Actor-producer-director Larry Fessenden is set to direct The Orphanage, New Line's remake of the Guillermo del Toro-produced Spanish-language horror movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Fessenden also has written the script with del Toro, who is producing the new film with Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson of Contrafilm.

The 2007 film was directed by del Toro protege Juan Antonio Bayona and centered on a woman who, upon returning to the orphanage where she grew up, discovers that her son's imaginary friend is the same person who terrorized her when she was a child.

Fessenden's selection signals the out-of-the-box approach that del Toro and the studio are taking on the remake. They are eschewing another Spanish director to fill Bayona's shoes, and they are not putting the project in the hands of a commercial/music video helmer.

Rather, Fessenden is a filmmaker who has worked in the low-budget horror world for some time, making such movies as Wendigo and The Last Winter while appearing in pics like I See the Dead.

The project is in search of a lead actress.