M. Night Shyamalan

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M. Night Shyamalan
Shyamalan in 2016
Born
Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan

(1970-08-06) 6 August 1970 (age 53)
Mahé, Puducherry, India
CitizenshipUnited States[1]
Alma materTisch School of the Arts, New York University
Occupation(s)Director, screenwriter, producer, actor
Years active1992–present
Spouse
Bhavna Vaswani
​
(m. 1993)​
Children3

Manoj Nelliyattu "M. Night" Shyamalan[1] (/ˈʃæməlɑːn/;[2] /ˈʃɑːməlɑːn/;[3] Maṉōj Nelliyāṭṭu Śyāmaḷaṉ; Malayalam: മനോജ് നെല്ലിയാട്ട് ശ്യാമളന്‍; Tamil: மனோஜ் நெல்லியட்டு ஷியாமளன் born 6 August 1970)[4] is an Indian-born American film director, screenwriter, author, producer, and actor known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots and surprise endings. His most well-received films include the supernatural horror thriller The Sixth Sense (1999), the superhero thriller Unbreakable (2000), the science fiction horror Signs (2002), and the historical drama-horror film The Village (2004). Afterwards, Shyamalan released a series of poorly received but sometimes financially successful movies, including, the dark fantasy film Lady in the Water (2006), the horror thriller film The Happening (2008), the film adaptation of The Last Airbender (2010), and the science-fiction film After Earth (2013). Following the financial failure of After Earth, Shyalaman's career was revived with the release of the found footage horror The Visit (2015) and the psychological horror Split (2016), the latter of which is set in the same universe as his previous film Unbreakable. He was a producer for Devil (2010) and was instrumental in the creation of the Fox science fiction series Wayward Pines.

Shyamalan is also known for filming and setting his films in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was raised. Most of his commercially successful films were co-produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios' Touchstone and Hollywood film imprints. In 2008, Shyamalan was awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India.[5]

Early life

Shyamalan was born in Mahé,[6] a town in the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. The son of Indian parents,[7] his father, Nelliate C. Shyamalan, is a Malayali from Mahé and graduated with a medical degree from JIPMER,[8] while his mother, Jayalakshmi, is an ethnic Tamil who is an obstetrician and gynecologist by profession.[9]

Shyamalan's parents immigrated to the United States when he was six weeks old. Shyamalan was raised in his hometown of Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, an affluent suburb of Philadelphia. Shyamalan was raised Hindu.[10] He attended the private Roman Catholic grammar school Waldron Mercy Academy, followed by the Episcopal Academy, a private Episcopal high school located at the time in Merion, Pennsylvania. Shyamalan earned the New York University Merit Scholarship in 1988.[11] Shyamalan is an alumnus of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, in Manhattan,[12] graduating in 1992. It was while studying there that he adopted "Night" as his second name.[13]

Shyamalan had an early desire to be a filmmaker when he was given a Super 8 camera at a young age. Though his father wanted him to follow in the family practice of medicine, his mother encouraged him to follow his passion.[14] By the time he was seventeen, the Steven Spielberg fan had made forty-five home movies. On each DVD release of his films (beginning with The Sixth Sense and with the exception of Lady in the Water), he has included a scene from one of these childhood movies, which he feels represents his first attempt at the same kind of film.[citation needed]

Career

Shyamalan at a press conference
for The Happening in 2008.

Shyamalan made his first film, the semi-autobiographical drama Praying with Anger, while still a student at NYU, using money borrowed from family and friends.[15] He wrote and directed his second movie, Wide Awake. His parents were the film's associate producers. The drama dealt with a ten-year-old Catholic schoolboy (Joseph Cross) who, after the death of his grandfather (Robert Loggia), searches for God. The film's supporting cast included Dana Delany and Denis Leary as the boy's parents, as well as Rosie O'Donnell, Julia Stiles, and Camryn Manheim. Wide Awake was filmed in a school Shyamalan attended as a child[16] and earned 1999 Young Artist Award nominations for Best Drama, and, for Cross, Best Performance.[17] Only in limited release, the film grossed $305,704 in theaters, against a $6 million budget.[18]

That same year Shyamalan co-wrote the screenplay for Stuart Little with Greg Brooker. In 2013, he revealed he was the ghostwriter for the 1999 film She's All That, a teen comedy starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachel Leigh Cook.[19] However, this statement has come into question as the credited screenwriter for the film, R. Lee Fleming Jr., denied Shyamalan's involvement in a now deleted tweet.[20]

Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense, which was a commercial success and later nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

In July 2000, on The Howard Stern Show, Shyamalan said he had met with Steven Spielberg and was in early talks to write the script for the fourth Indiana Jones film. This would have given Shyamalan a chance to work with his longtime idol.[21] After the film fell through, Shyamalan later said it was too "tricky" to arrange and "not the right thing" for him to do.[22]

Shyamalan followed The Sixth Sense by writing and directing Unbreakable, released in 2000, which received positive reviews and commercial success.

Shyamalan's name was linked with the 2001 film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but it conflicted with the production of Unbreakable. In July 2006, while doing press tours for Lady in the Water, Shyamalan had said he was still interested in directing one of the last two Harry Potter films: "The themes that run through it...the empowering of children, a positive outlook...you name it, it falls in line with my beliefs", Shyamalan said. "I enjoy the humor in it. When I read the first Harry Potter and was thinking about making it, I had a whole different vibe in my head of it".[23]

His 2002 film Signs, where he also played Ray Reddy, gained both critical and financial success. His next movie The Village (2004) received mixed reviews from the critics, but turned out to be a financial success.

M. Night Shyamalan and Bryce Dallas Howard at the Spanish premiere of The Village (in the San Sebastián International Film Festival, 2006).

After the release of The Village in 2004, Shyamalan had been planning a film adaptation of Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi with 20th Century Fox, but later backed out so that he could make Lady in the Water. "I love that book. I mean, it's basically [the story of] a kid born in the same city as me [Pondicherry, India] — it almost felt predestined", Shyamalan said. "But I was hesitant because the book has kind of a twist ending. And I was concerned that as soon as you put my name on it, everybody would have a different experience. Whereas if someone else did it, it would be much more satisfying, I think. Expectations, you've got to be aware of them. I'm wishing them all great luck. I hope they make a beautiful movie".[24]

Released in 2006, Lady in the Water performed worse critically and financially than his previous films. The film The Happening (2008) was a financial success but also received negative reviews. In 2010, he directed The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It received extremely negative reviews in the United States and won five Razzie Awards, but it made nearly $320 million internationally at the box office.

In July 2008, it was announced that Shyamalan had partnered with Media Rights Capital to form a production company called Night Chronicles. Shyamalan would produce, but not direct, one film a year for three years.[25] The first of the three films was Devil, a supernatural thriller directed by siblings John and Drew Dowdle. The script was written by Brian Nelson, based on an original idea from Shyamalan.[26] The movie was about a group of people stuck in an elevator with the devil, and starred Chris Messina.[27] The film was not previewed by critics before its release, eventually receiving mixed reviews. Devil was not a blockbuster hit, but has become a commercial success relative to its budget. The next film in the Night Chronicles series will be called Reincarnate. It will be scripted by Chris Sparling and directed by Daniel Stamm.

In 2013, Shyamalan directed the film After Earth, based on a script by Gary Whitta and starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith. It was received poorly by critics, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a score of 11% based on 180 reviews.

Shyamalan announced in January 2014 that he would be working again with Bruce Willis on a film titled Labor of Love.[28] By November of that year, Universal had picked up rights to a low-budget movie called The Visit that Shyamalan had shot in secret. The movie went on to become a relative critical and financial success.[29] Universal released the movie on 11 September 2015.[29] In 2016 TNT first announced that Shyamalan would be responsible for a reboot series for Tales from the Crypt. As of June 2017 the series has been cancelled due to a number of legal reasons. In 2017, Shyamalan released the movie Split, which garnered positive reviews and was a huge financial success.

Sci-Fi Channel hoax

In 2004, Shyamalan was involved in a media hoax with Sci-Fi Channel, which was eventually uncovered by the press. Sci-Fi claimed in its "documentary" special The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan, shot on the set of The Village, that as a child, Shyamalan had been dead for nearly a half-hour while drowned in a frozen pond in an accident, and that upon being rescued he had experiences of communicating with spirits, fueling an obsession with the supernatural.

In truth, Shyamalan developed the hoax with Sci-Fi, going so far as having Sci-Fi staffers sign non-disclosure agreements with a $5 million fine attached and requiring Shyamalan's office to formally approve each step. Neither the childhood accident nor a supposed rift with the filmmakers ever occurred. The hoax included a nonexistent Sci-Fi publicist, "David Westover", whose name appeared on press releases regarding the special. Sci-Fi also fed false news stories to the Associated Press,[30] Zap2It,[31] and the New York Post,[32][33][34] among others.

After an AP reporter confronted Sci-Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer at a press conference, Hammer admitted the hoax, saying it was part of a guerrilla marketing campaign to generate pre-release publicity for The Village. This prompted Sci-Fi's parent company, NBC Universal, to state that the undertaking was "not consistent with our policy at NBC. We would never intend to offend the public or the press and we value our relationship with both."[35]

Personal life

Shyamalan married Bhavna Vaswani, a fellow student whom he met at New York University.[36] The couple has three daughters.[37] His production company, Blinding Edge Pictures,[38] is located in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.[39] Blinding Edge has produced The Happening, Lady in the Water, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable, The Last Airbender, After Earth and The Visit. It is run by Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan.[40]

Shyamalan is a season ticket holder of the Philadelphia 76ers.[41]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Director Producer Writer Actor Role Notes
1992 Praying with Anger Yes Yes Yes Yes Dev Raman
1998 Wide Awake Yes No Yes No
1999 The Sixth Sense Yes No Yes Yes Dr. Hill
Stuart Little No No Yes No
2000 Unbreakable Yes Yes Yes Yes Stadium Drug Dealer
2002 Signs Yes Yes Yes Yes Ray Reddy
2004 The Village Yes Yes Yes Yes Jay - Guard at Desk Also executive soundtrack producer
2006 Lady in the Water Yes Yes Yes Yes Vick Ran
2008 The Happening Yes Yes Yes Yes Joey (voice)
2010 The Last Airbender Yes Yes Yes Yes Firebender at Earth Prison Camp Uncredited
Devil No Yes Yes No
2013 After Earth Yes Yes Yes No
2015 The Visit Yes Yes Yes No
2016 Split Yes Yes Yes Yes Jai
2019 Glass Yes Yes Yes —

Television

Year Title Director Producer Actor Role Notes
2007 Entourage No No Yes M. Night Shyamalan
2015–2016 Wayward Pines Yes Yes No Executive producer

Critical analysis

After the release of The Village, Slate's Michael Agger noted that Shyamalan was following "an uncomfortable pattern" of "making fragile, sealed-off movies that fell apart when exposed to outside logic."[42] Shyamalan has also won the Golden Raspberry Awards on numerous occasions for worst director, screenplay and film in 2006 and 2010, whilst being nominated in 2008 for The Happening and 2013 for After Earth. In 2015, however, he was also nominated for The Razzie Redeemer Award.

In 2008, Shyamalan said it was a common misperception "that all my movies have twist endings, or that they're all scary. All my movies are spiritual and all have an emotional perspective."[43]

Critical reception

Year Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic
1992 Praying with Anger N/A N/A
1998 Wide Awake 39%[44] N/A
1999 The Sixth Sense 85%[45] 64/100[46]
2000 Unbreakable 68%[47] 62/100[48]
2002 Signs 74%[49] 59/100[50]
2004 The Village 43%[51] 44/100[52]
2006 Lady in the Water 24%[53] 36/100[54]
2008 The Happening 18%[55] 34/100[56]
2010 The Last Airbender 6%[57] 20/100[58]
2013 After Earth 11%[59] 33/100[60]
2015 The Visit 65%[61] 55/100[62]
2016 Split 74%[63] 62/100[64]

Plagiarism accusations

Robert McIlhinney, a Pennsylvania screenwriter, sued Shyamalan in 2003, alleging similarities between Signs and his unpublished script Lord of the Barrens: The Jersey Devil.[65][66]

In 2004, Margaret Peterson Haddix claimed that The Village has numerous similarities to her young adult novel Running Out of Time, prompting discussions with publisher Simon & Schuster about filing a lawsuit.[65][66][67]

In response to both allegations, Disney and Shyamalan's production company Blinding Edge issued statements calling the claims "meritless".[67]

Orson Scott Card has claimed that many elements of The Sixth Sense were plagiarized from his novel Lost Boys, although he has said that enough had been changed that there was no point in suing.[68]

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by M. Night Shyamalan

References

  1. ^ a b Huber, Robert; Wallace, Benjamin. The Philadelphia Reader. Temple University Press. p. 197. Then [Shyamalan] changed his name. The idea came when he was applying for American citizenship at age 18.
  2. ^ Shyamalan, M. Night (24 June 2010). "The Last Airbender- An exclusive interview with M Night Shyamalan". funnyordie.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  3. ^ "NLS: Say How, Q-T". Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1219. Time Inc. 10 August 2012. p. 27.
  5. ^ "Padma Shri Awardees". india.gov.in. National Informatics Centre, Government of India. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  6. ^ "The need for a Dev Patel in the Life of Pi". Rediff. 20 February 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  7. ^ Bamberger, Michael. The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale.(Gotham Books, New York, 2006), p. 150.
  8. ^ "Dr. Nelliate Shyamalan, MD - Wynnewood, PA - Internal Medicine - Healthgrades.com".
  9. ^ "Biography - M. Night Shyamalan Online". www.mnight.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  10. ^ Shyamalan, M. Night (12 July 2010). "10 Questions for M. Night Shyamalan" – via content.time.com.
  11. ^ Edelstein, David (16 July 2006). "nymag.com". nymag.com. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Dean's Message". about.tisch.nyu.edu.
  13. ^ Edelstein, David (16 July 2006). "M. Narcissus Shyamalan". New York Magazine. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  14. ^ NNDB -Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan.
  15. ^ Bamberger, Ibid., p. 19.
  16. ^ Answers.com - Wide Awake.
  17. ^ Young Artists Award Archived 7 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine - Past Nominations Listing.
  18. ^ The Numbers - Wide Awake Box Office Data.
  19. ^ "M Night Shyamalan reveals he ghost-wrote 'She's All That' - NME". 11 June 2013.
  20. ^ Kibblesmith, Daniel (17 June 2013). "Wait, did M. Night Shyamalan lie about writing "She's All That"?". Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  21. ^ Premiere.com - "Indiana Jones and the Curse of Development Hell", By Ann Donahue Archived 18 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ^ Science Fiction Weekly, [volume & issue needed]
  23. ^ Otto, Jeff (14 July 2006). "Potter in the Water? Shyamalan interested in magical franchise". IGN.
  24. ^ Schwawrtz, Missy (3 May 2006). "'Water' Bearer". Entertainment Weekly.
  25. ^ Fleming, Michael (21 July 2008). "Night falls for Media Rights". Variety.
  26. ^ Fleming, Michael (28 October 2008). "MRC, Shyamalan dance with 'Devil'". Variety. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
  27. ^ "Details on Shyamalan Story 'Devil'". Retrieved 19 October 2009.
  28. ^ "M. Night Shyamalan And Bruce Willis Will Reteam For Labor Of Love". 29 January 2014.
  29. ^ a b Fleming, Mike, JR. "Universal Slots 'The Visit', M. Night Shyamalan's Secret Thriller". Deadline. Retrieved 14 November 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ "Profile of M. Night Shyamalan goes sour: Sci-Fi Channel is still planning to air the documentary". Today. Associated Press. 16 June 2004. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ "Sci Fi schedules controversial Shyamalan doc". Zap2it.com. Knight Ridder / Tribune News Service. 21 June 2004. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  32. ^ Edelstein, David (n.d.). "M. Narcissus Shyamalan". (Sidebar, "Backstory") New York. Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Starr, Michael (23 June 2004). "Starr Report". New York Post. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ Recchia, Philip (2 January 2005). "Let's Be Honest! Who Were the Biggest Liars of 2004?". New York Post. Archived from the original on 1 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ Collins, Dan (20 July 2004). "Sci-Fi Channel Admits Hoax, 'Documentary' On Reclusive Filmmaker Is Bogus". CBS News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 10 January 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ Humphries, Stephen (28 July 2004). "A Different Take". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  37. ^ Colman, David (31 May 2012). "M. Night Shyamalan's Pennsylvania Estate". Architectural Digest. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ "Legal". M. Night Shyamalan official site. Archived from the original on 23 December 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  39. ^ "Blinding Edge Pictures". YellowPages.com. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  40. ^ "Syfy, Marti Noxon, M. Night Shyamalan and Universal Cable Productions Team for Proof Pilot" (Press release). Syfy. 3 August 2012. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2015. {{cite press release}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  41. ^ "M. Night Shyamalan Is Attending Sixers Opener With Connor Barwin". Pricewaterhouse Coopers. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  42. ^ "The case against M. Night Shyamalan". slate.com. 30 July 2004.
  43. ^ "The 5-minute Interview: M Night Shyamalan, Writer and director". The Independent. London. 31 May 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  44. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''Wide Awake''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  45. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''The Sixth Sense''". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  46. ^ "Metascore of ''The Sixth Sense''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  47. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''Unbreakable''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  48. ^ "Metascore of ''Unbreakable''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  49. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''Signs''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  50. ^ "Metascore of ''Signs''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  51. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''The Village''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  52. ^ "Metascore of ''The Village''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  53. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''Lady in the Water''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  54. ^ "Metascore of ''Lady in the Water''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  55. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''The Happening''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  56. ^ "Metascore of ''The Happening''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  57. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''The Last Airbender''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  58. ^ "Metascore of ''The Last Airbender''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  59. ^ "Tomatometer Rating of ''After Earth''". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  60. ^ "Metascore of ''After Earth''". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  61. ^ "The Visit". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  62. ^ "The Visit reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  63. ^ "Split (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  64. ^ "Split reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  65. ^ a b Grossberg, Josh (10 August 2004). "Shyamalan's "Village" Villainy?". eonline.com.
  66. ^ a b "Is Shyamalan a copycat?". Rediff Entertainment Bureau. 11 August 2004.
  67. ^ a b Susman, Gary (10 August 2004). "It Takes a Village". ew.com.
  68. ^ Card, Orson Scott (8 August 2004), Infringement, Watts, Plum, Ringworld, and Even More Books, Hatrack River (hatrack.com)

External links

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