Paulo Coelho was born on 24 August 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and attended a Jesuit school.

One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, travelling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and started using drugs in the 1960s.

[6][7] Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon Raul Seixas.

[9] In 1974, by his account, he was arrested for "subversive" activities and tortured[10][11] by the ruling military government, who had taken power ten years earlier and viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous.

I was doing something that gave me food and water – to use the metaphor in The Alchemist, I was working, I had a person whom I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream.

[15] In a 2009 interview with the Syrian Forward Magazine, Coelho stated that the Sufi tradition had been an influence on him, particularly when writing The Alchemist and later The Zahir.

[6] Other books, like Maktub, The Manual of the Warrior of Light and Like the Flowing River, are collections of essays, newspaper columns, or selected teachings.

[20][21][22] In 2016, he was contacted by basketball player Kobe Bryant, who wanted to discuss a children's book project with him.

One of the producers, Iôna de Macêdo, told Screen International: "The film tells the story of a man who has a dream.