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Ego Consumes M. Night Shyamalan in Latest, Not-So-Twist Ending
Posted by Defamer Hollywood at 2:15 AM on June 3, 2008
Antipathy toward Manoj Night Shyamalan was easy after Lady in the Water, but the slip-sliding trajectory of his upcoming eco-thriller The Happening has our hearts suddenly and surprisingly enlarged with pity. After a while, there's only so much you can hold against a guy whose actors' line readings are scarier than his plot, who unironically claims he's got something on The Exorcist and whose latest double-shot of bad buzz suggests Shyamalan's days as Genius Autocrat Brat are spiraling to a close. For starters, the flagging Manoj Mystique™ gets the point-counterpoint treatment in today's NY Times:
"It never really worked," argues David Weitzner, the former head of worldwide marketing for Universal and an adjunct professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. "It's pomposity on the part of studios to think that the public is going to respond to an advertising message that says to see the film because it's from the director of another film. It's stupid and to some degree, it's fuelled by ego." ...
Mr. Shyamalan, who will get his name above the title for The Happening, still believes that a director's name on the marquee — one that is not Steven Spielberg's — can sell a blockbuster as easily as a star's can."The problem is the assumption that if I am selling the movie — because I'm selling me — that I'm being egotistical. If Will Smith did the same thing, it would be perceived very differently," he said. "You're supposed to be hidden if you're a director. That's a rule that who said in the movie business?"
Manoj, Manoj, Manoj. Seriously — have your lawyer add a clue to that pricey contract rider of yours. No one cares about your ego, just your tone-deafness: Recent tracking has The Happening distantly trailing The Incredible Hulk among June 13 openings, with only 54% of survey respondents noting Awareness of the film and a genuinely tragic 2% acknowledging Un-Aided Awareness. In other words, it's conceivable that maybe "Oscar-nominee Mark Wahlberg" and Zooey Deschanel have greater name value among The Happening's target demo than "M. Night Shymalan." We're just saying.
But that beingsaid, there is no truth to the death-knell rumors that The Happening won't screen for critics; we're told the studio is putting the film out there June 10 — two days after its planned junket and not in time for weekly critics' deadlines. We'll be there, naturally, hoping all the while his newfound press-shyness doesn't take; we kind of just want to take the poor bastard out for a drink.
- Shyamalan's Hollywood Horror Story, With Twist [NYT]
- 'Hulk' Set to Stomp Shyamalan's 'Happening' [Fantasy Moguls]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
snarkordie
Posted 3:06 AM 3/6/08
What about the marketing of it as "his first R-rated film"? As if I weren't disinterested enough...
snarkordie
Sleepyhead
Posted 3:00 AM 3/6/08
@Old No.7:
Mike: [www.rifftrax.com]
Joel: [cinematictitanic.com]
Sleepyhead
Old No.7
Posted 2:49 AM 3/6/08
I've googled the plot spoilers, and let's just say that if this movie alone doesn't get the guys from MST3K to crank out some material again, nothing will.
Old No.7
CourageousCoward
Posted 2:48 AM 3/6/08
How about when the director (McG for example?) goes from music videos to feature-length films? Do the studios think this carries water? "From the man who brought you close-ups of Madonna's vajayjay...it's Terminator 4!!!"
CourageousCoward
Juancho
Posted 2:45 AM 3/6/08
@KateNonymous: in a nutshell, you have summed up the direct-to-video features marketplace.
Juancho
KateNonymous
Posted 2:40 AM 3/6/08
The one that really mystifies me is when they market a movie based on the producers. Because what I really want to know is not whether the acting is good, or the script is well written, or whether the director has vision--I want to know who invested money in the movie, and what they've invested in before.
KateNonymous
Fama Est
Posted 3:31 AM 3/6/08
That photograph -- and its subject: hair product -- is enough reason to avoid his future happenings. He accelerated from indie nerd to Hollywood douche in record time.
Fama Est
raincoaster
Posted 3:20 AM 3/6/08
@Old No.7: THAT I would pay to see.
raincoaster
random_play
Posted 3:20 AM 3/6/08
Does anyone know where to buy Manoj Mystique™? The perfume counter at Nordstrom doesn't stock it anymore.
random_play
juniperjenny
Posted 3:18 AM 3/6/08
It's so flagrant, I feel like it's a public humiliation campaign. Why studios are greenlighting his movies is the biggest plot twist mystery of all. On his end, it's obviously desperation, since he's set himself up unequivocally as someone who only works from his own crap scripts.
I feel bad, though, because when I was a teenager, living outside Philadelphia, he knew my mom and sent me a signed shooting script for "The Sixth Sense" which I thought was wonderful and then threw away.
juniperjenny
hummingpenguin Also, no poodles
Posted 3:15 AM 3/6/08
Mark Wahlberg's "there's...something...ONTHEWING" acting is more than enough to keep me away from this, thanks.
hummingpenguin Also, no poodles
BrandonGK
Posted 3:13 AM 3/6/08
@CourageousCoward:
Well to be fair some good directors have come music videos like David Fincher, and Spike Jones but then again so did Michael Bay, so maybe you have a point.
BrandonGK
JudgeFudge
Posted 3:41 AM 3/6/08
I hope that M. Night finally gets the name credit he deserves, and the cameo of a lifetime in his forthcoming project "M.Night Shyamalan Presents, M.Night Shyamalan Making Up Scary Stories on the Spot, and Telling Them to you With a Flash-Light Held Up to His Face ".
JudgeFudge
Sweet Panda Love
Posted 3:32 AM 3/6/08
Hey, as a director, I don't object to using his name to sell something - he's not untalented. It's just when I see his name up there as writer that I panic and run in the other direction, flailing my arms and shrieking.
Sweet Panda Love
wharfrat
Posted 4:15 AM 3/6/08
Blowing up your own gas bag is the mark of a first rate second rate mind [talent]. The best never bring it up. Now, in Hollywood, there's a lot of it, but. . .wait. . .I'm having an epiphany. . .this is not my beautiful wife, my god, what have I done?
wharfrat
Little Mintz Sunshine
Posted 4:02 AM 3/6/08
@snarkordie: ...it's R rated since in this film, the aliens are allergic to chardonnay.
Little Mintz Sunshine
lrubemp
Posted 4:42 AM 3/6/08
Playing up the director's credit only helps the movie if the director's reputation is SOLID. Shyamalan's problem is his movies SUCK, so his name above the title isn't an ego problem, it's the kiss of death.
lrubemp
KingHater
Posted 5:28 AM 3/6/08
The fucking aliens were allergic to water. Seriously, think about that for a minute.
KingHater
BrandonGK
Posted 5:47 AM 3/6/08
@lrubemp:
Remember this is a man who cast himself in Lady in the Water as a misunderstood writer whose book will go on to pretty much save the world. Adding a little martyrdom to his narcissism its fortold he'll be murdered for his efforts.
@KingHater:
That made even less since then the aliens in ID4 being brought down by their lack of a firewall.
BrandonGK
KateNonymous
Posted 7:19 AM 3/6/08
Little Mintz Sunshine, the aliens actually are fine with chardonnay. Just don't ask them to drink any fucking merlot.
KateNonymous
kermitdablogger
Posted 8:15 AM 3/6/08
the movie is about global warming. plants attack humans via a deadly mist.
now all you people who make fun of it won't have to see it. know i won't.
kermitdablogger
juniperjenny
Posted 9:15 AM 3/6/08
I kind of want to do a Rolf/Swedish Chef 4-D screening of this film with potted plants and spray bottles. And lots and lots of alcohol.
juniperjenny
misterdirk
Posted 12:22 PM 3/6/08
I heard the press junket Q&A session will conclude with Night teabagging himself.
misterdirk
lesbiansayswhat
Posted 5:23 PM 5/6/08
All that Shyamalan needs to do in rebuttal to his one-hit wonder undeserved marque-ed name status is:
Tyler Perry presents..
A Tyler Perry Production
Tyler Perry in
'Why Did I get Married?'
lesbiansayswhat
regisgoat
Posted 4:55 AM 8/6/08
@KingHater. And then, knowingly being allergic to water, they invaded eastern Pennsylvania in the summer where, contrary to the laws of meteorology, it sometimes reaches 200% humidity.
I heard the villain in this one is an evil philedendron that uses telepathy to make people throw themselves off the building. Either that, or its super-skrunts.
regisgoat