Gay daddy John Benjamin Hickey is about to get very priestly – Queerty

October 1, 2021 News Editor

Openly-gay veteran actor John Benjamin Hickey has announced his next role: that of an alcoholic priest living in a city that doubles as a haven for vampires in Salem’s Lot.

Hickey, the star of such films as Sublet and Mapplethorpe will step into the pivotal role of Father Callahan in the new, big-screen remake of the Stephen King classic. In the novel Salem’s Lot, Callahan is an alcoholic Catholic priest struggling to comfort his town following the death of a local child, Danny Glick. Callahan eventually joins forces with the local author Ben Mears to track the killer: a ruthless vampire that has invaded the town with intentions of converting its residents.

John Benjamin Hickey is currently riding high following a Tony Award nomination for his role in The Inheritance. Keen-eyed viewers will also recognize him from performances in Love! Valour! Compassion!, Law & Order: SVU, Sex & the City and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, among many others. In 2011, he won a Tony for his work in the Broadway revival of The Normal Heart.

Hickey joins Lewis Pullman as Ben Means in the film, alongside Spencer Treat Clark, Mackenzie Leigh and Oscar-nominee Alfre Woodard. Writer/director Gary Dauberman (writer of the IT remakes) will helm the movie, which has already begun shooting in Boston.

The new version of Salem’s Lot will hit movie screens in September 2022.