Remake of Stephen King’s ‘Firestarter’ starring Zac Efron to film in Hamilton next month

Zac Efron is coming to Hamilton.

The actor probably best known for playing Troy Bolton in the High School Musical" trilogy from Disney will be in the city to film a remake of Firestarter."

Reports say the film from Blumhouse/Universal Studios will also be filmed in Toronto. The phone number for the production company is a Hamilton number. Shooting is expected to run between May 25 and July 21, says the government agency Ontario Creates.

Firestarter" is based on the 1980 Stephen King horror/sci-fi novel. It is about a couple - Andy and Vicky McGee - who take part in a college medical experiment, gain telepathic powers, and then have a child, Charlie, who is pyrokinetic. A secret U.S. government agency known as The Shop seeks to imprison Charlie and study her.

The first film came out in 1984 and starred Drew Barrymore as Charlie. David Keith and Heather Locklear played her parents. The film also featured George C. Scott as assassin John Rainbird, as well as Martin Sheen, Art Carney and Louise Fletcher.

The remake will feature Efron playing Andy McGee. Michael Greyeyes, a Cree man from Saskatchewan who is featured in the new Ed Helm comedy series Rutherford Falls" (Peacock/Showcase in Canada), will play Rainbird.

This is likely not Efron's first time to Hamilton. He was in the musical Hairspray" and it shot scenes at Queen Victoria Elementary School on Forest Avenue in 2006.

Since then, he has been in such other films as Neighbours" (2014), Dirty Grandpa" (2016) and Baywatch" (2017).

Director Keith Thomas is planning on exploring other aspects of the novel.

I'm excited about doing a different, a new adaptation of the book, and getting into some things the original film didn't," he told CinemaBlend in February.

Hamilton may also have another visit from Stephen King to see how filming is going. He came to the city to see filming of the miniseries adaptation of his 2011 novel 11.22.63" in 2015. The series starred James Franco.

Blumhouse is known for its horror films. It's best known film is probably Get Out" (2018) which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It has also made such flicks as The Purge" and The Invisible Man."

Other than that, it made Whiplash" (2015), which won three Oscars, and BlacKkKlansman" (2019), which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

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The small community of Mineral Springs has had its Hollywood moment.

A TV show filmed last week in the community, which is off the beaten track in Ancaster, and quietly marked its 200th anniversary in 2020.

The cast and crew from Haunted Museum" filmed outside two homes in the community, which also has the Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail running through it. The properties were on either side of the trail.

At one property, just west of the trail, the production brought in an old Honda Prelude for the scene. At the other property, they put up a fake well.

Cameron Sparks, production co-ordinator for Cream Productions Inc, says it is a horror drama series. Episodes revolve around haunted and mysterious artifacts from museums across North America.

About 10 episodes are being shot and the program is destined to be shown on the Travel Channel at the end of this year. The program features actors from the Toronto area.

Sparks said the production has shot scenes for the series between Toronto and Hamilton.

We're kind of scattered all over the place," he said. We're shooting multiple episodes at a time."

Cream Productions Inc. is a Toronto-based company that makes documentaries, specials and digital media and has been involved in projects for such networks as CNN, Netflix and Hulu.

It was involved in The Story of Late Night," which will premiere on CNN in May. The documentary tells the story of the history and personalities of late night TV in the United States.

Sparks said the company has shot in Hamilton many times.

We do a lot of our shoots there," he added. It's been great."

Daniel Nolan is a freelance writer who writes about film for The Hamilton Spectator. He can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com