A year ago, we heard that Akiva Goldsman – best known for being the scribe who wrote BATMAN & ROBIN, then won an Oscar for writing A BEAUTIFUL MIND – was going to be directing a new adaptation of the Stephen King novel FIRESTARTER for Universal. Sometime along the way, though, Goldsman decided to vacate the director's chair, and now it has been announced that the new FIRESTARTER will actually be directed by Fatih Akin.
Although Akin has twenty years of credits to his name, this will be his first time directing a horror film. His most recent feature was the Golden Globe winner IN THE FADE.
Goldsman remains on the project as a producer, producing alongside Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions. Goldsman and Blum previously collaborated on the film STEPHANIE and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise. Sara Scott, VP of production at Universal, is overseeing for the studio. Martha de Laurentiis serves as executive producer; she was an associate producer on the FIRESTARTER adaptation released in 1984.
Scott Teems is writing the screenplay. King's novel told the following story:
Andrew and Vicky McGee met while earning money as guinea pigs for an experiment at college. The experiment was shrouded in suspicion and mystery, and seemed to be related to psychic abilities. The two were married and had a daughter Charlie, who has the ability to start fires by merely thinking about it. Naturally, the government takes a great interest in Charlie, and operatives from the secret department known as "The Shop" want to quarrantine and study her.
The 1984 film was directed by Mark L. Lester and starred Drew Barrymore.
I'm not really familiar with Akin's work, but I do think there's room to improve upon the '84 film and make a better overall version of FIRESTARTER. We'll see if this one lives up to the potential.