By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The Stephen King-movie reboot trend continues with the new screen version of FIRESTARTER coming from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, who have now signed a filmmaker to helm the project.
Variety reports that Fatih Akin (pictured) has been signed to direct FIRESTARTER, from a screenplay by Scott Teems, who has produced and written for TV series such as NARCOS and RECTIFY. Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman will produce this latest take on King’s tale of Charlie, a young girl with pyrokinetic powers who is pursued by a shadowy government agency that wants to weaponize her. Akin’s credits include last year’s IN THE FADE, which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and he has nabbed numerous other international prizes; this FIRESTARTER’s executive producer is Martha de Laurentiis, who produced the previous 1984 film version directed by Mark L. Lester, in which Drew Barrymore played Charlie. In other King-film news today, Rebecca Ferguson has been cast opposite Ewan McGregor in Mike Flanagan’s DOCTOR SLEEP for Warner Bros.
