Larry Fessenden Tapped To Direct THE ORPHANAGE!
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Yes, like most of you, I'm always skeptical when it comes to remakes, especially those based on incredible foreign films that just came out. However, Hollywood is relentless and is GOING to keep making them whether we like it or not. So when a filmmaker I really like gets attached to a film that seems custom tailored to their sensibilities, I breath a sigh of relief knowing that it's in good hands. In this case, it's the American remake of the fantastic Spanish flick THE ORPHANAGE. (Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona) The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Larry Fessenden will be directing the new version from a script he co-wrote with Guillermo Del Toro.
The article says, "The 2007 pic was directed by del Toro protege Juan Antonio Bayona and centered on a woman who, upon returning to the orphanage where she grew up, discovers that her son's imaginary friend is the same person who terrorized her when she was a child.
Fessenden's selection signals the out-of-the-box approach that del Toro and the studio are taking on the remake. They are eschewing another Spanish director to fill Bayona's shoes, and they are not putting the project in the hands of a commercial/music video helmer.
Rather, Fessenden, repped by WME and Renee Tab at Artist Talent Management, is a filmmaker who has worked in the low-budget horror world for some time, making such movies as "Wendigo" and "The Last Winter" while appearing in pics like "I See the Dead."
Del Toro and Fessenden know each other from the horror circuit, with del Toro's admiration of the triple-hyphenate's work leading him to handpick him for the directing gig; del Toro saw in him a filmmaker who understood the conventions of the horror genre and could execute a movie that would be as scary and disturbing as the original but in an American context."
Casting is currently underway. But with Fessenden and Del Toro, THE ORPHANAGE is in good & able hands.
Click the frame below to read our now classic interview with LARRY FESSENDEN from last year, which is still among one of our all time favorites!
More when we hear it!
The article says, "The 2007 pic was directed by del Toro protege Juan Antonio Bayona and centered on a woman who, upon returning to the orphanage where she grew up, discovers that her son's imaginary friend is the same person who terrorized her when she was a child.
Fessenden's selection signals the out-of-the-box approach that del Toro and the studio are taking on the remake. They are eschewing another Spanish director to fill Bayona's shoes, and they are not putting the project in the hands of a commercial/music video helmer.
Rather, Fessenden, repped by WME and Renee Tab at Artist Talent Management, is a filmmaker who has worked in the low-budget horror world for some time, making such movies as "Wendigo" and "The Last Winter" while appearing in pics like "I See the Dead."
Del Toro and Fessenden know each other from the horror circuit, with del Toro's admiration of the triple-hyphenate's work leading him to handpick him for the directing gig; del Toro saw in him a filmmaker who understood the conventions of the horror genre and could execute a movie that would be as scary and disturbing as the original but in an American context."
Casting is currently underway. But with Fessenden and Del Toro, THE ORPHANAGE is in good & able hands.
Click the frame below to read our now classic interview with LARRY FESSENDEN from last year, which is still among one of our all time favorites!
More when we hear it!
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