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Watch the first Firestarter trailer and find out Stephen King's reaction to the remake

Stephen King adaptation stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, and Kurtwood Smith.

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Published on February 9, 2022 02:44PM EST

In the new movie adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter (out May 13), Zac Efron and Sydney Lemmon play parents Andy and Vicky who have been on the run for more than a decade, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her gift for creating fire into a weapon of mass destruction. Andy has taught Charlie how to defuse her power, which is triggered by anger or pain. But as Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. After an incident reveals the family's location, a mysterious operative (Michael Greyeyes) is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all.

"It's an iconic Stephen King property," says producer Jason Blum of the original novel, which was previously adapted into a 1984 film starring an 8-year-old Drew Barrymore. "It's something I've thought about doing for a long time and we finally got the right mix of folks to make the movie. I'm very proud of it, I'm very excited for people to see it."

The film is written by Scott Teems and directed by Keith Thomas who made the very unsettling horror film The Vigil.

"It's going to be a different Firestarter from the '80s Firestarter," Thomas told EW last year, before shooting began, "but still very very true to what I see as the core of that novel, the very emotional core."

"I saw The Vigil, I loved it," says Blum. "I thought he'd be a great fit for Firestarter."

The producer reveals that King himself has given the movie his blessing.

"I showed him the movie and he was happy with it," says Blum. "He was very generous with his response and his comments and I was very happy about that."

The Firestarter score is co-composed by legendary director John Carpenter with whom Blum has strong ties. The Blumhouse CEO's other projects include the currently-being-shot Halloween Ends, the latest entry in the Halloween franchise whose first film Carpenter directed back in the late '70s.

"I had dinner with the great John Carpenter last night, and he was very happy, and I'm so excited we're getting to make a third Halloween movie," says Blum. "So far the shooting is going very well, knock on wood, and we'll have a cut to look at in two or three months."

The cast of Firestarter also includes Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, and Gloria Reuben. The film will premiere in theaters and streaming only on Peacock, May 13.

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Watch the first Firestarter trailer and find out Stephen King's reaction to the remake

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