This coming Friday the 13th brings a new adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Firestarter from Universal, Blumhouse, and director Keith Thomas (The Vigil).

In Firestarter, “For more than a decade, parents Andy and Vicky have been on the run, desperate to hide their daughter Charlie from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented 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 is deployed to hunt down the family and seize Charlie once and for all. Charlie has other plans.”  

In the new remake, Ryan Kiera Armstrong plays the lead girl, Charlie, and Zac Efron plays her father, Andy.

The twelve-year-old Armstrong has already earned an impressive list of credits, including horror with IT Chapter Two and “American Horror Story.” While Efron took a dark turn as Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Firestarter marks the more tenured actor’s first feature role in horror.

Ahead of Firestarter’s release, Bloody Disgusting spoke with Armstrong and Efron about Efron’s first foray into the genre and what advice the young actor might’ve given her co-star to help him prepare. The pair also discusses their mutual fear of clowns, thanks to Pennywise, and how they developed their bond to portray their onscreen father-daughter relationship.

The new reimagining of King’s novel was written by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills) and also stars Sydney Lemmon, Michael Greyeyes (Blood Quantum), and Gloria Reuben (Lincoln, “Mr. Robot”). Firestarter is produced by Jason Blum (Halloween 2018, The Invisible Man) for Blumhouse and Oscar® winner Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend, Constantine) for Weed Road Pictures. 

Firestarter arrives in theaters and Peacock on May 13, 2022.