Zac Efron to star in Blumhouse adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter

Last month, we shared an interview with THE VIGIL director Keith Thomas in which he discussed the fact that he is attached to direct a new adaptation of the Stephen King novel FIRESTARTER for Blumhouse. Thomas said that HALLOWEEN KILLS' Scott Teems has written an "amazing script" for FIRESTARTER that King is "very happy with", and he's hoping to be in production by the end of the year.

Now the project has taken a major step toward the start of production by getting Zac Efron to sign on for a lead role. Efron first gained popularity with his role in the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL franchise, and recently played Ted Bundy in the film EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE.

FIRESTARTER tells the story of 

a young girl who develops pyrokinetic abilities and is abducted by a secret government agency that wants to harness her powerful gift as a weapon.

Efron will be playing the girl's father.

This new take on FIRESTARTER is coming to us from Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, and Weed Road Productions. Jason Blum is producing the film with Akiva Goldsman, and Teems serves as executive producer alongside Martha De Laurentiis.

Thomas has said that his version of the story will feature "everything you would want; people's heads catching fire and their faces melting off, and a dad and daughter on the run trying to survive being chased in this heightened tense experience." Sounds like fun to me.

Copies of King's novel can be purchased at THIS LINK. The novel was previously turned into a film directed by Mark L. Lester and starring David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Martin Sheen, George C. Scott, Louise Fletcher, Heather Locklear, and Art Carney in 1984. Copies of Lester's FIRESTARTER can be purchased HERE.