MTV recently sat down with Matt Reeves, the director of Overture Film’s Let the Right One In remake titled Let Me In.
You can read his exact words on their site, but Reeves basically addresses questions he’s likely to get from now until after the movie is released on October 1, such as “what’s different about this remake?” and “where’s that Cloverfield sequel we were promised?” (For the record, J.J. Abrams and company are still being coy about the second monster movie’s development.)
It wouldn’t be an MTV interview if they didn’t ask about Twilight, so Reeves addresses the obvious vampire comparisons early on. “Whereas Twilight is kind of a fantasy, this will be a darker, scarier kind of journey.” Saying something is darker or scarier than Twilight is like saying someone is more intelligent than Jessica Simpson. ”Well, we want this to be funnier than a funeral, but more highbrow than ‘Jersey Shore.’” Can you tell I’m more annoyed than a panda?
Reeves said this is an “Americanization” of the Tomas Alfredson film and John Ajvide Lindqvist novel, but repeated incessantly that he wants to show “reverence” to the previous work while “making it his own.” Don’t worry, horror/vampire fans, he “shares the love” for the 2008 movie currently ranked #201 on IMDB’s top 250. Which is why he’s remaking it?
If Reeves is such a fan of the original, it begs the question, “Why redo it? Why Americanize the art you loved so much?” The interviewer asks about what’s being retained from the Swedish film and what he thinks of skeptics, but the obvious question is “Why do it at all?” You know, besides the easy paycheck.
I understand in the music world bands perform covers of their favorite songs and that television is a mostly incestuous medium of vaguely similar programming, but does this happen in other art forms? Are books being rewritten two years after they’re published? Paintings redone? Buildings designed the same by different people?
Of course everyone on Earth is influenced by those they admire, but if you like something you tell your peers. You don’t slap your name on an almost version of the product with your “unique” spin on it. Maybe I’m just naive.
Great filmmakers are recognized for their creativity as much as their eye for visuals and knack for storytelling. I find it hard to believe young directors are making their way through film school hoping to one day, if they’re lucky, redo someone else’s movie. Well, unless of course they’re McG.
