Fessenden Out of The Orphanage Remake
When news broke not too long ago that Larry Fessenden had been hired to direct the English language remake of the Juan Antonio Bayona directed, Guillermo Del Toro produced film The Orphanage, horror fans were excited. If they were going to remake the film, at least they were getting an interesting and edgy director for the job. Unfortunately, it appears as though that’s no longer the case.
Fessenden shared the following with our friends over at Arrow in the Head:
“The Orphanage was two years of waiting. Working on the script with Guillermo was a very exciting experience, but then I got into a casting miasma and that’s where the thing is; I think they’re gonna do it another way, actually. So I think I’m out of it. Hopefully they’ll still use my script, but I’m not sure I’m directing it anymore. That’s Hollywood for ya.”
While the news is certainly depressing, it appears as though there may be a silver lining in it. Fessenden’s attachment to The Orphanage may help him get more work.
“I have like three movies that I wanna do that are, ironically, at this level. Just because that project [Orphanage] got my foot in the door with studios and managers, agents, all good people working hard – but the fact is I don’t trust whether or not it’ll work. You know, after you get bitten once, you’re just a little more wary.”
Here’s to hoping Fessenden gets to make some of these projects. He’s one of the genre’s best kept secrets, and it would be nice if is his work found a wider audience.
Tags: foreign horror, Guillermo Del Toro, Larry Fessenden, remake, The Orphanage

November 20th, 2009 at 6:52 am
I may be the dissenter here too. Fessenden sucks. The fact that he’s out may save this remake from being a snoozer. Let the attacks commence…