Paulo Coelho-L Alchimiste By Paulo Coelho

Coelho said that he has been reluctant to sell rights to his books. He believed that a book has a "life of its own inside the reader's mind", and seldom did he find an adaptation that lived up to the book. Despite this, with time, Coelho decided to open up the possibility.[8]

In 2003, Warner Bros. bought the rights to the film adaptation of The Alchemist. The project stalled and the movie never materialized, reportedly because of problems with the script.[9] At one point, the script had a battle sequence with 10,000 soldiers, which was "not what the book is about."[10] Reportedly, Coelho offered US$2 million to Warner Bros. to buy back the film rights to The Alchemist.[11]

During the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Harvey Weinstein announced that he had bought the rights to the film and would serve as its producer. Laurence Fishburne is set to direct, and to play the eponymous character. It will have a reported budget of $60 million. Weinstein, who rarely personally produced movies, stated that "My loyalty is not to Laurence [Fishburne], my loyalty is not to me, my loyalty is not to anyone other than Paulo Coelho."[12] Coelho added, "I am very happy that my book will be filmed in the way we intended it to be and I hope the spirit and simplicity of my work will be preserved. I am excited my friend Laurence Fishburne and Harvey Weinstein will be working together."[13] In June 2015, it was reported that Idris Elba was set to play the protagonist and that Fishburne would direct the movie instead.[14]

Coelho wrote The Alchemist in only two weeks in 1987. He explained that he was able to write at this pace because the story was "already written in [his] soul."[4]

The book's main theme is about finding one's destiny, although according to The New York Times, The Alchemist is "more self-help than literature".[5] The advice given Santiago that "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe will conspire so that your wish comes true" is the core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that plays throughout it.[6]

The Alchemist was first released by Rocco,[7] an obscure Brazilian publishing house. Albeit having sold "well", the publisher after a year decided to give Coelho back the rights. [8] Needing to "heal" himself from this setback, Coelho set out to leave Rio de Janeiro with his wife and spent 40 days in the Mojave Desert. Returning from the excursion, Coelho decided he had to keep on struggling[8] and was "so convinced it was a great book that [he] started knocking on doors".