Westbrook Studios, Netter Films, and PalmStar Media announced on Thursday that the film adaptation of Paulo Coelho’s international bestseller plans to begin production for the movie this year. The shooting of The Alchemist is set to take place during September 2021 in Morocco.
The Alchemist follows the story of a young Andalusian shepherd boy, Santiago, who ventures off into a quest searching for life-changing treasure. As an international bestseller and esteemed piece of literary work, the cast and crew involved in the film are working to represent the authenticity of the story’s setting in Spain and North Africa.
“When you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true,” said producer and director Kevin Frakes of PalmStar Media “It has long been my dream to bring this story to the world, and now we can do that in a way that speaks to Coelho’s vision, with a cast and crew that represents the global well of support for The Alchemist.”
Meanwhile, producer Gil Netter stated, “Paulo Coelho’s words run deep, and now we’re finally going to be able to bring them to life.”
The film stars Sebastian De Souza as Santiago, who is joined by Tom Hollander, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jordi Molla, Ashraf Barhom, and Moroccan actor Youssef Kerbeour.
Will Smith, who has long counted The Alchemist as one of his favorite books, is working on the film as co-producer.
The Moroccan production company “Zak Production” founded by Zakaria Alaoui is also helping to ensure the executive production of the film while in Morocco.
In past years, other film productions have taken place in Morocco. The spin-off for Men in Black was produced in Marrakech, Morocco, and released in 2019.
Morocco is not new to the film industry world of production and seems to serve as an attractive spot for producers and film companies to hold their movie shoot productions.
Global distribution for the film adaptation of The Alchemist is slated for release in late 2022.
