The Alchemist, the bestseller by Paolo Coelho, is heading for the big screen, with Laurence Fishburne at the helm.

The Matrix actor will both adapt the novel and direct the film, after he bought the rights to The Alchemist from Hollywood studio Warner Brothers. The book is perhaps the most famous of Coelho's novels, a fable describing how a young shepherd boy travels the world in pursuit of his dreams. Since it was first published in 1998, The Alchemist has sold more than 40m copies in 150 countries and has been translated into 56 languages.

Fishburne is teaming with one of the producers of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Barry Osborne, to bring The Alchemist to the big screen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmakers want to turn the book into "a Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones" sweeping adventure.

The adaptation of The Alchemist has had a tortuous history. Warner Brother first bought the rights to the novel in 2003 as a vehicle for Fishburne, but the project never took off the ground and languished for years on the studio's shelves.

Fishburne is keeping busy these days. He is currently filming a movie entitled Tortured which, as its name indicates, is a crime thriller about an undercover FBI agent facing a dilemma when asked to torture a mafia boss. He will also work on The Last Full Measure, the true story of one US soldier's heroism during the Vietnam War, and may appear in 4Chosen, about four African-American basketball players facing racial discrimination.

The actor has taken the director's chair once before, for the 2000 drama Once in the Life, which he also wrote.