Firestarter Star Zac Efron Shares Photo From Set to Announce Filming Wrap

Production on the new adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter kicked off in May, with star Zac [...]

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Production on the new adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter kicked off in May, with star Zac Efron taking to Twitter to confirm that production has now wrapped on the horror movie. Following the announcement by Blumhouse that filming had officially started earlier this year, they also confirmed that the titular character was being played by American Horror Story and The Tomorrow War actor Ryan Kiera Armstrong, a character previously made famous by Drew Barrymore. While this new take on the concept doesn't yet have a release date, it marks the latest in a recent trend of King novels getting adaptations despite previous projects having already brought them to life.

"That's a wrap on [Firestarter] movie! can't wait for you guys to see this," Efron captioned the photo on Twitter.

Also starring in the film are Sydney Lemmon, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben. The 1984 theatrical adaptation starred George C. Scott and David Keith alongside Barrymore.

The new film focuses on a young girl with pyrokinetic abilities, as the government pursues her in hopes of unlocking the key to her powers.

Keith Thomas directed the new film from a script by Scott Teems. The director previously detailed what fans could expect from this new take on the material.

"It's something I've thought a lot about," Thomas explained to ComicBook.com. "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 added, "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."

Stay tuned for details on the new Firestarter.

Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars.

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