Director Keith Thomas has opened up a bit about his upcoming Firestarter remake. The Stephen King classic was previously given the big screen treatment in 1984 but Blumhouse Productions is gearing up to bring a new take for modern audiences. Now, Thomas has revealed the face-melting fun we can expect, in addition to revealing King's level of involvement with the project.

Keith Thomas is currently promoting his upcoming movie The Vigil. Thomas originally boarded Firestarter late last year after it had already been in development for some time. In a recent interview, Thomas revealed that it is one of his favorite Stephen King books, while also praising the script, which was penned by Scott Teems. Here's what Thomas had to say about it.

"It's a new adaptation of the book. When Jason [Blum] pitched it to me it was exciting, as that's one of my favourite Stephen King novels, and whilst I really like the 1980's film, I felt we could do something new. The screenplay is by Scott Teems who wrote the upcoming Halloween Kills, it's an amazing script. It has everything you would want, people's heads catching fire and their faces melting off, and a dad and daughter on the run trying to survive being chased in this heightened tense experience. We are hoping to film it this year, and it will be a lot of fun."

This lines up with what we heard from Scott Teems when we spoke with him about it earlier this year. Teems also indicated that the hope was to begin production later this year. Though, given the production shutdown that studios are still trying to emerge from, that could easily shift. Keith Thomas also described the opportunity to tackle the movie as both "humbling, and really exciting."

Originally published in 1980, Firestarter focuses on the Department of Scientific Intelligence, aka "The Shop." Two participants in their mysterious research program end up getting married and have a kid. Charlie McGee inherits "pyrokinetic powers" from her parents, who were given a low-grade hallucinogen called "Lot Six" during their college years. Now the government is trying to capture the young child and harness her powerful skills as a weapon. Speaking further, Keith Thomas revealed that Stephen King has read the script and is directly involved.

"He does to a certain extent. He watched The Vigil, approved me as director and he read the script from the early stages, and he's very happy with it. He's excited for it, he's there the whole way."

In the wake of the huge success of IT, studios began developing Stephen King projects like crazy. This is just one of many, alongside Salem's Lot, The Talisman, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and more that are currently in various stages of development. Firestarter does not currently have a release date set. We'll be sure to keep you posted as any further details are made available. This news comes to us via Zavvi.