Sundance 2011: The Orphanage remake script 'better than original'

In further proof that Americans don't like subtitles, the next foreign-language flick being given the Holly-haul is J A Bayona's grief-laden Spanish chiller El Orfanato (The Orphanage) .

Guillermo del Toro - producer on the original - will share script duties with Larry Fessenden (director of Habit and Wendigo ), while Arlington Road' s Mark Pellington is on board to direct.

TF caught up with Pellington at Sundance where he's promoting his dark drama I Melt With You - he's insistent his Orphanage will be something special.

"I'm not like 'Mr remake' but this is really exciting" he bubbled, "it's the remake that Larry Fessenden and Guillermo re- wrote and then Larry dropped out and he asked me to do it."

Regardless of how we feel about remakes, the involvement of both Fessenden and del Toro is making us take notice.

"It's the same story but I felt like the script is better," said Pellington "Guillermo said he improved the things he felt were missing in the original."

In bizarre casting news The Big Bang Theory 's Kaley Cuoco is currently slated to play a character called Melinda Reed - presumably not the lead (Belén Rueda in the original) as 25-year-old Cuoco is a little young for the adoptive mother returning to the orphanage where she grew up.

We're getting chills - whether it's of terror or anticipation remains to be seen...

Rosie is the former editor of Total Film, before she moved to be the Special Edition Editor for the magazine group at Future. After that she became the Movies Editor at Digital Spy, and now she's the UK Editor of Den of Geek. She's an experienced movie and TV journalist, with a particular passion for horror.