When Lewis Pullman joined the cast of Top Gun: Maverick he was in for an experience unlike any other. While Tom Cruise himself is known for always doing his own stunts, Cruise made sure that everybody who flew did the same. They went to school to learn how to fly so that the action could all be done without CGI, which was tough according to all involved. Having said that, it honestly sounds like Pullman’s time making Salem’s Lot was even rougher.
In a recent interview with the Just for Variety podcast, Pullman points out that, while making Maverick was hard work, he at least got to sit down during the hardest parts of it. And making Salem’s Lot was essentially an action movie for him. He explained…
I got very battered over time, I would say. There was, yes, a combination of things that definitely weakened my body. It’s one of those things where you read the script, and you’re like, ‘OK, so this is awesome, you’re fighting the vampires.’ And then you really sit down and you start walking through these scenes. You’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is an action movie.’ And so in a lot of ways, it’s the first. I know I did ‘Top Gun,’ but in a lot of the action I was seated.
I’m aching just hearing Pullman talk about getting regularly battered while making the movie. Real injuries are possible, as Tom Cruise himself knows. Pullman calls out his stunt double, Taylor McDonald, during the interview, who he says handled some of the harsher physical work, though clearly Pullman did his share.
While Lewis Pullman may have been seated a lot making Top Gun: Maverick, we know that the work was still hard for the cast. The G-forces involved made members of the cast sick, so it wasn’t easy. Still, because all the work was done sitting down, it was a different sort of hard work compared to Salem’s Lot.
The most recent adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, which starred Pullman as the main character Ben Mears, is King’s version of the classic Dracula story, and as such you might not see it as an action story. However, Pullman admits that there was a lot of stunt work that he needed to do with battered and bruised him, and while it was fun, his body went through a lot. He continued…
[Salem’s Lot] was a lot more boots-on-the-ground action, and it was a really fun challenge. That whole sequence at the end, the entire drive-in movie theater, that took us three weeks. That’s three weeks of running around and just throwing your body and just being pulled, dragged in gravel and jumping over shit and landing.
Honestly, if given the choice, I think I’d rather ride in a fighter jet than go through the action that Pullman did for his newest film. Both would be rough on the body but only one would actually leave me bruised and sore.