M. Night Shyamalan

Started by Xeditor, January 19, 2003, 10:35:37 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

MacGuffin

A Good Night for Harry Potter?
Source: ComingSoon

During the press day for Lady in the Water, ComingSoon.net asked writer-director M. Night Shyamalan whether his new studio partner Warner Bros. has tried to convince him to direct one of the last two "Harry Potter" movies. It certainly would be an interesting thing to see a filmmaker mostly known for directing movies from his own scripts to adapt the adventures of one of the most popular literary characters.

"You know, that Harry Potter dance has gone on a long time," he told us. "The problem is that it is a living breathing thing now, all by itself. When it comes over to my camp, it needs to be kind of handed over, adoption papers and everything. That's a tricky move.

"I haven't met with J.K. [Rowling]," he continued. "The first one was offered to me, but that conflicted with 'Unbreakable,' which was unfortunate. I would definitely, but I think probably before that I would adapt a book. I've gotten close a few times to adapting books."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

Sink or Swim
How writer-director M. Night Shyamalan lost a studio and found a leading man for ''Lady in the Water'': An Entertainment Weekly exclusive book excerpt from ''The Man Who Heard Voices'' by Michael Bamberger

In 2004, M. Night Shyamalan, a two-time Academy Award nominee for The Sixth Sense who went on to write and direct Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village, invited writer Michael Bamberger to follow the creation of his newest movie. Lady in the Water would be an unusual dark fantasy with elements of both children's stories and horror movies about an apartment superintendent who discovers a mermaid-like woman in the building's swimming pool. The result, Bamberger's book The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale, offers an unusually intimate look at the driven, ambitious filmmaker's combination of brash confidence and gnawing insecurity, as well as his moviemaking process, decision by decision, blow by blow. At the time Bamberger started his book, neither he nor Shyamalan knew that the first of those blows would come quickly and unexpectedly — when Shyamalan finished the sixth draft of his Lady in the Water in February 2005, and arranged to have it delivered to the top brass at Disney, which had made his last four movies.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night, who thrived on tension, chose a date: The three key Disney executives would get the script on Sunday, February 13. Paula, Night's assistant, would fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles that morning with copies of the script and hand-deliver them to the homes of Dick Cook, the chairman of the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group; Oren Aviv, the head of marketing (Disney did not make movies that it didn't know how to sell); and most significantly, Nina Jacobson, the Disney president. Nina's tastes largely dictated what kinds of movies Disney made. Later that evening, on an itinerary established weeks earlier, Paula would collect Cook's script, then Aviv's the next morning. Night wanted to know where they were at all times. Nobody kept Night's scripts for very long.

Except for Nina. Because she had worked with Night from what Disney saw as the start — The Sixth Sense — Night granted her one special dispensation. She could keep the script. Night trusted her.

Because of the twist ending to The Sixth Sense, and the surprises in his other three movies, Night had to keep his scripts under tight control. The script for Unbreakable had been leaked on the Internet months before the movie came out. Night was determined that would not happen again, and it didn't. Secretiveness had become part of how he marketed himself. When Paula used Night's copier that could handle only twenty pages at a time, each page was stamped with a name or a serial number superimposed in large light gray type over the text. If this established Night as untrusting, which it did, it also established him as mysterious and neurotic, and he was okay with that, because it was true and because it served him well.

There was another advantage to having Paula hand-deliver the new script on a Sunday. It promised his script immediate and undivided attention on a day of the week when phones rang less, when time slowed down, when people were closer to their emotions. He was comfortable getting in the middle of people's weekends. He felt that the reading of his script should not be considered work. It should add to the weekend's pleasure.

Nina read the sixth draft of Lady in the Water that night, after her kids had gone to sleep and the house was quiet. On four previous occasions she had sat down to read original M. Night Shyamalan scripts, and all four times the scripts had been well-crafted, unique, and interesting. The scripts didn't have any big plot holes. He always worked them over hard before sending them out. They typically contained little direction, or notes for the director — for himself — about how the scenes should be shot. There wasn't much exposition. The story was told through the dialogue, in what was said, and often in what was not said. Reading Night's scripts was like reading a play. She knew Lady in the Water, whatever it was, wouldn't be a mess.

There was an early, funny scene in Spanish, the fastest-growing language in America. Nina was fine with that. The protagonist, Cleveland Heep, had a stutter. She made a note of it — two hours of stuttering could make an audience insane. The beautiful wet pool creature, the role slated for Bryce Dallas Howard, showed up on page 15. Bryce was not a star, nobody would come to a movie because she was playing the female lead, but she was pretty, talented, inexpensive, and Night had loved working with her on The Village. There was a character named Reggie who worked out only the top half of his body, and Nina found him amusing.

And then she started to have problems. She wasn't yet on page 20 of a 136-page script.

There was a scary-looking creature, sort of a mutation between a dog and a hyena, with sharp wet teeth and spiky grass for fur.

And Night wants this to be a Disney-branded movie? Too scary.

There was a fivesome of smokers, and even though they smoked only cigarettes, it was clear they'd logged a lot of hours, if not years, with their mouths on bongs.

Not Disney.

The film critic in the movie, Mr. Farber, was attacked.

Not smart.

Then there was the role Night wanted to play himself, Vick Ran, a stymied writer with a cloudy future, living with his sister and carrying the movie's message. It was an enormous supporting role, the second-biggest male role in the movie, and Night had never had a role nearly this big.

Should the audience see that much of Night?

Then there was the enormous Korean party girl, Lin Lao Choi, who explained the mythic tale that was the backbone of the entire script. She did her explaining not through action, the holy grail of modern moviemaking, but with words.

Way too much exposition.

With Lin Lao and her invented language came Nina's biggest problem with the script. She didn't understand the myth.

Nina read it once and then read it again. She picked up a phone and called her boss.

''I don't get it,'' she said.

''Neither do I,'' Dick Cook said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day — Valentine's Day — one of Shyamalan's agents, Jeremy Zimmer of United Talent Agency, drove to the writer-director's farmhouse outside of Philadelphia to give him Disney's uncertain reaction. The following evening, the three Disney executives flew East to have dinner with Shyamalan and Zimmer at the Rittenhouse Hotel's restaurant Lacroix.

A uniformed doorman opened the door for Night and said, ''Good evening, Mr. Shyamalan.'' He said it easily, too easily, as if they saw each other daily. The doorman's greeting confused Night. It made him feel paranoid.

What does he know that I don't know?

From the start, the dinner was a disaster. The tables were too close together; Night felt that other diners could hear their conversation. The service was slow. There were many courses with tiny portions. Night was not touching his food. The waiters hovered excessively.

Nina and Night did most of the talking. They were sitting next to each other, with Zimmer on Night's left. Usually, Night found Nina's screechy voice amusing, but this night it was only grating. She sounded like the adults in the Charlie Brown TV movies: wha-wha-wha-wha-wha. Her problems with the script came spewing out of her without a filter. The boundary between candor and anger, Night couldn't identify it.

You said it was funny; I didn't laugh... You're going to let a critic get attacked? They'll kill you for that... Your part's too big; you'll get killed again... You've got a writer who wants to change the world but doesn't, but somebody reads the writer and does? Don't get it... What's with the names? Scrunt? Narf? Tartutic? Not working... What's with all these rules? Don't get it... Lin Lao Choi — and good luck finding a six-foot Korean girl — is going to explain all these rules and all these words? Not buying it. Not getting it. Not working.

She went on and on.... Night was waiting for her to say she didn't like the font Paula had printed it in.

The attack left Night feeling euphoric. He felt like a boxer, adrenaline coursing through him after getting hit. He came out flailing. He started with a broad attack, then planned to go into a line-by-line defense and conclude with soaring praise for his own work. He didn't want to have to do it, but who else would? He went right into Johnnie Cochran mode, which suited him. He did an excellent and funny, ''if the glove don't fit, you must acquit'' bit.

He was just about to shift gears when he looked at them carefully, one by one. He saw nothing. They weren't engaging him the way an opponent is supposed to. There was no boxing match going on. They were looking at him like he was on another team.

And as Night looked at them, he realized this wasn't a dinner meeting. It was an intervention, as if they were meeting with an alcoholic who needed to get into a treatment program. Their purpose was to talk some sense into him. Get on the team, buddy — we can all make lots of money!

Night felt sorry for them. They felt emboldened by The Village, by their belief that had Night only listened to them, that movie could have earned double or triple or quadruple the money it made.

''What are you saying, Nina? What are you saying the script needs? Three weeks? Three months?''

Nina said nothing. Her face said, Not three weeks, not three months, not ever.

''You're saying I've lost my mind.''

''No, we're not.''

''Yes, yes, you are.''

Night went into a long monologue of everything he had written as an adult, as a writer-for-hire, as a ghostwriter, as the writer of four original screenplays for Disney. He cited dollar figures, how the movies had ranked for their studios. When he got to the four Disney movies he had made, it was pow! whack! zoom! bop! The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village.

''Two of the four I made for Disney are among the largest-grossing movies of all time. But now — now I've written Lady in the Water, and I've lost my mind. Suddenly, I can't write anymore. I've lost my touch, gone crazy.''

Nina said, ''You know we had our problems with The Village.''

That was true. But Night had always thought they let him do his thing, as a writer and a director, because he had earned the right to do so. Now he was hearing something different. He was hearing: We didn't put our foot down last time, and we regret it; we're not going to make that mistake again.

He had known these people for years. He had always liked them; he had always thought they were smart. He knew they were good people. But a different kind of group thinking had taken hold of them. All of a sudden they looked like strangers.

It seemed to Night that they didn't know how they wanted the meeting to end. He couldn't understand why they didn't come in and say, ''Help us understand this movie.'' Had that been the first thing said at dinner, the whole night would have played differently.

He dug deep and said something he didn't know he still had in him: ''I'm going to have to decide whether I make this movie at all, or whether I make it elsewhere.''

Nobody responded.

Finally, Zimmer said to the Disney trio, ''We're thankful for the truthful response you've given us.''

Night didn't look at Zimmer. ''I don't agree with that. I didn't think it was a truthful response.'' He felt Nina had been preconditioned not to like the script, that she hadn't given it a truthful reading. He had put his heart into that script, he had put his soul and his dreams and his faith into it. It had more of a big idea — more of him — than anything he had ever written. It deserved more than we don't get it.

''There's a certain amount of space you have to give an artist, and the problem here is that you haven't given me that space. I don't have any room to move. You like the side of me that does conventional things that make money, and you don't like the side that does unconventional things.''

Everything was out now, including Night's unhappiness. The dinner came to a quiet close. Night tossed his spotless napkin on the table. The check came and Zimmer paid. The fivesome headed to the elevator.

''You three go down,'' Cook said. ''I want to talk to Night for a minute.''

Soon they were alone outside the elevator.

Cook told Night he could still make the movie at Disney, even if the executives didn't understand it. He said, ''Prove us wrong, Night. Just make the movie for us. We'll give you $60 million and say, 'Do what you want with it.' We won't touch it. We'll see you at the premiere.''

''I can't do that,'' Night answered. Spend a year of his life trying to prove them wrong? No. What a waste of energy. Their lack of faith in Lady in the Water would infect the whole project.

''C'mon.''

''I want to thank you for six great years and four great movies,'' Night said.

An elevator came, and they rode down together in silence. There were no hugs and there were no Hollywood loveyas. The three Disney people walked together past the doorman and out of the hotel and into a waiting car. As they left, Night was crying. He was crying because he liked them as people and he knew he would not see them again, not as his partners. He was crying because he was scared, because there was a big part of him that did want to simply get along with everybody, to do something safe, to be successful. He was crying because he knew they could be right. He was crying because in rejecting that script, they were rejecting him.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rather than throwing his script away or putting it on the open market, Shyamalan asked Zimmer to take the movie to Warner Bros., whose entertainment president, Alan Horn, quickly agreed to make Lady in the Water. Bryce Dallas Howard was still set to play the title role, but the movie had yet to sign its male lead.

After the meeting at Alan Horn's house, Night was desperate to reach Paul Giamatti, but could not find him. Not in his apartment in Brooklyn, not on his cell phone. When he finally did reach him, all Paul said was that he hadn't read the script yet.

Night's heart sank. Reading the script wasn't a major time commitment. You could do it in 90 minutes, less if you liked it a lot or not at all. But he buried his disappointment and summoned his inner salesman.

''Listen, dude, I wrote this role for you, man,'' Night said. ''I really want you to do it, and so does everybody at Warner Bros. I gave them all sorts of opportunities to tell me they didn't want you, and they said, 'No, we think he's great. We want him.''' Paul said some noncommittal thing and the conversation was over.

A week passed, Night had still not heard back. No news was bad news.

One day in that period, I was at the farm for lunch. I mentioned that I had seen The Upside of Anger, with Joan Allen and Kevin Costner.

''How's he look?''

''You know, he's got a little paunch. He's losing his hair. He looks kind of beat up. He looks good.''

''I've always liked him,'' Night said. ''I met him once. He punched me in the arm and said, 'I know you.' I liked that. Very endearing... Life's caught up with him. He doesn't have that invincibility anymore. Damn! Jose [Rodriguez, an associate producer on Lady], don't tell them anything's up, but call Costner's guy and see what his availability is.''

Twenty minutes later, Jose had an answer for Night. ''He's got an independent movie that has him tied up for the first two weeks in August, and then he's available after that.''

Suddenly, the man who hears voices was hearing voices.

Maybe it's not Paul. Maybe it's Costner. Costner has warmth. Costner grabbed my elbow. Cleveland Heep has to have warmth. Paul hasn't even read the script. Does that mean anything? My God — is there someone I can talk to beside myself?

He asked Paula to get Sam Mercer, Night's producing partner, on the phone.

Night's first words to him were, ''I'm starting to have second thoughts about Paul.''

It was startling. What about, Listen, dude, I wrote this role for you, man? His decisiveness had been overwhelming. The voices were loud and clear. They were telling him that he didn't need Tom Cruise or even Tom Hanks. Night wanted the guy with the meager beard who played the writer in Sideways. And now that actor didn't seem to want Night. The traffic wasn't moving two ways, like it was supposed to. As Night was flooring it toward Giamatti, Giamatti should have been coming straight at him. And he wasn't. He was...nowhere.

Night couldn't see the reality, that Paul Giamatti was an actor in demand with a lot going on. Night wasn't accustomed to dealing with real-world intrusions. You were supposed to get sucked up into Night's world and to hell with everything else. But that wasn't happening.

''What do you think about Costner?'' Night asked Sam Mercer.

It wasn't common for Night to ask Sam creative questions. But he needed someone to turn to, and Sam was there. ''Is Costner too graceful for this role? You believe Paul as a building super. But this is a super who is not a super, you know? Waiting like this for an answer from Paul, it makes me wonder. Maybe he just doesn't want to do it.''

Night went outside, collar up against the wind, alone with about the biggest casting question of his career.

One of the things Sam did for Night was have the conversations Night didn't want to have or didn't know how to have. He protected Night from some of the harsher realities of moviemaking: negotiating with union bosses, landlords, agents, managers. Sam was a fixer. He could say, to anyone, ''Are you in or are you out?'' He didn't brag to Night about his methods. He did the opposite. He protected Night from them.

Several days after Night had asked Sam about Kevin Costner, Night got a call from Paul Giamatti.

''Dude, I am so Lady,'' Giamatti said. This was in March, five months before shooting was supposed to begin, an eon in moviemaking.

''Stop it,'' Night said playfully.

''I'm telling ya — I am.''

Night didn't need to ask Paul what had taken him so long. The thing was, he was in. And for a moment Night was healed.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

Okay.  First off, even though the Disney folks didn't believe in the project, they still offered him a sixty million dollar budget and total creative control, and then when he decides to take the movie elsewhere, it's immediately snatched up by Warner Brothers... and they're trying to pass this off as some sort of hard-luck tale of the visionary artist struggling to make his dreams reality?  Jesus Christ!  I've had a harder time taking a crap in the morning than M Night Shyamalan had getting this movie made!  The only thing missing from that story was Night complaining about how his solid gold shoes were too tight, and his hovercar was running low on dreams, which it uses for fuel.

The next person I read about who gets offered sixty million dollars to make their movie, and then whose response is to cry because "they didn't believe in him", gets kicked in the nuts.  Swiftly and repeatedly, with solid gold shoes.  Wingtips.

And man, after this whole story, if the movie ends up sucking, M Night Shyamalan's really going to look like a dick.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Pubrick

Quote from: polkablues on July 12, 2006, 01:44:27 AM
I've had a harder time taking a crap in the morning than M Night Shyamalan had getting this movie made!
polkablues i am concerned, please elaborate on this problem in greater detail.
under the paving stones.

polkablues

Quote from: Pubrick on July 12, 2006, 11:23:04 PM
Quote from: polkablues on July 12, 2006, 01:44:27 AM
I've had a harder time taking a crap in the morning than M Night Shyamalan had getting this movie made!
polkablues i am concerned, please elaborate on this problem in greater detail.

I think the main problem is that Disney didn't really believe I could do it.
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

Career Intervention: M. Night Shyamalan
He's a great talent, but has arrogance become a problem? It's time for some tough love.
Source: Newsweek

July 24, 2006 issue - The Crisis: He wrote and directed "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs." His films have grossed $1.6 billion worldwide. Now, judging from conversations with impartial observers around Hollywood, the perception is that success has gone to his head. "It feels like the entire town is rooting for him to fail," says one studio exec. "Is there a 12-step program for egos?" On the eve of "Lady in the Water," M. Night Shyamalan has cooperated with a book that details his arguments with Disney president Nina Jacobson. She advised him, for instance, not to cast himself as a visionary writer whose book will change the world. Shyamalan ignored her, and made the movie at Warner Bros. "He has completely burned a bridge at Disney," says a top agent. NEWSWEEK, some say, is partly to blame for Shyamalan's arrogance. "When your fine magazine proclaimed him 'The Next Spielberg' on the cover, this was all fated," says a studio exec.

Since that article four years ago, Shyamalan's movies—namely "The Village" and "Lady in the Water"—have certainly become more artificial and less engrossing. The success of "The Sixth Sense" gave him total creative autonomy, and he has isolated himself in Pennsylvania, where all his movies are made. "When someone is given total artistic freedom," says one blockbuster producer, "the result is usually bad."

The Cure: No one doubts his talent, or believes he has done irreparable harm to his career. What remains to be seen, though, is how he will react if "Lady in the Water" fails. "Will he be one of those guys who self-destructs," asks an Oscar-nominated producer, "or will he pick himself up and reinvent himself?" The solution, most suggest, is for him to break out of his self-imposed cocoon. "The smaller you make your world, the less of an artist you can really be," says an indie exec. "Look at Stanley Kubrick. If you see 'Eyes Wide Shut,' it's clear he hadn't left the house in 20 years." Others think Shyamalan should take a break from writing screenplays. "He could direct some big, great script that a studio is trying to get to someone like Spielberg," says the agent. Interesting thought, but this time let's leave the real Spielberg out of it.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Pubrick

Quote from: MacGuffin on July 17, 2006, 01:55:09 AM
says an indie exec. "Look at Stanley Kubrick. If you see 'Eyes Wide Shut,' it's clear he hadn't left the house in 20 years."
that indie exec is a fucking cunt. may his bowels block up with the force of a thousand polkablues mornings.
under the paving stones.

tpfkabi

From that long article above, it sounds like it will be too confusing for a mass audience. I'm certain it will open at no. 1, but kinda feel it may drop fast. I wonder if Disney and everything it owns is forbiding him from advertising on their networks, etc.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

Ravi

Quote from: polkablues on July 12, 2006, 01:44:27 AM
Okay.  First off, even though the Disney folks didn't believe in the project, they still offered him a sixty million dollar budget and total creative control, and then when he decides to take the movie elsewhere, it's immediately snatched up by Warner Brothers... and they're trying to pass this off as some sort of hard-luck tale of the visionary artist struggling to make his dreams reality?  Jesus Christ!  I've had a harder time taking a crap in the morning than M Night Shyamalan had getting this movie made!  The only thing missing from that story was Night complaining about how his solid gold shoes were too tight, and his hovercar was running low on dreams, which it uses for fuel.

It ain't exactly the making of Malcolm X, is it?

MacGuffin

Night takes flight to CAA
UTA's out as helmer leaves to new agency
Source: Variety

M. Night Shyamalan has fired UTA, the agency that repped him for a decade, to sign with CAA.
The move comes after Shyamalan's latest film, "Lady in the Water," grossed $42 million for Warner Bros.

"Lady in the Water" marked an end to Shyamalan's long relationship with Disney, which began when the studio bought "The Sixth Sense" in a spec deal in 1997. He followed with the films "Unbreakable," "Signs" and "The Village."

The writer-director is the second big name to leave UTA for CAA recently; Jim Carrey departed during the summer after 15 years there.

The drama behind the end of that relationship -- ex-Disney production head Nina Jacobson told Shyamalan she didn't get the script, and didn't like his decision to write a lead role for himself -- was captured in Michael Bamberger's book "The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale."

Shyamalan participated in the book, which was published to coincide with the release of "Lady in the Water." UTA's Jeremy Zimmer and Peter Benedek had repped Shyamalan since "Wide Awake," released in 1998.

The agency brokered the deal for "The Sixth Sense," which grossed $658 million worldwide and launched Shyamalan's star.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

Element of Shyamalan in 'Airbender'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

M. Night Shyamalan will battle the elements when he tackles "Avatar: The Last Airbender," a live-action big-screen adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon animated series, for Paramount Pictures' MTV Films and Nick Movies.

Shyamalan will write, direct and produce the adaptation, which Nick hopes will turn into a three-picture series with Shyamalan's continuing involvement. The project marks the first time that Shyamalan, who is known for crafting original screenplays, will direct material he didn't create. It also is a rare foray for him into the kids pic arena, though he did flirt with directing one of the "Harry Potter" movies and did co-write 1999's "Stuart Little."

Created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, "Avatar" is set in a world balanced on four nations -- Water, Earth, Fire and Air. In each society, there are masters who can manipulate their native elements -- Waterbenders, Earthbenders, Firebenders and Airbenders -- while the one person who can master all four is the Avatar.

When the current Avatar, a 12-year-old boy still learning to master his powers, seemingly dies, the Fire nation launches a war for global domination. One hundred years later, two teens discover and free the Avatar and his flying bison from suspended animation, and he must fight to restore harmony among the four nations.

The series, influenced by Asian art, mythology and fighting styles, has won several awards and garnered Annie Award nominations for best animated television production and best writing in an animated television production. The series also has attracted an audience beyond Nickelodeon's usual 6-11 demographic.

Scott Aversano, head of MTV Films and Nick Movies, is overseeing the project. Shyamalan, repped by CAA, last directed "Lady in the Water."

Because James Cameron also is about to film a new project titled "Avatar," the films could end up in a showdown over their titles. Cameron's camp said he began his "Avatar" screenplay 12 years ago. "Ours is registered with the MPAA," Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment partner Jon Landau said.

A Nick spokesperson said it also has registered its title with the MPAA.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

M. Night's Dead Planet
Source: Latino Review

On Tuesday Jan 16, M. Night went out to the town with a new original script, or spec entitled GREEN PLANET.

Although I originally wanted to report this last week, I held out, waiting to see who would purchase the spec.

Unfortunately, it looks like it is a pass around town, or a Pasadena. Pasadena is a term in the script world used when a new spec hits the town and has no buyers or takers.

So far, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers and Sony have all passed. Ouch!

The last word I heard was that Fox was still having a look, but it's looking like it'll get a pass there too.

Not much is known about GREEN PLANET, but I will report back as soon as I get any information. Now, because it wasn't purchased in the first round, that doesn't neccessarily mean that GREEN PLANET won't find a home. Many scripts don't sell first round out but what makes this interesting is that this is M. Night Shyamalan. He dominated the spec script world with everything he put out. His scripts would only be on the market 24-48 hours! After THE SIXTH SENSE, M. Night could wipe his ass with some paper and it would sell.

M. Nightmare Shyamalan: "Green" a Lonely Planet
Source: TMZ

Ouch.

Normally, we wouldn't comment on a script that's struggling to sell -- most don't, after all -- but when the flailing spec script in question comes from a director whose last four movies have grossed a combined $1.25 billion worldwide, it's really kinda shocking.

Insiders tell TMZ.com that M. Night Shyamalan's newest screenplay, "Green Planet" went out to various studios last weekend, including Paramount, Sony, Universal and Fox.

The Night story, insiders say, centers on an alien invasion of earth carried out using Nature's flora and fauna -- and sources also say that so far, at least three studios have passed (possibly because Steven Spielberg has already made that movie, so to speak) though we hear only Fox was intrigued, but even then was demanding substantial rewrites, something Night is usually unwilling to do.

Explained one motion picture literary agent not affiliated with Team Night: "When this happens we call it, 'Throwing up a burger.' "

Of course, there's still a chance that the Night script might sell, but no doubt buyers are wary after "The Lady in the Water" so badly misfired.

M. Night, of course, recently signed on to an adaptation of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," a kiddie movie Paramount hopes will turn into a franchise.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

Shyamalan re-working 'Green'
Helmer may make film before 'Avatar'
Source: Variety

Despite expectations that M. Night Shyamalan will be engaging James Cameron in a battle of avatars, the director wants to first wage a battle between man vs. nature.

When the writer-director traveled from Philadelphia to Hollywood recently to cement his plan to turn the cartoon "Avatar: The Last Airbender" into a live-action film for Paramount, he and his new CAA reps showed several studios a new script he's written. Called "The Green Effect," the film is about a large-scale, cataclysmic environmental crisis that turns into a struggle by mankind to overcome nature.

The unveiling of the script did not immediately create a green effect for Shyamalan, as no studio liked it enough to take it off the table. Studios are understandably wary, since Shyamalan is coming off the first failure of his career, "Lady in the Water."

Shyamalan was personally hurt when ex-Disney production president Nina Jacobson told him point-blank she didn't get his "Lady in the Water" script and didn't like his decision to cast himself in the pic.

It ended his relationship with Disney -- where he made "The Sixth Sense" and his subsequent films -- and set the film up at Warner Bros.

Jacobson's reservations were consistent with the reaction of critics to a film that wilted in the heat of rival summer releases.

Shyamalan might not have gotten over the Disney rejection --sources say the Mouse was not a stop on his recent tour -- but he apparently has become better at taking criticism from studio execs.

He walked away from his round of meetings with ideas and notes and has gone home to do a rewrite. Shyamalan will return within a month, armed with a script that will bear a new title, along with a cast and budget.

If the revamp scores Shyamalan a deal, he'll likely make the film before the "Avatar" pic.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Ravi

It seems that Jacobson's criticisms were spot on, since almost every LitW review I read hated Shyamalan's role in the film, not to mention the film itself.

What Shyamalan needs is a co-writer.

Alexandro

Green sounds like a bad idea that will make a lot of money. Back when Shyamalan felt cornered with the "failure" of Unbreakable, he went off and came up with Signs, which was a hit but also is, to me, the least interesting of his films. Lady in The Water took it in the neck and i felt a lot of the criticism was personal. The movie itself i found it ok. Time will be kinder with it. At least it was trying to do something different and unique. But no, critics found much more to praise in superman, bond, cars and a lot of other xerox copies of other movies. great.