The attempt to adapt Paolo Coelho’s sprawling, complex, spiritual tome **The Alchemist **has been going on for more than two decades, tumbling through development limbo as attempts at script drafts came and went. Now The Weinstein Company, which has long been a driving force behind the effort, is in talks with Idris Elba to star.
Laurence Fishburne, whose history with the project goes back even further than the Weinsteins, as he was circling to direct for Warners back in 2003 before grabbing the rights himself when the project went into turnaround there and teaming with TWC, is also in talks to make the current version.
Coelho’s book has sold more than 65 million copies spanning 56 different languages, and holds the Guinness World Record for most translated work by a living author. The story follows a young shepherd in Andalucía who has a dream about a buried treasure to be found near the Pyramids. He sets off in pursuit of his dream, but along the way finds obstacle after obstacle, and is often tempted to give up. The big stumbling block for adaptations so far has been trying to balance the film’s thematic needs with entertaining action, with budgets for proposed versions fluctuating between $60 million and $100 million.
Now The Weinstein Company is hoping it can finally get the project shooting next year, according to Deadline. Elba is typically busy, with films such as Beasts Of No Nation, A Hundred Streets, Bastille Day and Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book on the way. He's also in talks for a key role in Star Trek Beyond.