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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.

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 don’t have many rules here at the site, but one of the few I do have is that I don’t post about Twilight unless someone is totally bagging on it (like the story from awhile back where Stephen King said Stephanie Meyer wasn’t a very good writer). Every rule is made to be broken, though, and this is one of those occasions.

There’s been much speculation about who might direct a third film in the teen-angst vampire drama series. Drew Barrymore was a name getting tossed around last week–and she’d have probably fit in pretty well with this type of film. However, that’s old news now–and the fresh (and confirmed by Variety) skinny is that Juan Antonio Bayona will now direct Eclipse. For horror fans, this is both intriguing and terrifying news.

Bayona, who’s a Guillermo Del Toro protege, is best known for making the creepy 2007 film, The Orphanage. He’s also attached to direct Hater, a very cool sounding film based on a book by David Moody. With Eclipse scheduled to hit theaters in June of 2010, it seems like Hater might be going on the backburner–which bums me out.

I’m not sure why Bayona would really want to make Eclipse (aside from the obvious reason that they’re probably paying him well and more people will see it on opening weekend than saw The Orphanage in its full theatrical run) and his involvement isn’t enough to get me in a theater, but if there’s a director who could actually make one of these bullshit films interesting, this is the guy.

Look, I’ve been pretty vocal about how I feel when it comes to remakes. I don’t really care for most of them, but Hollywood has thrown so many on me in the last few years that I’ve become like a punch-drunk baby seal after being clubbed by some crazed poacher.

This news from New Line Cinemas, however, is a perfect sign of just how fucking insane Hollywood is now, and how bound and fucking determined they are to remake everything ever made regardless of when it was originally released.

The news, which appeared in Variety, states that New Line is moving ahead with a planned remake of The Orphanage. The Orphanage, as you may recall, was a Spanish language film directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and produced by Guillermo del Toro. It released theatrically here in America where it made over 7 million bucks. The real kicker? It was made in 2007. New Line Cinemas wants to remake a fucking movie that isn’t even two years old and had a theatrical release in this country. Insane.

More proof that there’s no one with an ounce of creativity left working in Hollywood.