Last we heard from Tomas Alfredson, he was relatively cool with Matt Reeves' "Let Me In," a remake of the director's cult hit "Let The Right One In." “I haven’t seen it,” Alfredson told us in December. “It was a little disturbing when I first heard about it because I think I was still working on marketing my own version. So it was a little quick. It’s a very personal thing to be working with a book for several years. You think it’s your own and you fight for it a lot and then to be hearing about someone else dancing with your girlfriend, it’s strange. But I heard that it’s a good film and that they did a great job, so it’s no hard feelings. I will see it." But it seems his feelings on the matter may have hardened a bit.
The Wall Street Journal recently caught up with the director and when asked about Reeves' film, his words had a considerable edge. "I think that there's something dishonest about copying someone's work. I think it's much stronger if you do something personal of your own that's original," Alfredson said, although there is no indication he has seen the movie yet.
It's a bit rich coming from Alfredson, who earned deserved critical acclaim for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," itself already made in the celebrated 1979 BBC series starring Sir Alec Guiness. Of course, Alfredson doesn't consider his film a remake saying, "There are so many ways to tell the same story with so many different approaches." That's a flexibility he doesn't seem to give to Reeves, whose "Let Me In" arguably improves on Alfredson's film (and it should be noted, both films are actually based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist).
Anyhow, with the Oscar race now over, we'd like to suggest to Alfredson that he give "Let Me In" a spin before sounding off about it any more — he might be pleasantly surprised.
