Zac Efron to Star in Blumhouse’s Firestarter Remake

Zac Efron is set to star in the upcoming Firestarter remake from Blumhouse Productions. Collider initially reported that Efron is in talks to star in the upcoming readaptation of the Stephen King novel, which Blumhouse later confirmed with a post to Twitter welcoming Efron “to the fam.”

Details on the plot behind Blumhouse’s adaptation are not yet known, though it seems likely (assuming that it’s a remotely faithful adaptation of the book) that Efron would be playing Andy McGee, the father of Charlene “Charlie” McGee who is the titular character. David Keith and Drew Barrymore played the two in the 1984 film.

Firestarter centers on an organization called the Department of Scientific Intelligence, aka “The Shop.” Two participants in their mysterious research program end up getting married and having a child. Their offspring, Charlie McGee, inherited pyrokinetic powers from her parents, who were given a low-grade hallucinogen called “Lot Six” during their college years. Now the government is trying to apprehend the young Charlie in order to harness her powerful and unique skills as a weapon.