Fishburne Directing 'The Alchemist'

Another thesp turned director.

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Monday, December 19th 2005 at 12:11 AM

According to Production Weekly it seems Morpheus is going to have a go at the director's chair as we learn Laurence Fishburne will be not only directing and starring in his next feature, he will also be adapting the work, as he turns Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" into a full-fledged screenplay.

The film is already set for a 2006 shoot in, get this, Dubai as well as several other potential locations including Jordan.

This world-traveling production will find Fishburne playing the part of Santiago, who is well-educated and had intended to be a priest, but a desire for travel persuaded him to become a shepherd instead, which sounds reasonable to all of us right? He's contented, but after two consecutive dreams surrounding hidden treasure, and the word of seer telling him to follow the dream's instructions he heads to the pyramids of Egypt where he learns where his fortune can actually be found.

So, yeah, this one is a bit out there and Production Weekly's grammer isn't exactly stellar, which made the synopsis a bit tricky to piece together. I hope this one doesn't fall flat on its face since I think Fishburne may have some talent, but we will just have to wait and see if we hear anymore on this little project.