Larry Fessenden Directing US Remake Of The Orphanage
The longthreatenedpromised US remake ofThe Orphanagehas found its director and, frankly, I couldn’t be happier.Larry Fessendenis the man, and as well as signing on to helm this picture through production, he’s already co-written the remake script with the original’s producer,Guillermo del Toro.
This is very possibly not going to be a fashionable opinion but I see no reason why they won’t make a better film than J.A. Bayona’s original. I did like the 2007 version but definitely not to the extent of drop-down fainting witnessed in many of peers. And anyway, even if I had found it the best film of the year I’d still passionately support del Toro and Fessenden’s right to rework it. This isn’t Spielberg having a grasp atHarvey.
Fessenden’s most famous prior pictures would beThe Last WinterandWendigo, each of them ecological horror films about forces of nature pushing makind into some rather sticky situations – so, revenge films, essentially, and each of them amongst my favourite films of their release years. Less well seen were his earlier worksNo Telling, a Frankenstein story, andHabit, which dealt with vampires. you’re able to see how the monster-loving del Toro found a suitable collaborator here very easily.
According toThe Hollywood Reporter, the casting of the female lead for the newOrphanageis currently underway. I’ve got an eerie premonition they’ll be nodding towards Tilda Swinton (who acted alongside Fessenden inBroken Flowers), though only time will tell. Watch this space for my victory lap or crow-pie dinner.
In associated news, it seems that Fessenden’s own indie production company, Glass Eye Pix, have completed production on a feature film shot entirely on a DSLR camera.Joe Maggio’sBitter Feastwas shot in 15 days on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. I should point out that this was using the video facility, not pixelated from an incredibly long and tricky series of still frames.
There’s more onBitter FeastatIndie Wire, while the film’sofficial sitecurrently loops back to the page for Scareflix, Glass Eye’s slate of horror fare. The other two 2010 pictures being touted areStake LandandHypothermia, both of which have interesting promo artwork.
It’s a good time to get to know Larry Fessenden if you didn’t already.
