It’s quite obvious that movies are being remade all the time and most of them turn out to be mere mad dashes for cash minus creativity. Now, not only is Matt Reeves up against the popular notion that most remakes are uncreative cop outs, but he’s working with material that just appeared on the big screen less than three years ago and, to top it all off, Let the Right One In is a downright fantastic film. However, when the opportunity to adapt John Lindqvist’s book yet again fell into his lap, Reeve’s attraction to the novel and the first film led him to forge ahead with his own version, Let Me In.

Reeve’s film sticks with the boy-meets-vampire story, but replaces the book and Let the Right One In’s Eli and Oskar with Abby and Owen (Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee). Owen’s a 12-year-old living with his mother in New Mexico in 1983. He’s quite small for his age and is constantly getting picked on by a group of bullies at school. His favorite time is the time he spends alone in his apartment complex courtyard in the blistering cold, but that’s only until Abby moves in. Their relationship develops much like any other pre-teens exploring their feelings for one another, but Owen soon comes to realize that Abby isn’t really a girl at all, she’s a vampire.

In honor of the film’s opening day, Reeves took the time to chat about his experience making the movie. Clearly today was a very busy day for the filmmaker, so we were a little short on time. I was only able to squeeze in two questions, but that’s really only because Reeves was packed with information on the project’s origin as well as his experience bringing Moretz and Smit-McPhee aboard. Check out the video interview below and be sure to catch Let Me In, which hits theaters today.

By Perri Nemiroff