Shyamalan reveals how early success trapped him
INDIAN-AMERICAN filmmaker M Night Shyamalan said the initial success he achieved after thriller
The Sixth Sense started to feel like a trap as it blinded him with a desire to get accepted.
The filmmaker followed the 1999 movie’s success with blockbusters such as
Unbreakable, Signs and The Village, but his career saw a dip in the mid-2000s with critically panned Lady in the Water, The Last Airbender and
After Earth.
Shyamalan, who is back with his latest thriller Old, about a family’s beach vacation gone wrong, said he cherished the knowledge that came from those years as it allowed him to return to the kind of cinema he started with.
“I think for a period of about six years, I wanted to be accepted. And the moment that you’re willing... whether it’s in high school, on the job, or in a relationship, if one is willing to let go of who they are, to be accepted, they’re on the wrong path and are going to be unhappy,” Shyamalan said.
The writer-director returned to delivering critical and financial success in 2015, with low-budget film The Visit becoming his first big hit in almost seven years.
He followed that up with blockbusters Split (2017) and
Glass (2019), the two films that complete his ‘Unbreakable’ trilogy.
“The irony is, you won’t get what you think you’re going to get – ‘acceptance’. And then you realise, ‘Wow, I was really powerful when I thought I wasn’t powerful’.
“One should be able to use their success to take more risks, not less. What we often do is the exact opposite. We use our success to trap us. And now you can’t do what you did when you first started.”
Shyamalan said his aim now was to ensure his name is synonymous with the feeling in the audience that they were going to experience something never seen before.
Citing his new thriller Old as an example, the director said he believed in art representing the artist even if it doesn’t lead to a golden run at the box office.
“If Old goes out and doesn’t do well at the box office, it’s still a giant win. For me, it really is, because it’s so specific, that only I could have made it, and the audience will be more interested in the next movie because it’s so specific.”
Shyamalan started his journey in Hollywood in the 1990s when diversity and inclusivity were not the hot topics they are today in the American culture and cinema.
For the Puducherry-born filmmaker who had no connection to the world of entertainment – his parents work in the medical field – joining Hollywood was propelled by his desire to change what it means to be an American.
“I have been an immigrant mainstream filmmaker in Hollywood for all this time, way before the world knew how to deal with it.”
Shyamalan recalled how people in the US film industry were shocked to have someone who looked different, but was telling their stories.
“It was a fascinating example of almost the kind of ‘hey, I’m going to change what it needs to be you. So you’re going to have to include me.’”
With diversity in cinema, the definition of being “an American has also expanded”, bringing about a welcome change for Indian actors in Hollywood, he said.
When he started, Shyamalan said none of the major mainstream Indian actors were part of big-budget Hollywood movies, but now they are a perfect fit to play people of different ethnicities.
“I joke about it a bit because our profile is ambiguous. Let’s say they want someone of diversity in films or on TV, Indian actors cover a huge space on this spectrum.”
While Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Deepika Padukone, Huma Quereshi and Ali Fazal are Asian stars who have made the cut in Hollywood by collaborating with the Wachowskis, DJ Caruso, Zack Snyder and Kenneth Branagh, Shyamalan is yet to work with any artists from his home country.
He said he was more than eager to work with Indian actors and enquires about them from his wife, an avid Indian cinema and television viewer.
“My mind has gone there a few times. My wife loves watching TV. So when I sit on the couch with her and I see what she’s watching, I’m like, ‘that actor would be interesting’. So it’s an eye-opener. I think it’s coming soon, hopefully.”
But Shyamalan is not willing to name names.
“There are a few actors I like, but I don’t want to say so that others don’t feel bad. I try to be careful about that. But there are a few who have been on my mind,” he said.
Old is inspired by the graphic novel Sandcastle, written by Pierre Oscar Levy and illustrated by artist Frederik Peeter.