Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan(icon;Maṉōj Nelliyāṭṭu Śyāmaḷaṉ; ; ; born 6 August 1970),
known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American
screenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
,
film directorA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and
producerA film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies (and staging his plots) in and around
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, where he was raised. Shyamalan released his first film,
Praying with AngerPraying with Anger was the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan wrote, directed, and starred in the film, which was about a young Indian American's return to India. To date, the film has been shown primarily at film festivals and never received a wide release for mainstream...
, in 1992 while he was a student at New York University. His second movie, Wide Awake, made in 1995 but not released until three years later, did not succeed financially.
Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's
The Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
, which was a commercial success and later nominated for six Academy Awards, including
Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. He followed The Sixth Sense by writing and directing Unbreakable, released in 2000, which received positive reviews. His 2002 film
SignsSigns is a 2002 American science fiction horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former preacher named Graham...
, where he also played Ray Reddy, gained both critical and financial success. His next movie
The VillageThe Village is a 2004 American fantasy-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan about a end-of-the-19th-century village whose inhabitants live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. The movie was shot in a recreation of a 19th-century village outside Philadelphia,...
(2004) received mixed reviews from the critics, but turned out to be a financial success. His later fantasy film
Lady in the WaterThe soundtrack was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise, and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was written by Bob Dylan...
(2006) performed worse critically and financially. The film
The HappeningThe Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...
(2008) was a financial success but also received negative reviews.
The Last AirbenderThe Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
(2010) received extremely negative reviews in the United States and won 5 Razzie Awards, but has gone on to make nearly $320 million internationally at the box office. His latest film,
DevilDevil is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle and written by Brian Nelson based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan. The film stars Chris Messina, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O'Hara and Geoffrey Arend...
(2010), which he produced and wrote the story for, but did not direct, was not screened by critics before its release but eventually received mixed reviews. Devil was not a blockbuster hit but has become a commercial success relative to its budget.
Most of Shyamalan's commercially successful films were co-produced by Disney's
Touchstone PicturesTouchstone Pictures is an American film production label and is one of several film labels of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Established in 1984, its releases typically feature more mature themes and darker tones than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.Touchstone...
film division.
Early life
Shyamalan was born in a
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
household in Mahé, Pondicherry,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. His father, Nelliyattu C. Shyamalan, is a
MalayaliMalayali is the term used to refer to the native speakers of Malayalam, originating from the Indian state of Kerala...
physicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
from Mahé. His mother, Jayalakshmi, is a
TamilianTamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
and an obstetrician and gynecologist by profession. In the 1960s, after medical school (at the
Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & ResearchThe Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research is one of the top five medical schools in India. It is located in Pondicherry , a union territory town in southern India on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. JIPMER is an Indian central government funded institute with autonomy...
in Pondicherry) and the birth of their first child, Veena, his parents moved to the United States. His mother returned to India to spend the last five months of her pregnancy at her parents’ home in
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
.
Shyamalan spent his first six weeks in Pondicherry, and then was raised in
Penn ValleyPenn Valley is a town in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. Penn Valley residents share a zip code with either Narberth or Wynnewood because the town does not have its own post office. However, Penn Valley is its own distinct community with its own civic association.-Notable residents:*M...
,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, an affluent suburb of Philadelphia. He attended the private
Roman Catholic grammar schoolCatholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
Waldron Mercy AcademyWaldron Mercy Academy is a K-8 Catholic private elementary school, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, located in Merion Station, Pennsylvania, USA...
, though he was a Hindu (they chose it for disciplinary reasons), followed by the Episcopal Academy, a private Episcopal
high schoolHigh school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
located at the time in
Merion, PennsylvaniaMerion Station is an unincorporated community in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is contiguous to Philadelphia and is also bordered by Wynnewood, Narberth, and Bala Cynwyd...
. Shyamalan earned the New York University Merit Scholarship in 1988. Shyamalan is an alumni of
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
’s
Tisch School of the ArtsTisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, in
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, graduating in 1992. It was while studying there that he adopted Night as his second name.
Shyamalan had an early desire to be a filmmaker when he was given a Super-8 camera at a young age. Though his father wanted him to follow in the family practice of medicine, his mother encouraged him to follow his passion. By the time he was 17 the
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
fan had made 45 home movies. On each DVD release of his films (beginning with
The Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
and with the exception of
Lady in the WaterThe soundtrack was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise, and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was written by Bob Dylan...
), he has included a scene from one of these childhood movies which he feels represents his first attempt at the same kind of film.
Career
Shyamalan made his first film, the semi-autobiographical
dramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
Praying with AngerPraying with Anger was the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan wrote, directed, and starred in the film, which was about a young Indian American's return to India. To date, the film has been shown primarily at film festivals and never received a wide release for mainstream...
, while still a student at NYU, using money borrowed from family and friends. It was screened at the
Toronto International Film FestivalThe Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 12, 1992, and played commercially at one theater for a week in rural
Woodstock, IllinoisWoodstock is a far northwest suburb of Chicago in McHenry County, Illinois. The population was 20,151 at the 2000 census. The 2010 Census shows 24,770 residents. It is the county seat of McHenry County...
. When the film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival, Shyamalan was introduced by David Overbey who predicted that the world would see more of Shyamalan in the years to come. Praying with Anger has also been shown on Canadian television. Filmed in
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, it is his only film to be shot outside of Pennsylvania.
Shyamalan wrote and directed his second movie, Wide Awake, in 1995, though it was not released until 1998. His parents were the film's associate producers. The drama dealt with a ten-year-old Catholic schoolboy (Joseph Cross) who, after the death of his grandfather (
Robert LoggiaRobert Loggia is an American film and television actor and director.- Early life :Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Elena Blandino, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy...
), searches for God. The film's supporting cast included
Dana DelanyDana Welles Delany is an American film, stage, and television actress, producer, host and health activist.After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy...
and
Denis LearyDenis Colin Leary is an Irish-American actor, comedian, writer and director. Leary is known for his biting, fast paced comedic style and chain smoking...
as the boy's parents, as well as
Julia StilesJulia O'Hara Stiles is an American actress.After beginning her career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet...
, and
Camryn ManheimCamryn Manheim is an American actress known primarily for her roles as attorney Ellenor Frutt on ABC's The Practice and Delia Banks on CBS's Ghost Whisperer and as Elvis's mother, Gladys Presley in the 2005 mini-series Elvis....
. Wide Awake was filmed in a school Shyamalan attended as a child and earned 1999
Young Artist AwardThe Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
nominations for Best Drama, and, for Cross, Best Performance. Only in limited release, the film grossed $305,704 in theaters.
That same year Shyamalan co-wrote the screenplay for
Stuart LittleStuart Little is a 1999 family film. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by E. B. White. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray...
with
Greg BrookerGreg Brooker is an American screenwriter, probably best known for co-writing the screenplay of Stuart Little with M. Night Shyamalan.-Filmography:*I'm on Fire *Stuart Little *Birthday...
.
In 2008, Shyamalan was awarded the
Padma ShriPadma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
by the government of
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In 2010, he directed The Last Airbender, based on the
NickelodeonNickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
TV show
Avatar: The Last AirbenderAvatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...
.
Although Shyamalan has stated he is in the middle of writing his next thriller, it has been confirmed that his next film will be a sci-fi epic titled One Thousand A.E., to star Jaden Smith. When asked about it in an interview, Shyamalan denied the idea of shooting it in 3D but stated he was planning something technically special. It will be the first film Shyamalan has directed, but not written.
Personal life
In 1993, Shyamalan married psychologist Bhavna Vaswani, a fellow student whom he met at NYU and with whom he has two daughters. The family resides on a sprawling estate in Willistown, Pennsylvania, near Shyamalan's usual shooting site of Philadelphia. His production company,
Blinding Edge PicturesBlinding Edge Pictures is a film production company founded by writer, director and producer M. Night Shyamalan. The company is based in Berwyn, PA on the Main Line. It has produced The Happening, Lady in the Water, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable and The Last Airbender. It is run by Night and Jose...
is located in
Berwyn, PADevon-Berwyn is a census-designated place in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,067 at the 2000 census. The area is part of Philadelphia's Main Line suburbs...
.
Filmography
| Year |
Film |
Director A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
|
Producer A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
|
Writer Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
|
Actor |
Role |
| 1992 The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
|
Praying with Anger Praying with Anger was the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan wrote, directed, and starred in the film, which was about a young Indian American's return to India. To date, the film has been shown primarily at film festivals and never received a wide release for mainstream...
|
|
|
|
|
Dev Raman |
| 1998 -Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
|
Wide Awake |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1999 The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
|
The Sixth Sense The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Hill |
Stuart LittleStuart Little is a 1999 family film. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by E. B. White. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2000 The year 2000 in film involved some significant events.The top grosser worldwide was Mission: Impossible II. Domestically in North America, Gladiator won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor ....
|
Unbreakable |
|
|
|
|
Stadium drug dealer |
| 2002 The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
|
Signs Signs is a 2002 American science fiction horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former preacher named Graham...
|
|
|
|
|
Ray Reddy |
| 2004 The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
|
The Village The Village is a 2004 American fantasy-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan about a end-of-the-19th-century village whose inhabitants live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. The movie was shot in a recreation of a 19th-century village outside Philadelphia,...
|
|
|
|
|
Jay (Guard at desk) |
| 2006 - Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
|
Lady in the WaterThe soundtrack was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise, and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was written by Bob Dylan...
|
|
|
|
|
Vick Ran/The Vessel |
| 2008 This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
|
The Happening The Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...
|
|
|
|
|
Joey (voice) |
| 2010 The year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
|
The Last AirbenderThe Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
|
|
|
|
|
| Devil Devil is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle and written by Brian Nelson based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan. The film stars Chris Messina, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O'Hara and Geoffrey Arend...
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2012 The following tables list films that are in production or have completed production and will be released in the United States and Canada at some point in 2012...
|
One Thousand A.E. |
|
|
|
|
|
Other films
In July 2000, on The Howard Stern Show, Shyamalan said he had met with Spielberg and was in early talks to write the script for the fourth Indiana Jones film. This would have given Shyamalan a chance to work with his longtime idol,
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. After the film fell through, Shyamalan later said it was too "tricky" to arrange and "not the right thing" for him to do.
Shyamalan's name was linked with the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but it conflicted with the production of Unbreakable. In July 2006, while doing press tours for Lady in the Water, Shyamalan had said he was still interested in directing one of the last two Harry Potter films. "The themes that run through it...the empowering of children, a positive outlook...you name it, it falls in line with my beliefs", Shyamalan said. "I enjoy the humor in it. When I read the first Harry Potter and was thinking about making it, I had a whole different vibe in my head of it".
After the release of The Village in 2004, Shyamalan had been planning a film adaptation of Yann Martel's novel
Life of PiLife of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age...
with 20th Century Fox, but later backed out so that he could make Lady in the Water. "I love that book. I mean, it's basically [the story of] a kid born in the same city as me [Pondicherry, India] — it almost felt predestined", Shyamalan said. "But I was hesitant because the book has kind of a twist ending. And I was concerned that as soon as you put my name on it, everybody would have a different experience. Whereas if someone else did it, it would be much more satisfying, I think. Expectations, you've got to be aware of them. I'm wishing them all great luck. I hope they make a beautiful movie".
In July 2008, it was announced that Shyamalan had partnered with
Media Rights CapitalMedia Rights Capital II LP is an independent film, television and digital studio founded by Mordecai Wiczyk and Asif Satchu. MRC specializes in the creation of premium content. It has full in-house physical production, legal, finance and sales teams, and a complete marketing infrastructure...
to form a production company called Night Chronicles. Shyamalan would produce, but not direct, one film a year for three years. The first of the three films was
DevilDevil is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle and written by Brian Nelson based on a story by M. Night Shyamalan. The film stars Chris Messina, Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Marshall-Green, Jenny O'Hara and Geoffrey Arend...
, a supernatural thriller directed by siblings
JohnJohn Erick Dowdle is a U.S. director, producer, screenwriter, and editor.-Early life:Dowdle grew up in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. After graduating from the St. Thomas Academy, an all-boys, military, Catholic high school, Dowdle moved to Iowa City, Iowa to attend the University of Iowa. There he...
and Drew Dowdle. The script was written by
Brian Nelson-Early life:Nelson holds degrees from Yale University and from UCLA. He worked as a drama instructor at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia in the early 1980s, where he taught Gilmore Girls actress Lauren Graham, Little Miss Sunshine screenwriter Michael Arndt, and UCLA screenwriting...
, based on an original idea from Shyamalan. The movie was about a group of people stuck in an elevator with the devil, and starred
Chris MessinaChris Messina is an American film and television actor.-Life and career:Messina was born in Northport, New York. He started his career as an off-Broadway actor. He has appeared in episodes of the television series Law & Order, Third Watch and Medium...
. The next film in the Night Chronicles series will be called Reincarnate. It will be scripted by Chris Sparling and directed by Daniel Stamm.
Sci-Fi Channel
In 2004, Shyamalan was involved in a media
hoaxA hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
with
Sci-Fi ChannelSyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
, which was eventually uncovered by the press. Sci-Fi claimed in its "documentary" special — The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan, shot on the set of The Village — that Shyamalan was legally dead for nearly a half-hour while drowned in a frozen pond in a childhood accident, and that upon being rescued he had experiences of communicating with spirits, fueling an obsession with the supernatural. The Sci-Fi Channel also claimed that Shyamalan had grown "sour" when the "documentary" filmmakers' questions got too personal, and had therefore withdrawn from participating and threatened to sue the filmmakers.
In truth, Shyamalan developed the hoax with Sci-Fi, going so far as having Sci-Fi staffers sign non disclosure agreements with a $5-million fine attached and requiring Shyamalan's office to formally approve each step. Neither the childhood accident nor the supposed rift with the filmmakers ever occurred. The hoax included a non-existent Sci-Fi publicist, "David Westover", whose name appeared on press releases regarding the special. Sci-Fi also fed false news stories to the
Associated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and Zap2It.com, among others. A
New York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
news item, based on a Sci Fi press release, referred to Shyamalan's attorneys threatening to sue the filmmakers; the attorneys named were non-existent.
After an AP reporter confronted Sci-Fi Channel president
Bonnie HammerBonnie Hammer is the Chairman of NBCU Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios. In January 2011, Hammer added executive responsibility for E! Entertainment, E! Studios and G4 to her existing oversight of USA, Syfy, Chiller, Cloo, Universal HD and Universal Cable Productions...
at a press conference, Hammer admitted the hoax, saying it was part of a
guerrilla marketingGuerrilla warfare is about waging small intermittent attacks on different territories of the opponent with the aim of harassing and demoralising the opponent and eventually securing permanent footholds....
campaign to generate pre-release
publicityPublicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
for The Village. This prompted Sci-Fi's parent company,
NBC UniversalNBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
, to state that the undertaking was "not consistent with our policy at NBC. We would never intend to offend the public or the press and we value our relationship with both."
Critical reception
| Film |
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
|
| Overall |
Top Critics |
| Praying with Anger Praying with Anger was the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan wrote, directed, and starred in the film, which was about a young Indian American's return to India. To date, the film has been shown primarily at film festivals and never received a wide release for mainstream...
(1992) |
N/A |
N/A |
| Wide Awake (1998) |
41% |
29% |
| The Sixth Sense The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
(1999) |
85% |
79% |
| Unbreakable (2000) |
68% |
58% |
| Signs Signs is a 2002 American science fiction horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former preacher named Graham...
(2002) |
74% |
56% |
| The Village The Village is a 2004 American fantasy-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan about a end-of-the-19th-century village whose inhabitants live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. The movie was shot in a recreation of a 19th-century village outside Philadelphia,...
(2004) |
43% |
49% |
Lady in the WaterThe soundtrack was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise, and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was written by Bob Dylan...
(2006) |
24% |
13% |
| The Happening The Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...
(2008) |
18% |
11% |
The Last AirbenderThe Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
(2010) |
6% |
7% |
Actors
|
The Sixth Sense The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
|
Unbreakable |
Signs Signs is a 2002 American science fiction horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former preacher named Graham...
|
The Village The Village is a 2004 American fantasy-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan about a end-of-the-19th-century village whose inhabitants live in fear of the creatures inhabiting the woods beyond it. The movie was shot in a recreation of a 19th-century village outside Philadelphia,...
|
Lady in the WaterThe soundtrack was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise, and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was written by Bob Dylan...
|
The Happening The Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...
|
Frank CollisonFrank Collison is an American actor known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.-Early life:...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Bryce Dallas Howard Bryce Dallas Howard is an American film actress and daughter of director Ron Howard. She made her acting debut in her father's 1989 movie Parenthood and went on to have small roles in films and make stage appearances for the next several years...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cherry JonesCherry Jones is an American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.-Career:...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other
- James Newton Howard
James Newton Howard is an American composer best known for his scores to motion pictures. He is one of the most popular and respected composers for cinema, and has scored over 100 films...
has been Shyamalan's music composer since The Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
, with Edmund Choi providing music for Praying with AngerPraying with Anger was the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan wrote, directed, and starred in the film, which was about a young Indian American's return to India. To date, the film has been shown primarily at film festivals and never received a wide release for mainstream...
and Wide Awake.
- Tak Fujimoto
Tak Fujimoto , A.S.C. is an American cinematographer. A graduate of the London Film School, he has worked with filmmakers Jonathan Demme, M. Night Shyamalan, John Hughes, Howard Deutch and Terrence Malick. Early in his career, he worked on the second unit of the first Star Wars film...
was cinematographerA cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
for The Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
, SignsSigns is a 2002 American science fiction horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former preacher named Graham...
and The HappeningThe Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...
.
- Andrew Mondshein
Andrew S. Mondshein is an American film editor with more than 25 film credits. He was widely recognized for his editing of the film The Sixth Sense Andrew S. Mondshein (born 1957) is an American film editor with more than 25 film credits. He was widely recognized for his editing of the film The...
edited Wide Awake and The Sixth SenseThe Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
, having Barbara Tulliver editing SignsSigns is a 2002 American science fiction horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was adapted from a screenplay also written by Shyamalan. Executive producers for the film comprised Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer. The story focuses on a former preacher named Graham...
and Lady in the WaterThe soundtrack was composed by James Newton Howard. The last four tracks are non-soundtrack songs from singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost, Indie rock band A Whisper in the Noise, and rock 'n' roll revivalists Silvertide. Each of the four songs was written by Bob Dylan...
, and finally, Conrad BuffConrad Buff is an American film editor with more than 25 film credits since 1985. Buff is known for winning an Academy Award for Best Film Editing and an ACE Eddie Award for Titanic ; the awards were shared with his co-editors James Cameron and Richard A. Harris...
edited The HappeningThe Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...
and The Last AirbenderThe Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
.
Shyamalan twists
With the exception of The Sixth Sense, a common criticism of Shyamalan's works is that they feature better direction than screenwriting. He has also been labeled a "one-trick pony" for his continuous use of the "twist" element in his screenplays. After the release of The Village,
SlateSlate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
s Michael Agger noted that Shyamalan was following "an uncomfortable pattern" of "making fragile, sealed-off movies that fell apart when exposed to outside logic."
In a May 31, 2008, interview with the London Independent, Shyamalan offered this answer to the question about his "one-trick" movies: "[A common misperception of me is] that all my movies have twist endings, or that they're all scary. All my movies are spiritual and all have an emotional perspective."
Plagiarism accusations
Robert McIlhinney, a Pennsylvania screenwriter, sued Shyamalan in 2003, alleging similarity of Signs to his unpublished script Lord of the Barrens: The Jersey Devil.
In 2004, Margaret Peterson Haddix noted that The Village has numerous similarities to her children's novel Running Out of Time, prompting discussions with publisher Simon & Schuster about filing a lawsuit
In response to both allegations, Disney and Shaymalan's production company, Blinding Edge, issued statements calling the claims "meritless".
External links