A remake of 1984’s Firestarter, adapted from the novel of the same title, has been remade once again, with leading the cast.
The sci-fi horror follows a girl named Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) who has the power of pyrokinesis, and along with her telepathic father Andy, is being pursued by an ominous government agency.
Charlie’s ability to start a fire purely through the power of her mind ignites whenever she feels her family are being threatened.
The 1984 version – which stars in the role of Charlie, and Heather Locklear as her mother Vicky – is widely considered as the worst Stephen King adaptation to date, with the novelist even going on the record to admit that he hated it.
During an interview two years after the film hit the cinemas, he compared it to ‘cafeteria mashed potatoes’ and said he described the performance by actor David Keith as Charlie’s father Andy as ‘not not very good’.
The latest remake from Blumhouse Productions sees 34-year-old star Zac take on the role of Andy.
Speaking about why he was so keen to take on the part, he recently told : ‘Stephen King is a hero of mine — I think that he creates fascinating worlds.
Describing the synopsis, he continued: ‘I play the dad, and Ryan plays my daughter Charlie, and then my wife is played by Sydney Lemmon. We are working with our daughter as she is developing these supernatural pyrokinetic abilities.
‘She’s got these emotional triggers that cause her to set things on fire, and it’s a superpower that’s sort of not really developed, and we don’t know whether to keep her from using it or to encourage her to learn how to use it.
‘There’s a government agency that’s after her to use her in nefarious ways, turn her into a weapon of some sort.’
Unfortunately, the film has been poorly received by critics following its cinematic release.
Is it based on a book?
Firestarter is adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same title, which was published in 1980.
It was nominated as Best Novel for the British Fantasy Award, Locus Poll Award, and Balrog Award, before being made into the original film starring Drew Barrymore in 1984.
In 2002, there was a mini series follow-up called Firestarter: Rekindled, which was released on the Sci-Fi channel. It starred Danny Nucci, Dennis Hopper, and Malcolm McDowell.
Who is in the cast of the remake?
Zac Efron leads the cast as Andy McGee, the telepathic father of daughter Charlie, who possesses the power of pyrokinesishas – aka the ability to make fire with her mind.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong takes on the role of Charlie, originally made famous by Drew Barrymore.
The 12-year-old actress is known for her role as Minnie May in ’s Anne with An E, and has also starred in American Horror Story and Chris Pratt’s The Tomorrow War.
Succession and Fear the Walking Dead star Sydney Lemmon plays Vicky McGee Charlie’s mother and Andy’s wife.
The cast also includes Michael Greyeyes, Mr Robot and ER actress Gloria Reuben and The Dropout’s Kurtwood Smith.
Firestarter is out now in cinemas.
