Laurence Fishburne to Star in The Alchemist Movie

Posted on May 20, 2008

Paulo Coelho's 1988 bestseller The Alchemist is finally going to be made into a movie. Laurence Fishburne will star in the movie. Harvey Weinstein confirmed that he will co-produce the film adaptation of the novel at Cannes. The book tells the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who dreams of traveling to Egypt in search of treasure. Santiago journeys to the Egyptian desert where he encounters a wise alchemist. 65 million copies of the book have been sold to date.

Fishburne says getting the book made into a film has been a special project for him. He says, "This is a special project that now has a special team behind it to ensure that its path to the big screen is handled with the proper care it deserves."

Author Paulo Coelho is also excited about the project.

Coelho is quoted as saying, "I am very happy that my book will be filmed in the way I intended it to be, and I hope the spirit and simplicity of my work will be preserved."

E Online reports that the movie has a $60 million budget.