The horror film Firestarter with Zac Efron is released this Wednesday in our theaters. Everything you need to know about this new adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
For more than ten years, Andy and Vicky have been constantly between moves to evade a shadowy federal agency seeking to capture their daughter Charlie. Indeed, this one has an extraordinary faculty of pyrokinesis which the agency would like to use to create a weapon of mass destruction… Andy taught his daughter to control her anger or her pain which trigger her power. But Charlie is now 11 years old and she is finding it increasingly difficult to control her emotions – and therefore the starting of the fire. When the agency finds out where she and her parents are staying, a mysterious agent is sent on a mission to track down the family and get hold of Charlie. But the young girl does not intend to let herself go…
Worn by Zac Efron, young Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon and Michael Greyeyes, Firestarter is adapted from the novel charlie by Stephen King, published in 1980.
The latter has already adapted to the cinema in 1984 with Drew Barrymore, then 9 years old, in the title role. Directed by Mark L. Lester and adapted by Stanley Mann, Charlie is a critical and public failure. With a budget of 15 million dollars, the film totaled 17 million greenbacks worldwide.
Bringing the film to the younger generation
38 years after the first version, producers Jason Blum (Blumhouse) and Akiva Goldsman (Weed Road Pictures), who have already collaborated on the Paranormal Activity saga, have therefore decided to make a new adaptation.
Jason Blum explains in the film’s press kit: “There’s a whole new generation of horror movie fans who may have heard of the first movie, but probably haven’t seen it. We thought it was a great opportunity to update the plot a bit and introduce new faces.”
Universal Pictures France Ryan Kiera Armstrong
Blumhouse Productions also seems to have specialized in remakes of horror films from the 70s and 80s. A way for the US studio to translate the classics of horror cinema for the new generation.
The company has indeed recently produced the sequel to the Halloween trilogy and the remakes of The Invisible Man, Black Christmas and even the Fantasy Island series.
Jason Blum recently announced the sequel to the cult film The Exorcist in the form of a trilogy, which would be directed by David Gordon Green, already at work on the new Halloween franchise.
Zac Efron, dad for the first time in the cinema
Firestarter, for its part, is directed by Keith Thomas, to whom we owe the horror film The Vigil, released in 2020.
And to attract young audiences to dark rooms, the team entrusted the role of Charlie’s dad to Zac Efron. This is the first time that the actor has played a father in a feature film.
The latter also entrusts to AND Canada being inspired by his father to create the character of Andy. “I personally have a great relationship with my own father, and I thought about what he would do and how he would act in certain specific instances of the film..”
Universal Pictures France
Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong
Director Keith Thomas explains: “Zac was keen to explore the paternal dimension of the role. He spent a lot of time with Ryan, before and during filming, to really develop his relationship with her. It’s the kind of investment and enthusiasm that we have need from the main actors.”
It is also the first foray into a horror film by the American actor, who is more accustomed to comedies.
He says about it:I’m a huge horror movie fan myself, so I was thrilled with this project when it was offered to me.“. He adds : “I remember seeing the first adaptation when I was a kid and loving it! It was a real pleasure to collaborate with my partners and the technical team to bring this Stephen King classic to a new generation.“.
Charlie version 2022
She is the young Ryan Kiera Armstrong who faces Zac Efron. She thus succeeds Drew Barrymore in the role of the little girl endowed with the power of pyrokinesis.
Universal Pictures France
Ryan Kiera Armstrong
Daughter of comedian Dean Armstrong, she made her debut behind the camera at the age of 7 by landing a recurring role in the costume series Anne with an E available in France on Netflix. We then find her in the cast of the mini-series The truth about the Harry Quebert affair, taken from the bestseller by Joël Dicker, she embodies the child version of Nola Kellergan.
Ryan Kiera Armstrong makes her horror movie debut in Andy Muschietti’s It: Chapter 2, also based on a Stephen King novel. She is one of the victims of the terrible Grippe-Sou.
In 2021, she is on the poster for Black Widow, where she plays the child version of Olga Kurylenko, and The Tomorrow War, worn by Chris Pratt and in which she plays this time Yvonne Strahovski as a child. The same year, she joined the tenth season of American Horror Story, alongside Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Frances Conroy.
Keith Thomas says about him: “There was a kind of incandescence about Ryan that set her apart from the rest. The tension in his gaze was palpable. As soon as we saw her, we understood that she was perfect for the role. She knew how to express what Charlie feels when she seeks to master her power, without the need for explanatory dialogue.“
Firestarter hits theaters this Wednesday.