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Tuesday
03Nov2009

Vampire Remake 'Let Me In' Starts Shooting

DateTuesday, November 3, 2009 at 2:27PM
Plenty of people are miffed that Overture Films is even making a new version of Let the Right One In roughly a year after the Swedish film made a big impact on critics and arthouse crowds. Of course, the film didn't really register with mainstream audiences, so Overture picked up the rights to the novel and is giving it an English language once-over in hopes of attracting more than a few hundred thousand filled seats.

Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) is directing the near-immediate remake, now called Let Me In, and filming began on Monday in Albuquerque. That's one of the things I'm encouraged by with this update, actually. By moving it from the dead of winter to possibly another kind of desolation, Reeves invites a new kind of atmosphere to his film, and that can impact everything from cinematography to tone to character.

There's no guarantee of that, and since New Mexico has such advantageous tax cuts for film productions, it could be that it's just cheaper and no other real thought has been given to the location. But I hope Reeves is using the landscape in and around Albuquerque to inform the film a little bit.

Worst Previews, who reported the beginning of the production, writes that the film will "forge a unique identity by placing it firmly in an American context," so I'd think this is a step in that direction.

One thing those who stand against this remake don't seem to mind is Kodi Smit-Mcphee (The Road) being cast as the male lead. Chloe Moretz, Joseph Gordon-Levitt'skid sister in (500) Days of Summer, will play the ageless young vampire. And anytime you can get Richard Jenkins, an Oscar nominee this past year for The Visitor, I don't know why you wouldn't do that.

So really, this all comes down to Reeves and how close he can keep things to the book while also finding enough originality to warrant the remake in the first place. We'll find out next year, I guess.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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