Stephen King's FIRESTARTER Director Explains What Makes The New Film Different From The Original

Stephen King’s classic novel Firestarter is being adapted into a film for a second time. The upcoming adaptation is being helmed by Keith Thomas from a script by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills).

King’s original story follows a young girl named Charlie McGee, who develops pyrokinetic abilities and is abducted by a secret government agency called the Department of Scientific Intelligence, aka “The Shop.” They want to harness her powerful gift as a weapon.

Zac Efron has been cast as the girl’s father, Andy McGee. Michael Greyeyes (Fear The Walking Dead) will play the villainous Rainbird, “a relentless powerful man who has been pushed into a violent life.

In a recent interview with CB, the director talked about his upcoming adaptation and it explains how it will be different from the original film.

"It's something I've thought a lot about. And, certainly, when the project first came to me, I was very lucky in that the script by Scott Teems, who wrote the upcoming Halloween Kills, was just very, very good, and very rich. The material itself isn't different, right? I mean, it's the same book that this film is drawing from, the one the earlier film did. But what we're leaning into from the book is different. That's the angle where you can do something. So, for me, it was really leaning into more emotional aspects. It was leaning into parenthood and what that looks like, and then, how do you raise a child, especially a child with abilities like this. That was the place the script went and I thought that it was something that's a little different than the original film."

He went on to say:

"Also, the book's super rich. There's a lot of stuff that's in the book that isn't in the original film. There's stuff in there that we're using, that we're going into. At the same time, I feel like, just for me, in terms of the films I'm interested in, I feel like there's a visceral quality to the story that I didn't see in the '80s version, a rawness that I think is there in the book, that I certainly felt, that I'm really interested in diving into. And, luckily, I think everybody else involved feels the same way, that this is going to be ... not only will it have the effects and you're going to get to see all the stuff Charlie can do, which is fun, and cool, and exciting, but if we do it right, it's not so much as dark as The Vigil, but you should come out of it emotional. If you do it right, it's going to really hit that way."

I liked the original movie, but I’m looking forward to seeing this new adaptation of the story. There’s a good chance that it could end up being a better film adaptation than the 1984 movie.