By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The new take on the Stephen King classic has its John Rainbird.
Blumhouse Productions, Universal Pictures and Weed Road Pictures have signed Michael Greyeyes to play Rainbird in FIRESTARTER, which will be directed by Keith Thomas (whose much-anticipated THE VIGIL opens February 26). Scott Teems (HALLOWEEN KILLS) scripted the new adaptation, and is also an executive producer alongside Martha De Laurentiis, an associate producer on the previous 1984 FIRESTARTER film; Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman are producing. Charlie McGee, the little girl with pyrokinetic powers who is pursued by a secret government agency called The Shop that seeks to weaponize her, has yet to be cast. Rainbird, played by George C. Scott in the ’84 movie, is a Shop assassin described in the casting announcement as “a relentless, powerful man who has been pushed into a violent life.” Greyeyes, who starred in Jeff Barnaby’s much-praised First Nations zombie film BLOOD QUANTUM (pictured above), has also appeared in FEAR THE WALKING DEAD and TRUE DETECTIVE among others, and toplines the well-received Sundance 2021 thriller WILD INDIAN.
