The remake for the Swedish film Let the Right One In is well on its way. In fact, today marks its first day of production. It's fitting, then, that we'd get a poster for the film as well as some tid bits of casting news. Hit the jump to see the full poster.
Several new actors have been announced as additions to the cast. Elias Koteas (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Sasha Barrese (The Hangover) and Cara Buono (The Sopranos) are all confirmed as being part of the remake:
The filmmakers note that while the new film will pay respect to the original Swedish version, they intend to forge a unique identity for Let Me In, placing it firmly in an American context. President and CEO of Hammer Films Simon Oakes notes, "The brilliance of [Let the Right One In] deserves to be seen by audiences on a wide scale and we are excited that the pieces are in place to make that a reality."
The irony in this statement, of course, being that if Let the Right One In deserves to be seen by audiences on a wide scale, then why isn't it being distributed theatrically on a wide scale? Americans are thought to be so stupid that, rather than watch a film with subtitles, they must have said film completely remade in English.
I also find it dispiriting that the remake takes place in New Mexico. Much of the original movie's charm and creepiness had to do with the fact that it took place in a snowy little town in the middle of Scandinavia. Putting the movie in sunny, baked New Mexico destroys that wintery mystique in one fell swoop.
Other than that, this remake is going to be awesome. If nothing else, the poster looks great. That gives us some hope that this might actually half-way live up to the original.
In all seriousness, though, it would be nice if great international films could find an audience in the US. Until that happens we're simply going to get inferior American versions of the real thing. Someone needs to change this.
Thanks to Overture Films for the poster.
Source: KMazur and Evan Agostini/Getty Images
