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Last time we heard anything about the remake of Juan Antonio Bayona and Guillermo Del Toro’s The Orphanage, it was bad news. Filmmaker Larry Fessenden had been attached to the project as a director, but was now no longer involved with the film in that capacity. With no director, things got pretty quiet.

Variety says that’s about to change, however, with today’s news that Mark Pellington (he of The Mothman Prophecies and Arlington Road fame) is in final negotiations to direct the film. It’s an interesting choice, but I still think a Larry Fessenden version would have been more impressive. I liked Arlington Road so maybe Pellington can bring something interesting to this film.

Fessenden’s not totally out of the production, either. He may not be helming the project, but he did write a script for it with Del Toro. Current reports indicate that’s the script that will be in use when filming eventually commences.

The original film is a spooky ghost story about a woman who takes over the orphanage where she spent her childhood. Things get creepy when she realizes her son is playing with the same “imaginary friend” who terrified her as a kid. It’s one of the more interesting  films of the past decade and I say give it a rental if you haven’t checked it out.

I’ll keep you posted on production dates and the like for the remake as the details emerge.

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.

One of the cruelest of this year’s April Fools pranks came from Twitchfilm.net. They claimed (going so far as to make a mock cover…) that Criterion was in the process of bringing Guillermo Del Toro’s Mimic to DVD in a special collector’s edition. A lot of people (and sites) were fooled and it was a real letdown when the news came out that this was a hoax.

Yet, it turns out that it really wasn’t. The Twitch story was made up, but Criterion is bringing us a Director’s Cut of Mimic as well as Cronos. Yay for self-fulfilling prophecies.

Del Toro updated the status personally on the Del Toro Films message board. Here’s what he had to say:

“CRONOS is evolving nicely. We are including a NEVER-SEEN-BEFORE version of GEOMETRIA (1987) the short that I made for 1 thousand bucks and that I was never able to finish the way I wanted it. NOW I re-finsihed it for this disc (dont worry, no CGI or fancy stuff) and I like it- I never did before- but now I do.

CRONOS has never looked so beautiful and we found dozens of photographs of the making of the device, etc

MIMIC is looking fabulous. Some of the negative had been lost but we found alternatives and are finishing the Director’s Cut. VERY HAPPY!!”

No word yet on a release date, but I’ll let you know as soon as it’s announced.

Oh Guillermo Del Toro–you crazy workaholic bastard. Seems like not a week goes by without news of the beloved filmmaker taking on a new project. To be fair, a lot of these are things he’s producing, which requires a lot less involvement than directing, but one has to wonder how Del Toro will manage to fit all these projects into his schedule even if he’s only a figurehead.

The latest news comes from Bloody-Disgusting and indicates that Del Toro is still planning to produce Deadman (which he’s been attached to for a number of years, but it had fallen off the radar)–a film based on a relatively obscure DC comics character. Nikolaj Arcel is supposedly interested in directing. If you’re not familiar with Deadman (and if you’re not a hardcore comic nerd or worked in a comic shop, you’d have no reason to be…), it’s the story of Boston Brand–a trapeze artist murdered during a performance. A Hindu goddess gives him the power to inhabit the living so he can find his killer. I swear, I’m not making this up.

This is another fine example of just how lost DC is when it comes to making comic book films. Once you get past Batman, DC is clueless. The logical thing to do would be to make movies with your big guns (or at least your “recognizable to a mainstream audience”) characters–you know, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. Instead, we get Green Lantern, The Green Arrow, and Deadman…way to go. Here’s to hoping for an Aquaman announcement sooner rather than later.

I don’t really believe that Deadman will ever see the light of a projector’s bulb–it reeks of being one of those announced projects that goes into pre-development and then gets stuck in turnaround for eternity (Del Toro’s been attached to this thing since like 2006–so I’m not exactly going all Nostradamus here). That’s probably for the best, but if it does actually come to fruition, I’ll bring you more details as they’re released.

Guillermo Del Toro has so many projects in his queue right now that there’s no way he’s going to be able to bring all of them to fruition (and if he did, he’d never have time to do anything else). That doesn’t stop him from saying “aye” to more movies when they come his way.

The latest addition to the filmmaker/producer’s dance card is Julia’s Eyes. Variety reports that Del Toro will be producing the Spanish language thriller with Rodar y Rodar. They previously teamed up to bring audiences The Orphanage.

Julia’s Eyes will be directed by Guillem Morales and co-written by Morales and Oriol Paulo. Belen Rueda is set to star as a woman slowly going blind as she investigates the mysterious death of her twin sister.

Filming is set to begin this October.

I’m generally opposed to remakes. I’m especially opposed to remakes of films that aren’t even ten years old. Using these guidelines, I should be very opposed to a remake of Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Orphanage–and I was, but I’m softening my position a bit with today’s news (courtesy of THR) that states that filmmaker Larry Fessenden has been tapped by producer Guillermo del Toro to lead the production.

Fessenden is an interesting pick for the project–an indie horror director with a unique approach to the genre. He should be able to bring the Spanish language original’s moody atmosphere and creepy aesthetics to the screen while making the film more accessible for American audiences. I don’t entirely accept the idea that the film needs to be made more accessible to American audiences (the original works quite well as is), but I think Fessenden will do more than just churn out the stereotypical Hollywood re-imagining.

If you’ve never seen the original, here’s the plot description:

The Orphanage centers 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.

No casting news yet, but that would seem to be the next step in The Orphanage’s development cycle.

I’m not sure why, exactly, Guillermo del Toro is casting people for his version of Frankenstein. I mean, I’m cool with it–but the guy’s currently working on The Hobbit and it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll actually be filming Frankenstein for at least five years. Seems like a whole lot of things could change before he ever gets around to shooting an actual frame of footage.

Sci-Fi Squad (a great new blog started by my good friend Scott Weinberg–check out Horror Squad as well) states  “In a new interview on BBC Radio, Del Toro let loose that he’s already cast friend (and collaborator) Doug Jones as Frankenstein in his planned adaptation of the classic tale, and will begin testing things like make-up within the next few weeks — though he admits (to Digital Spy) that he’s “not in a hurry” and is perfectly fine shooting the film five or six years from now. “You have one shot in your lifetime at these things and I don’t want to do it the wrong way.”

I’d tell you to expect more on this as it develops, but that could be several years from now.

News from The Hollywood Reporter this morning states that “Universal is developing a modern retelling of the classic novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” with Keanu Reeves attached to star and Justin Haythe, writer of “Revolutionary Road,” penning the script.

Nicolas Winding Refn is in negotiations to direct the project, titled “Jekyll.” It is being produced by Erwin Stoff and Red Wagon Entertainment’s Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher.”

Plot details are being kept under wraps at this point, and it should be noted that this isn’t the same Jekyll and Hyde project Universal was developing with Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro’s version is said to be more faithful to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel. Apparently, this news doesn’t mean that Del Toro’s version won’t be happening. According to THR, Del Toro’s work on The Hobbit would mean that it would take at least five years before he could start on his own version of this story–which the studio thinks is enough time to do it over yet again and have it seem fresh and exciting. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything particularly fresh or exciting about any retelling of the Jekyl and Hyde story at this point, but what do I know? I run a crappy blog.

That being said, I’d hold out for the Del Toro version. It won’t have Keanu screwing it up with a bad accent, and Del Toro has demonstrated a genuine affinity for making mesmerizing films out of this kind of source material.

News from Variety this morning states that Katie Holmes will star in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a thriller for Miramax Films that was scripted by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins.

The film, which is based on a 1973 made for TV movie (which aired on ABC), is about a young girl who moves in her with her father and his girlfriend and discovers that monsters are also sharing their humble abode.

Troy Nixey is set to direct. Principal photography begins this summer.

I’ll be honest, the only reason I’m even remotely interested in seeing this is since Del Toro’s involved.

Yesterday, news broke about Guillermo Del Toro mentoring filmmakers Andy and Barbara Muschetti as they adapt their short film Mama to feature length. Everyone was pretty curious as to what the short was like–and now you can find out first hand.

The guys over at Arrow In the Head have the full short posted on the site. It’s only three minutes long, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t really good. The direction is stylish (and the thing isn’t edited to death) and the special effects are suprisingly decent for such a short movie. The story, in case you missed it yesterday, revolves around two young girls trying to escape from their mother–who’s become some sort of monster.

Click here to check out the short–I think you’ll be pleased with what you see. I now understand why Del Toro was drawn to this project.