Zac Efron To Star In New Stephen King Movie
Efron will lead Blumhouse's new adaptation of King's novel, Firestarter
The well of Stephen King content to adapt has absolutely no risk of drying up. Actor Zack Efron has been pegged to star in the remake of 1984's Firestarter, based on the King novel of the same name.
The story of a young girl named Charlie, played by a 9-year-old Drew Barrymore in the original film, who develops telepathic and pyrokinetic abilities, Firestarter skews more towards the sci-fi end of the spectrum in King's work. It deals with shady government agencies, human experimentation -- and of course, lots of mayhem and terror.
It's unclear who exactly Efron has signed on to play, but a good guess would be the lead role of Andy McGee, Charlie's father. In the novel, Andy has abilities of his own from time spent as a guinea pig in secret government experiments and can mentally manipulate and force the people around him to bend to his will.
Initially announced back in 2017, the Firestarter remake will be produced by horror juggernauts Blumhouse and Universal Pictures with Jason Blum, Akiva Goldsman signed on as producers, and Martha De Laurentiis, who worked as an associate producer on the 1984 version, as executive producer. It currently has no anticipated release date.
King's massive novel The Stand is currently next up for the remake treatment with a new mini-series adaptation set to hit CBS All Access on December 17.
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