M. Night Shyamalan made 3 films I love (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs) and three films whose combined runtimes equal 6 hours of my life I'll never get back again (The Village, Lady In The Water, The Vanishing). To have produced the former 3 features, there must be talent in the man. I confess the latter 3 are true stinkers. Hell, lately he couldn't even make an appealing American Express commercial (Remember Wes Anderson's masterfully clever busy on-set ad? Well Night tried a gloomy surreal take that aired far less and to no one's delight). Regardless, word from the man himself that the proposed but long dismissed sequel to Unbreakable may finally come to be can't help but make me excited. The chance he might make a good film again (a continually waning fact of life, I might add) now seems just a little bit less hopeless. Night spoke to MTV's Splashpage recently about how the film's iffy critical and commercial reception convinced him to put off what was expected to be a trilogy of films based on the comic book-esque tale of a man who discovers that he possesses superhuman abilities. Also encourraging? Stars Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are reportedly game. The bad news? The film's rights still remain with Disney, the distributor of Night's first 5 thrillers. He recently jettisoned to 20th Century Fox, complicating the relationship with Disney to say the least. Either way, nothing could suck more than The Happening, right? Right?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
What's He Got To Lose?
M. Night Shyamalan made 3 films I love (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs) and three films whose combined runtimes equal 6 hours of my life I'll never get back again (The Village, Lady In The Water, The Vanishing). To have produced the former 3 features, there must be talent in the man. I confess the latter 3 are true stinkers. Hell, lately he couldn't even make an appealing American Express commercial (Remember Wes Anderson's masterfully clever busy on-set ad? Well Night tried a gloomy surreal take that aired far less and to no one's delight). Regardless, word from the man himself that the proposed but long dismissed sequel to Unbreakable may finally come to be can't help but make me excited. The chance he might make a good film again (a continually waning fact of life, I might add) now seems just a little bit less hopeless. Night spoke to MTV's Splashpage recently about how the film's iffy critical and commercial reception convinced him to put off what was expected to be a trilogy of films based on the comic book-esque tale of a man who discovers that he possesses superhuman abilities. Also encourraging? Stars Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are reportedly game. The bad news? The film's rights still remain with Disney, the distributor of Night's first 5 thrillers. He recently jettisoned to 20th Century Fox, complicating the relationship with Disney to say the least. Either way, nothing could suck more than The Happening, right? Right?
