Laurence Fishburne is adaptingThe Alchemist by Paul Coehlo into a feature film.
The "Matrix" actor teamed up with A-Mark Entertainment, an independent finance and production company, to buy the film rights from Warner Bros.
He will direct from his own adaptation of Paulo Coelho's philosophical book about a traveler journeying the world during the Inquisition in order to find man's purpose in the world.
Since its debut in 1988, the book has been translated into 56 languages and has sold more than 40 million copies in more than 150 countries. Warner Bros. acquired the property in 2003 as a Fishburne vehicle.
The filmmakers' take is described as "Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones," with a sweeping adventure centering on a young Spaniard who embarks on a quest to find a hidden treasure within the Egyptian pyramids and ends up discovering a personal treasure that eclipses his wildest expectations.
This is another one of those novels that we would have said was unfilmable. But we think Laurence Fishburne has a good shot of making it work. It will be interesting to see how he approaches the material.
