It has been known for some time that “Cloverfield” director, Matt Reeves, would remake 2008′s fantastic Swedish cult vampire hit, “Let the Right One In.” This left many of us scratching our heads. But the LA Times recently sat down with the director to chat about the decision to remake the film and his thoughts on the project.

For those of you who don’t know, “Let the Right One In,” is a hauntingly beautiful, horrifying, and touching film about a lonely 12-year-old boy who discovers that the friendly girl who moves in next door is a vampire.

“I was just hooked,” Reeves recalled when asked about the first time he saw the film.  “I was so taken with the story and I had a very personal reaction. It reminded me a lot of my childhood, with the metaphor that the hard times of your pre-adolescent, early adolescent moment, that painful experience is a horror.”

Reeves will direct the English translation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s original novel which will be called “Let Me In.”

The second draft of the script has been completed and is set in Reagan-era Colorado, and Reeves is currently scouting locations.

Avy Kaufman — the casting director who found child actors for “The Sixth Sense” and “The Ice Storm” — has been hired to find the two leads.

“There’s definitely people who have a real bull’s-eye on the film,” Reeves said, “and I can understand because of people’s’ love of the [original] film that there’s this cynicism that I’ll come in and trash it, when in fact I have nothing but respect for the film. I’m so drawn to it for personal and not mercenary reasons, my feeling about it is if I didn’t feel a personal connection and feel it could be its own film, I wouldn’t be doing it. I hope people give us a chance.”

The film is scheduled for a fall 2010 theatrical release.