'The Alchemist' movie hits undisclosed obstacles, to resume shooting within few weeks

The Alchemist movie with a cast led by Sebastian de Souza, Tom Hollander and Shohreh Aghdashloo, has been hit by undisclosed obstacles. ANI reported that the project was at the pre-production stage and the crew was sent home. However, a production spokesperson stated that the film remains fully financed and instead ran into a rights-transfer issue. The issue will be resolved in the upcoming days and hopefully, the project will be on track within few weeks.

The spokesperson said via email, "This isn't a financing issue, this is just an issue with a rights transfer.

He added, "There was a gap in an ordinary-course execution of the production rights transfer, and as a result, production entered a temporary shutdown. We expect to be back up and be running with our incredible cast and crew as soon as the rights transfer concludes, and we can get everyone back on set."

About the film and novel 'The Alchemist'

The much-awaited movie adaption of Paulo Coelho's best-selling novel The Alchemist was finally underway. Directed by the critically acclaimed director Laurence Fishburne, the movie will star Sebastian de Souza, Tom Hollander, and Shohreh Aghdashloo in the lead roles. The movie will be produced by Will Smith's Westbrook Studios, Netter Films, and PalmStar Media. The information about the filmmaking and its cast was announced at the Cannes Film Festival. The shoot was planned to take place in September in Morocco and the release was planned for 2022.

The Alchemist has sold more than 100 million copies in 56 languages and holds the Guinness World Record for most translated work by a living author. The book was originally written in Portuguese and in 2002 a 90-minute theatrical adaptation of The Alchemist was produced and performed in London.

How does the film finally get into the studio?

The Hollywood Reporter stated that at first, the film rights were acquired from the Brazilian author in the early 90s. One of the fans of this novel, Laurence Fishburne then, acquired the film rights from the studio with the plan to direct the film himself. In 2008, The Weinstein Co. partnered with Fishburne and bought the film rights. In 2015, the starrer of the project was decided, but it had been put into turnaround some months later. In 2016, PalmStar acquired film rights and the developed screenplays for USD 5 million. However, by the time of the announcement made in July 2021, PalmStar principal Frakes was set to make the feature directorial debut on the project, having co-written the screenplay.

(IMAGE: ANI)