‘Firestarter’ Opens This Weekend Starring Zac Efron as the DAD

We can't think of a better casting choice for a movie about intense heat.

By Karly Wood May 12, 2022

If you grew up battling nightmares after watching Drew Barrymore’s Firestarter, you’re in for a treat: The film has been rebooted and boasts a new level of hotness. That’s because the 2022 version now includes Zac Efron and––hold on tight, friends––he’s a DAD.

Firestarter is an adaption of Stephen King’s thriller from 1980 and follows Charlie McGee, a girl with pyrokinetic powers. Basically, she can set things on fire with a simple thought, which sounds very cool but ends up creating, you know, a ton of problems. Because of her destructively powerful “gift,” her parents, Andy and Vicky McGee, have kept the family in hiding for more than a decade.

Until one day, when an incident alerts a dark organization to the McFee family’s whereabouts, and the group sets out to capture Charlie and harness her power for a weapon of mass destruction.

According to the trailer, Andy was able to train Charlie early on to manage her pain and anger, which trigger the use of her powers. But as she gets older, it becomes more difficult to keep under wraps.

What ensues is an action-packed (and sometimes scary) film that sees Charlie come to terms with her powers and do everything she can to stop people from trying to take them away from her.

Firestarter is ironically the first film where lead Zac Efron plays a dad (since he’s been starring as the father of our children for years in our dreams). In an interview with Ellen Degeneres, the actor admits he was “drastically underprepared” for the role. “I think that was a healthy dose to put me off of it for as long as necessary. I have a little bit more growing to do, probably. I don’t know. Not yet,” he tells the talk show host when asked if he is ready for kids.

The explosive film features lots of A-listers, including Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Michael Greyeyes, John Beasley and Kurtwood Smith. Now for the best news: Firestarter hits both theaters and Peacock streaming on Fri. May. 13!

That news is pretty much the antithesis of bad luck as far as we’re concerned.