephen King's 1975 book of the same name, is now streaming on Max

Salem's Lot included a "behemoth" task for Lewis Pullman.

Ahead of the movie's premiere on Max, the 31-year-old actor chatted with PEOPLE about bringing Stephen King's 1975 sophomore published novel to life in a full-length feature film for the first time, including which scenes were most challenging to complete.

"It's between the morgue and the behemoth that was the drive-in-movie-theater scene," Pullman says. "I mean, both of those took a lot of time."

The latter climax scene, which runs between 10 and 15 minutes to close out the vampire flick, "took us three and a half weeks or something," the actor adds.

Directed, written for the screen and executive produced by Gary Dauberman (Annabelle Comes Home) Salem's Lot follows author Ben Mears (played by Pullman) as he "returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire," according to an official logline.

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Related: Salem's Lot Cast Reveal Their Favorite Stephen King Books Ahead of Long-Awaited Movie Adaptation (Exclusive)

The horror film also stars Makenzie Leigh as Susan Norton, Spencer Treat Clark as Mike Ryerson, Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody, Bill Camp as Matthew Burke, Pilou Asbæk as Straker, John Benjamin Hickey as Father Callahan and Jordan Preston Carter as Mark Petrie.

Speaking with PEOPLE, Woodard, 71, notes that she prepared for the morgue scene — which includes a tense, action-packed moment for her character — how she usually does: "You know what your intentions are. You get a good night's sleep. You make yourself strong enough, and the last thing you need are the words, because life happens between the lines."

"So I usually commit to my lines in hair and makeup the morning of a particular scene, but I know so well because I am living that life. I am that character," she explains. "But you never know what it's really going to be. It's like calling a football play or a basketball play: You know where you're supposed to go, but you don't know what the other team, what that ball, is going to do."

In the case of the morgue scene, the four-time Emmy winner says, "I don't know what it's like when the vampire, who is a stunt woman who's strong as a granite young bull, comes flying at me."

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"And at first, it's like, 'Oh, hell.' I hit the wall, bump my head, all of that. It was like, 'Okay,' but you can't break character. You deal with that," she adds. "That's how the vampire got you. So the next time, you're like, 'Okay, I'm going to use my head. I'm going to really stand strong.' "

Leigh, whose character is the love interest of Pullman's, tells PEOPLE that she and Pullman "met on a Zoom" for their chemistry read, "which you can imagine doesn't always go so smoothly, including if there's a buffering issue with wifi."

"I think even over Zoom I was just like, 'Oh, s---. I can act with this actor over Zoom? Okay, yeah!' " says Leigh, 34, of her costar.

"And also chemistry is all about eye contact, and unless you're looking right down the lens of the camera, it doesn't look like you're actually making eye contact," Pullman says, adding of the challenging medium, "It's a testament [to] if we can have chemistry on [set]."

Salem's Lot, from New Line Cinema, is now streaming on Max.

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