Remake Of Stephen King’s ‘Firestarter’ Lands Award-Winning Director Fatih Akin

The plundering of every Stephen King property continues as a means of capitalizing on the success of last year’s It. There’s a high level of quality the studios are putting into them that simply wasn’t there, and that continues with Blumhouse’s hiring of award-winning director Fatih Akin to direct a remake of Firestarter

The German director is best known for In the Fade, which won the Golden Globe earlier this year for Best Foreign Language Film. Akin replaces Akiva Goldsman, who was attached to the project with the previous update.  This new version will be penned by Scott Teems (Rectify), and will draw more from the 1980 novel than the 1984 film that starred Drew Barrymore. The basic premise of a young girl with fire-starting pyrokinetic abilities remains the same.

Add Firestarter to the list of upcoming King adaptations including Pet Semetary, F, Doctor Sleep, and The Boogeman, which just landed A Quiet Place screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. [Variety]

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.