M. Night Shyamalan: “A Hollywood Horror Story, With a Twist”
Interesting article in tomorrow’s NY Times about Hollywood’s attempts to create auteur ‘star’:
“His career illustrates one of the stubborn paradoxes of Hollywood: the film industry loves the myth of the auteur, the rugged individual filmmaker who plays by his own rules, until faced with the reality. Around the time that “The Sixth Sense” was released, this was a particularly potent idea, as studios tried to build brands around star directors like Quentin Tarantino and the Wachowski brothers (who made “The Matrix”), hoping their names would sell movies the way Hitchcock’s once did.
But the studios also need to heed the brutal realities of the movie business. All of these directors have had high-profile stumbles that suggest moviegoers care more about what is on the screen than what is above the title. And unlike animated brands like Shrek, real-life characters like Mr. Shyamalan can prove difficult to work with.”
The Sixth Sense was remarkable — script, directing, acting, tone, everything about it pitch perfect, an amazing effort by a young filmmaker. That’s a two-edged sword because along with the justifiable praise comes enormous expectations. I’m not sure Shyamalan could have made any movie equal to the phenomenon of The Sixth Sense.
What he followed with — Unbreakable, Signs, The Village and Lady in the Water — all made money, if you figure in total ancillary revenue streams, with the possible exception of Lady. So something must be amiss to account for the current Schadenfreude in Hollywood re Mr. Shyamalan. And I don’t think it’s just about him choosing to live in Philadelphia instead of Brentwood or the Hollywood Hills.
This much is clear: there’s a lot riding on Shyamalan’s new movie The Happening.