# Firestarter (film)

Firestarter is a 1984 science fiction thriller film about a young girl who develops pyrokinesis and the secret government agency which seeks to control her.
    Directed by Mark L. Lester. Written by Stanley Mann, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King.

## Charlie McGee

* [to her power] Back off! Just back off!
* [to Andy] If I do something bad, will you still love me?

## Dialogue

    Charlie McGee: Where's my father?
    Captain Hollister: He's fine. He's happy, and he sends his love, and he wants you to cooperate with us.
    Charlie McGee: You're a liar!
    Captain Hollister: Now, what kinda talk is that from a nice little girl like you?
    Charlie McGee: GO TO HELL!
    Doctor Joseph Wanless: Ever since this child was born, her father has been trying to inhibit her use of those powers. But what if his control had weakened now?
    Captain Hollister: Why would he lose control, now, after all those years?
    Doctor Joseph Wanless: Ask yourself this question. How exhausting must it have been for Victoria and Andrew McGee when this child was an infant? The bottle is late, the baby cries, and at that moment, one of her toys right there in the crib beside her bursts into smokey flame.
    Captain Hollister: Joe, she's just a little girl. She can light fires, yes. But you're making her sound like Armageddon!
    Doctor Joseph Wanless: Yes!... and that's what it might well be. Suppose lighting fires is just the tip of the iceberg?
    Captain Hollister: I don't know what you're talking about.
    Doctor Joseph Wanless: I am talking about a talent that is directly linked to this child's pituitary gland; undeveloped pituitary gland. What happens when she becomes adolescent and that sleeping gland wakes and becomes, for 20 months, the most powerful force in the human body? Suppose we have a child here who, someday, is capable of creating a nuclear explosion simply by the power of her will?
    Captain Hollister: [Laughs] That's insane.
    Doctor Joseph Wanless: Is it? Is it? Then allow me to progress from insanity to utter lunacy. Suppose there is a little girl out there, somwhere today... this morning!... who has within her, lying dormant at present... the power someday to crack the very planet in two like a china plate in a shooting gallery?
    [Captain Hollister is silent]
    Captain Hollister: What's to stop me from having you erased right here and now?
    John Rainbird: My word - that I've already made certain provisions that should I "disappear", The Shop will cease to exist within six weeks. And within six months, you will stand in front of a judge awaiting sentence for crimes serious enough to keep you behind bars for the rest of your life.
    Captain Hollister: When we find out all we need to know from her...
    John Rainbird: When you give her to me.
    Captain Hollister: [after a pause] What are you going to do with her?
    John Rainbird: John, the friendly orderly, will come in. He will greet her, talk to her, get her to smile... John, the friendly orderly, will make her happy because he's the only one who can. And when John feels she has reached the moment of her greatest happiness, he will strike her across the bridge of the nose, breaking it explosively and sending bone fragments into her brain. It'll be quick. And he'll be looking at her face at the time. He will know her power. And when he dies, which I hope is very soon, perhaps he can take that power with him... into the other world.
    Captain Hollister: [finishes off his drink and heads for the door] You are crazy!

## Taglines

* If you get on her bad side...YOU'RE TOAST.
* She has the power . . . an evil destructive force.
* Charlie McGee is a happy, healthy eight-year-old little girl. Normal in every way but one. She has the power to set objects afire with just one glance. It's a power she does not want. It's a power she can't control. And, each night, Charlie prays to be just like every other child. But there are those who will do everything in their power to find her... or destroy her.

## Cast

* Drew Barrymore - Charlie McGee
* David Keith - Andy McGee
* George C. Scott - John Rainbird
* Freddie Jones - Dr. Joseph Wanless
* Heather Locklear - Vicky Tomlinson McGee
* Martin Sheen - Captain "Cap" Hollister
* Moses Gunn - Dr. Pynchot
* Art Carney - Irv Manders
* Louise Fletcher - Norma Manders
* Jack Magner - young serviceman

## External links

Encyclopedic article on Firestarter (film) on Wikipedia
* Firestarter quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Firestarter at Rotten Tomatoes
Adaptations of works by Stephen King :
| Films | The Shining (1980) · Cujo (1983) · The Dead Zone (1983) · Christine (1983) · Cat's Eye (1985) · Silver Bullet (1985) · Stand by Me (1986) · The Running Man (1987) · Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) · Graveyard Shift (1990) · Misery (1990) · The Lawnmower Man (1992) · Sleepwalkers (1992) · The Dark Half (1993) · Needful Things (1993) · The Shawshank Redemption (1994) · Dolores Claiborne (1995) · Thinner (1996) · The Night Flier (1997) · Apt Pupil (1998) · The Green Mile (1999) · Hearts in Atlantis (2001) · Dreamcatcher  (2003) · Secret Window (2004) · Riding the Bullet (2004) · 1408 (2007) · The Mist (2007) · Dolan's Cadillac (2009) · A Good Marriage (2014) · Cell (2016) · It (2017) · It Chapter Two (2019) | The Shining (1980) · Cujo (1983) · The Dead Zone (1983) · Christine (1983) · Cat's Eye (1985) · Silver Bullet (1985) · Stand by Me (1986) · The Running Man (1987) · Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) · Graveyard Shift (1990) · Misery (1990) · The Lawnmower Man (1992) · Sleepwalkers (1992) · The Dark Half (1993) · Needful Things (1993) · The Shawshank Redemption (1994) · Dolores Claiborne (1995) · Thinner (1996) · The Night Flier (1997) · Apt Pupil (1998) · The Green Mile (1999) · Hearts in Atlantis (2001) · Dreamcatcher  (2003) · Secret Window (2004) · Riding the Bullet (2004) · 1408 (2007) · The Mist (2007) · Dolan's Cadillac (2009) · A Good Marriage (2014) · Cell (2016) · It (2017) · It Chapter Two (2019) | The Shining (1980) · Cujo (1983) · The Dead Zone (1983) · Christine (1983) · Cat's Eye (1985) · Silver Bullet (1985) · Stand by Me (1986) · The Running Man (1987) · Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) · Graveyard Shift (1990) · Misery (1990) · The Lawnmower Man (1992) · Sleepwalkers (1992) · The Dark Half (1993) · Needful Things (1993) · The Shawshank Redemption (1994) · Dolores Claiborne (1995) · Thinner (1996) · The Night Flier (1997) · Apt Pupil (1998) · The Green Mile (1999) · Hearts in Atlantis (2001) · Dreamcatcher  (2003) · Secret Window (2004) · Riding the Bullet (2004) · 1408 (2007) · The Mist (2007) · Dolan's Cadillac (2009) · A Good Marriage (2014) · Cell (2016) · It (2017) · It Chapter Two (2019) |
| Films | Carrie | Carrie (1976) · The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) · Carrie (2002) · Carrie (2013) | Carrie (1976) · The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999) · Carrie (2002) · Carrie (2013) |
| Films | Creepshow | Creepshow (1982) · Creepshow 2 (1987) · Creepshow 3 (2006) | Creepshow (1982) · Creepshow 2 (1987) · Creepshow 3 (2006) |
| Films | Children of the Corn | Children of the Corn (1984) · The Final Sacrifice (1993) · Urban Harvest (1995) · The Gathering (1996) · Fields of Terror (1998) · Isaac's Return (1999) · Revelation (2001) · Children of the Corn (2009) · Genesis (2011) | Children of the Corn (1984) · The Final Sacrifice (1993) · Urban Harvest (1995) · The Gathering (1996) · Fields of Terror (1998) · Isaac's Return (1999) · Revelation (2001) · Children of the Corn (2009) · Genesis (2011) |
| Films | Firestarter | Firestarter (1984) · Rekindled (2002) | Firestarter (1984) · Rekindled (2002) |
| Films | Trucks | Maximum Overdrive (1986) · Trucks (1997) | Maximum Overdrive (1986) · Trucks (1997) |
| Films | Pet Sematary | Pet Sematary (1989) · Pet Sematary Two (1992) · Pet Sematary (2019) | Pet Sematary (1989) · Pet Sematary Two (1992) · Pet Sematary (2019) |
| Films | The Mangler | The Mangler (1995) · The Mangler 2 (2001) · *The Mangler Reborn (2005) | The Mangler (1995) · The Mangler 2 (2001) · *The Mangler Reborn (2005) |
| Television | Episodes | "Gramma" (1986) · "Sorry, Right Number" (1987) · "The Revelations of Becka Paulson" (1997) | "Gramma" (1986) · "Sorry, Right Number" (1987) · "The Revelations of Becka Paulson" (1997) |
| Television | Series | Golden Years (1991) · The Dead Zone (2002–07) · Kingdom Hospital (2004) · Haven (2010–present) · Under the Dome (2013–15) · 11.22.63 (2016) | Golden Years (1991) · The Dead Zone (2002–07) · Kingdom Hospital (2004) · Haven (2010–present) · Under the Dome (2013–15) · 11.22.63 (2016) |
| Television | Films or miniseries | It (1990) · The Tommyknockers (1993) · The Stand (1994) · The Langoliers (1995) · The Shining (1997) · Quicksilver Highway (1997) · Storm of the Century (1999) · Stephen King's Desperation (2006) · Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006) · Bag of Bones (2011) · Big Driver (2014) | It (1990) · The Tommyknockers (1993) · The Stand (1994) · The Langoliers (1995) · The Shining (1997) · Quicksilver Highway (1997) · Storm of the Century (1999) · Stephen King's Desperation (2006) · Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006) · Bag of Bones (2011) · Big Driver (2014) |
| Television | Films or miniseries | Salem's Lot | Salem's Lot (1979) · A Return to Salem's Lot (1987) · Salem's Lot (2004) |
| Television | Films or miniseries | Sometimes They Come Back | Sometimes They Come Back (1991) · Sometimes They Come Back... Again (1996) · Sometimes They Come Back... for More (1998) |
| Television | Films or miniseries | Rose Red | Rose Red (2002) · The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003) |
| See also | {{Stephen King}} | {{Stephen King}} | {{Stephen King}} |