Some information on the play

Some information about Let the right one in

Let the right one in film

The production

The film project started in late 2004 when John Nordling, a producer at the production company EFTI, contacted Ajvide Lindqvist's publisher Ordfront to acquire the rights for a film adaption of Ajvide Lindqvist's novel.

The budget for the film was around 29 million SEK which converted to British pound sterling is around 2.5 million. Most of the support for the film came from the Swedish film institute and Nordisk Film- & TV Fond.

The screenplay

Lindqvist wrote the screenplay as Thomas Alfredson who was the director for the play had no initial familiarity with vampires in depth. Many of the minor characters and events from the book were removed, and focus directed primarily on the love story between Oskar and Eli. Aspects of Hakan being a pedophile are really toned within the film and his relationship with Eli is vaguely interpreted. The director Thomas Alfredson believed that the subject of pedophilia was too much of a sensitive subject.

The difference from the play to the film

The film initially is different in terms of portrayal of characters, within the play there are some characters which are added such as the police officer - Halmberg and the shop keeper – Kurt. The relationship between Janne and Dad is not thoroughly depicted within both the play and leaves question for the audience to decide what their relationship is. The audience grasps more of the feelings from the play than they do from the film as naturally with the play, the characters relation and connection between one another is clearer for example in the film the current terms on which the mum and dad stand is not mentioned nor shown, while in the play we can see that the father and mother are distant but still communicate with one another for the sake of their son Oskar.