Details On the American Remake of 'Let the Right One In'
Reeves asks you to give him a chance...
I am not one of those film goers that fell head over heels for last year's Swedish vampire drama Let the Right One In, but I did enjoy it and gave it a relatively favorable review despite some issues I had with it. However, I'm not sure how interested I am in an American remake as Cloverfield helmer, Matt Reeves, has recently finished his second draft of the script and is currently scouting locations looking to maintain the original story's chilly, snow-swept environments as he took some time out to chat with Los Angeles Times about the film.
Now officially titled Let Me In, the English translation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's original novel, the film will be set in Reagan-era Colorado and is scheduled for a fall 2010 theatrical release. Casting director Avy Kaufman (The Sixth Sense, The Ice Storm) is working on finding the two twelve-year-old leads, an aspect that was highly lauded in the original, primarily the performance of Lina Leandersson who plays Eli, a vampire who befriends a lonely neighbor boy named Oskar.
Reeves talked to Mark Olsen at the "L.A. Times" telling him after his first viewing of the Tomas Alfredson-directed original he "was just hooked." He continues saying, "I was so taken with the story and I had a very personal reaction. It reminded me a lot of my childhood, with the metaphor that the hard times of your pre-adolescent, early adolescent moment, that painful experience is a horror."
Of course, the idea of remaking an Internet favorite is already stoking the fires and Reeves isn't oblivious to this fact adding, "There's definitely people who have a real bull's-eye on the film and I can understand because of people's' love of the [original] film that there's this cynicism that I'll come in and trash it, when in fact I have nothing but respect for the film. I'm so drawn to it for personal and not mercenary reasons, my feeling about it is if I didn't feel a personal connection and feel it could be its own film, I wouldn't be doing it. I hope people give us a chance."
You can check out the international trailer for the original film directly below or click here to buy yourself a copy if you feel so inclined.
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Wow, one of the things that drew me into the original in the first place was the awesome title and wanting to know what it meant.
"Let Me In" has gotta be one of the worst titles I've ever seen.
@Scott:
Bizarre seeing as the swedish title was actually a translation from an english Morrissey lyric from the song 'Let the Right One Slip In'
Give me a chance reeves says, hm, I think I heard McG say that once.
I could give anything the benefit of the doubt were it not for that godawful new title.
"Let Me In"…….
WTFing hell?
Like Brad Brevet, I wasn't terribly impressed with "Let the Right One In," either, my appreciation going no further than appreciation itself. However, the title–and all it implies–is just ingenious, and it's perhaps the best part of the whole movie. That they changed it to something stupid and sophomoric like "Let Me In" makes me immediately not want to see it.
So my current stance is this: if it keeps its current stupid title, I'm not going to see it. However, if they see sense and change it back to "Let the Right One In," I will give it a chance. Is there perhaps some online petition campaigning for the title to be put back right?
This will be horrible. Absolutely fucking horrible. I'm genuinely offended that the hack who made Cloverfield is allowed to piss all over the best vampire film I've ever seen.
@JM: Right there with you. I love a good vampire flick, and this is a good one. (I too, wasn't blown away as I had hoped).
JM is absolutely right — vampire dogma says a bloodsucker cannot enter a home without an invitation. (ok, I know I am probably old, but hell, has anyone seen an episode of Buffy?!?). Knowing that, the title offers a whole 'nother level of intelligence.
It would be like the Coen brothers renaming No Country for Old Men to "Old Cop retires"
It's a different movie, it's allowed to have a different name.
Spoilerish, maybe…
I've never read the book but the feeling I got from Let the Right One In was that the 'one' referred to the little boy, not the vampire girl. She had lived a secluded life and was much more timid to befriend the boy than he was towards her.
@rolling_streetcar: Cloverfield suffered from poor acting and story (especially the third act). Considering the strong ties to Abrams, I'm not entirely sure it's fair to hold Reeves accountable.
@GregM: Reeves should, however, be held accountable for writing Under Siege 2.
@lowlyone: Haha, Seagal could play Hakan! Hangs a dude from a tree, pulls out a kitchen knife. "Now, this I'm trained for!"
The Title Let the right one in refers to letting the right person in your life…Letting the right person into your secret world…I really don't think it has anything to do with the mytholigy of a vampire needing to be invited in..
I think we should give the remake a chance. The best thing about the remake is we always have the brilliant original to fall back on if it's horrible…