Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. M. Night Shyamalan has had a rollercoaster of a career, that's for sure. He skyrocketed to fame and success and plummeted to being a joke within a few years. It's actually incredible how fast it all happened.
I remember when the trailer for Devil (which I still say should have been called Hellivator) was in heavy rotation and when the “Produced by M. Night Shyamalan” card came up the audience would always start roaring with laughter. This happened half a dozen times.
But no matter how many The Last Airbenders and The Happenings he gives us, I'll always have hope that he finds his footing again because I adore Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs so much. Lady in the Water has some great ideas, as does The Village, but they buckle under Shymalan's misguided ego.
Some think the same of Signs as well, but it's such a gorgeous, fun and emotional little suspense story that I find myself overlooking the overly in awe of itself Shymalan twist reveal.
I haven't seen The Visit yet, but I give the man props for funding that little picture himself as a way to try to reclaim some of his reputation. According to Deadline he's plugging away at another low budget thriller that'll be filming in Philly this November, once again produced by Jason Blum.
The news is that he may be snagging Signs and The Village collaborator Joaquin Phoenix to star in the new project.
That's only good news as far as I'm concerned. Lower budgets tend to force creativity and Shyamalan is a smart dude when he's forced to be lean and mean. If he has an actor like Phoenix at his disposal then he could make something special.
Thoughts?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
