Zac Efron to star in Firestarter reboot, but probably not as the little girl who starts fires
Aux Features Film
Oh, you thought a global pandemic would slow down Hollywood’s Stephen King adaptation machine? The global pandemic couldn’t even stop a new version of The Stand, a book that involves the survivors of a global pandemic being saved by the literal hand of God. Nothing can stop Hollywood’s Stephen King adaptation machine, as evidenced by a report from Deadline about Zac Efron starring in Blumhouse’s new adaptation of King’s book Firestarter—which was previously adapted into a 1984 movie starring a very young Drew Barrymore.
Efron probably won’t be playing the Drew Barrymore character, the eponymous firestarter (the story is about a little girl with pyrokinetic abilities and a government agency trying to turn her into a weapon), but it seems likely that he’ll be playing the girl’s similarly super-powered dad (David Keith in the original movie). This new Firestarter has gone through some different iterations with different filmmakers attached, but Variety says the current director is The Vigil’s Keith Thomas, with Akiva Goldsman—who was once set to direct—still worryingly on board as a producer. If you don’t know why that’s worrying, we’d like to point you to the god-awful Dark Tower movie he produced had a co-writer credit on. Nobody involved in that disaster should be allowed near a Stephen King adaptation again.
26 Comments
Efron as John Rainbird! The gruesomely disfigured and psychotic Native American Vietnam War vet he was born to play!
Gruesomely disfigured? George C. Scott was maybe no Mel Ferrer, but he wasn’t Rondo Hatton either.
I’m going off the book character, but props for the Rondo Hatton reference. It’s been a minute, time to rewatch The Rocketeer.
John Rainbird was like 6’10” or something like that which Efron most definitely is not, though Predator era Sonny Landham would have been more than acceptable.
One of the villains in the book comes off point for point as mocking the shit out of incels, despite being written decades before they came around. That should be pretty easy to work into the new version.
Does that come out in the Drew Barrymore movie? (I haven’t seen it yet)
This is a good look for Efron
…is that Dilbert’s boss?
“I’m trapped in a sewer with a confessed arsonist Brock!”
I don’t remember any sequel for the movie, thus this is a remake rather than a reboot.
There was a sequel miniseries in the early 2000’s.
And the Saturday morning cartoon!
The Firestarter/Carrie Action Hour! Who can forget their wacky adventures when they teamed up? And in the later seasons, the get to ride around in Christine and have Cujo as a mascot!
My favorite episode was when mean old Mr. Barlow tried to kidnap Cujo but Carrie teamed up with Pennywise and got him back, and it turned out that Barlow was just the Shawshank warden the whole time!
It sucked, but it had Marguerite Moreau, so you take the bad with the good.
Side note: I met her and whatever hipster boyfriend she was with at the time, and she was really cool. Not fakey or weird, just good to talk to.
And Dennis Hopper!
OH GOOD PEOPLE ARE STILL GIVING AKIVA GOLDSMAN MOVIES TO RUIN
TO BURN!!!!
If this is about a gender reveal party, I’m not interested.
Zac Efron to star in Firestarter reboot, but probably not as the little girl who starts firesAre we sure Efron didn’t stoop to this movie specifically to show his range by playing a little girl?
It’s 2020, dude. Nothing is off the table.I would also accept him as Heather Locklear.
Firestarter is my favorite King book. It’s so tense, and the danger is so palpable, that a movie feel unnecessary. It’s already the perfect chase movie/book. I tried watching the original after I read the book, and it was a snore. All the plot points of the book without any of the excitement.
I also really enjoyed the book. I had seen the movie first (good cast) and was later blown away by all that had been omitted. I think a new adaptation could still be really good in the right hands. A series would be a wise choice.
Yeah, I can see Goldsmith’s involvement being worrisome. I do understand “A Director’s Innovative Vision”, but it needs to be curbed when one is simply taking a known property and just shoving it into another story in order to get some credit. It ends up being either too confusingly muddled at best and an unwatchable disaster in worse case scenarios.
Who is Zac Efron?Who is Keanu Reeves?Who is … Charlize Theron??Oh, Gawd, We’re All Dieing Today!!Jimmie Spammerfella of Kinja minor internetsq fame is Satan/Devil. <-- fuck fact.
You just put The Prodigy in my head X(
this article is transphobic af