Here's an interesting take on remakes from the Director of an original film receiving a remake. Juan Antonio Bayona directed the original The Orphanage, El Orfanato, and was asked by the producer of the U.S. remake, Guillermo del Toro, if he would like to direct it.

He said no, but he's keen on someone else to make the film again, and a number of times. He likes the idea of remakes, and perhaps we should consider his thinking too.

Juan Antonio Bayona called Guillermo del Toro's offer to helm the remake very generous, and that he was the first to be offered, yet he didn't want to do it and would rather move onto something else.

In fact he's not opposed to the idea of remakes, and actually quite likes them:

"One play can be done a thousand times, and nobody complains about that...[It's] not an insult; quite the opposite, I think. What do you call it? It's a compliment. I suspect the reasons for doing it have more to do with money than anything else. But, no, but it's great...

...Actually, I just hope that the remake will be very different and not try to do the same thing... If I had done the film, it would have been different. If some other director had done the film, it would have been different. So it's wonderful to just get somebody else to take a shot at it."

His comments come through Sci Fi Wire. Now if you look at it like that, perhaps remaking a film could end up with an even better version, of course there will be poorer versions on the way, but sometimes there's a much better one waiting there to be discovered.

That happens with stage plays all the time, they are remade in different productions time and time again, and why should that be any different from film? Or rather why shouldn't film remakes be acceptable? Is it because we don't actually often know that they are remakes? In the stage the references are often made so that the audience know up front, but in film it may not always be so clear.

One thing is for sure, Bayona is interested in seeing how El Orfanato is remade, and hopes that it is a different version to the one he made.