RSS Feeds
Shyamalan's 'Night Chronicles' to Teach Three Young Filmmakers the Art of Critically Reviled Pretentiousness
Posted by Defamer Hollywood at 2:15 AM on July 23, 2008
If it's true that he who laughs last laughs loudest, then we can hear M. Night Shyamalan this morning cackling all the way from his exurban Philadelphia enclave. Less than two months after his beleaguered The Happening hurdled billboard vandals and epidemic critical loathing on the way to wallet-fattenting coup, Cash-Machine Manoj announced a deal with financiers Media Rights Capital to develop and produce a slate of films through 2011.
The good news? Manoj will neither writer nor direct, but slough his stories off to hand-picked filmmakers who may or may not make this a B-movie project worth watching. The bad news? MRC is actually letting him bundle the films under the name The Night Chronicles, according to Variety:
The projects aren't formalized, and no writers have yet been hired, but Shyamalan has at least two ideas that could become films. The Night Chronicles will be based near Philadelphia, where the filmmaker lives and works. To oversee development, MRC has hired Ashwin Rajan, a veteran UTA agent who is Shyamalan's cousin. ..."Filmmakers have always been my inspiration," Shyamalan said in a statement. "Working with the next wave of innovative filmmakers will teach me many things that I can bring to my own writing/directing and give my stories the opportunity to be brought to the screen in a stunning way."
Certain details remain to be worked out, including the size of the words "FROM ONCE-ACCLAIMED PRODUCER M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN" on promotional materials, to whether or not the requisite filmmaker-aggrandizing cameo will feature the directors-in-training or, as per tradition, Manoj himself. But if The Anand Jon Story isn't optioned by lunch, we'll be shocked.
- Night falls for Media Rights [Variety]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
wharfrat
Posted 4:02 AM 23/7/08
Andrew Lloyd Weber is no longer the luckiest man in the world.
wharfrat
NoWireHangers
Posted 3:07 AM 23/7/08
"Working with the next wave of innovative filmmakers will teach me many things that I can bring to my own writing/directing and give my stories the opportunity to be brought to the screen in a stunning way."
Translation:
"My last few scripts have been shit so I thought I'd find some fresh young talent to exploit while maintaining a fat producing credit. Suck it h8erz."
NoWireHangers
Oxycontinmoron
Posted 3:02 AM 23/7/08
Who does he think he is, Tyler Perry?!
Oxycontinmoron
Juancho
Posted 2:32 AM 23/7/08
Most importantly, will they be filmed in Bucks County?
Juancho
Shane2012
Posted 2:28 AM 23/7/08
He should have called it the "Shyathalon."
Shane2012
Marjory Stewart-Baxter
Posted 2:24 AM 23/7/08
Too bad his screenplays are always the problem.
Marjory Stewart-Baxter
JudgeFudge
Posted 4:11 AM 23/7/08
Said Shyamalan "More than anything, I want to work with a generation of filmmakers that have been raised on my films. A generation who sees the twist in every ending, the danger inherant in every plant, and the potential for every half-baked, self written bedtime story to be fleshed out into a major motion picture!"
JudgeFudge