Ordinarily, we don’t derive huge pleasure from kicking a guy when he’s down. But when that guy totally betrays his early promise by committing a series of hideous, grisly crimes against film, then resorts to directing an adaptation of an animated series with a massive, built-in fan base of ten-year-olds and manages to screw even that up beyond belief, yet still is so deluded with visions of his own greatness that he doesn’t even realize he is down? Well, then, fuck our scruples, we’re going to pile on.
And so it is with unconcealed malicious pleasure we report the booing of M Night Shyamalan’s name during a showing of the trailer for “Devil” at Comic-Con. If it’s the same one we’ve already seen, some of the titters undoubtedly came from the ridiculously pompous phrasing “from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan” but we’re willing to bet the lion’s share of the disapprobation was elicited by the mere mention of the man’s name — and this at Comic-Con, where you would imagine the last remaining vestiges of any sort of fan base would be lurking, if it existed.
But clearly Shyamalan’s only fans these days can be found among the execs who greenlight his films and think his name still has marketing cachet. The real casualty, of course, is “Devil” itself, which Shyamalan only has a story credit on (Brian Nelson wrote the screenplay) and is directed by brothers Drew and John Erick Dowdle, who previously split producing and directing roles on “Quarantine.” The shame is that until the misstep of trying to hang the film on Shyamalan’s no-longer-existing-if-it-ever-did reputation for thrills and horror, apparently the audience were kinda digging it – indeed, it looks to us like a pretty serviceable trapped-in-a-lift thriller. Unfortunately it hasn’t any stars or flashy sets or big explosions in it, so there’s really nothing too memorable about the clip other than whose “mind” it’s from.
No doubt the Teflon-coated Shyamalan will find some way of spinning this development to the people who matter (most importantly himself) as he’s managed to do with his entire recent output – what other explanation can there be for his continued employment? And yes, we know “The Last Airbender” is just about making sequel-worthy money as planned, but it really doesn’t justify the continued treatment of Shyamalan as though he’s some sort of fucking auteur.
Perhaps Hollywood execs were convinced by his ‘performance’ at a recent Mexico press conference at which he claimed his integrity is such that he gives up “most of my salary to get the sequel rights to my movies just so they don’t get exploited.” Which clearly means that if we’re ever to get the much-anticipated “The Happening 2: An Even Iller Wind,” it will be with the original genius behind the camera — what a relief.
Other choice quotes culled from that press conference (clip below) include: “’The Village’ is France’s favorite movie;” ‘The Lady in the Water’ is huge in Spain;” and, this writer’s personal favorite, “In England they’re teaching a class on ”The Happening.” This was all in answer to the journalist who had asked him, simply enough, if ”Airbender” was his commercial attempt to rebuild the fan base he had lost with previous efforts. “If I thought like you,” Shyamalan responded, “I’d kill myself… Only time will take the cynicism of your point of view and eradicate it.” Yikes.
But, to be fair, he does say one sensible thing: “Your impression of my career is not my impression of my career” — and that is clearly very, very true. He still thinks he has one. And as long as he keeps those pins stuck in his little wooden effigies of the decision-makers in Hollywood, we’re all going to have to suffer the consequences.
"And yes, we know “The Last Airbender” is just about making sequel-worthy money as planned…"
Uh, no, not really.
You honestly made me feel ashamed of myself for being a reader of the playlist
The playlist deserves better than articles like the above
It's a dark day in our history to be sure. SHUT DOWN THE SITE!
I aint reading this site any more.
I didn't like The Last Airbender, but no filmmaker deserves this kind of treatment. The Playlist can suck it.
What a bunch of sensitive little girls. Are you all on M. Night's pay roll?
The man has done nothing for you.
@anon 1 – well, I hope it's not true too, but thank you for reminding me that I meant to link that bit to an earlier article we did exploring the possibility of a sequel. The link is now there.
@jim – cheerio, then, thanks for stopping by
@Mike – what kind of "treatment" is that exactly? Reporting the booing of his name, using quotes from his own mouth or being generally negative about the man's talents in the wake of some fucking awful films?
Seriously, what a weird fight to pick – next time why not rush to the defense of someone who doesn't display such clear contempt for you and the rest of the filmgoing public.
Jessica continues to bring the awesome, and make the rest of us look bad. Great piece.
And in fairness to that colossal waste of space, they are teaching a class on "The Happening" here in England. It's called "How Not To Direct A Movie 101"
Anonymous 2 you should be ashamed of yourself for possibly being M Night Shyamalan.
The playlist deserves better readers,
This filmaker deserves this kind of treatment, has anybody seen the happening?
Jim comeback please, you will just be another tiny moronic fish in a huge pond at aint it cool…
I can't find the train station scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPveYpn5VZk
Oh yeah great piece.
This post is such a waste, regardless of how you feel about the film. Who cares if people booed? There's other, more important news to report on.
M Night Shyamalan raped me when I was 12.
As Melissa pointed out, this is no news, it's just a letter of hate. If the playlist was a forum and Jessica was just a member posting a new thread, I wouldn't have any problem with that.
But the playlist is a blog that provides double checked info, well written reviews and detailed festival updates. It's probably the best cinematic portal out there.
Articles like that degrade playlist to sites like ain't it cool that Theo C mentioned before
And for the record I didn't like Shyamalan's recent efforts too, but from that point to the point of bashing someone with such cruelty there's a huge difference
Ha! Anon 8:44 thinks we double check things…
The Playlist's Weekly Letter Of Hate. Make it happen, EIC.
I'm warning you that I'm gonna request fee for providing you with the idea…
I agree with those who say he should not be booed, people should throw their shoes at him!!
i am utterly dismayed by the comments here defending Shyamalan!
He ripped apart a journalist at panel for this "devil" movie in south america i think, when she asked him about a reasonable question regarding how he saw his career.
He's head is so far up his own ignorant ass and you dumb fucks defending the prick are just as dull and unimaginative as his movies.
If we're going to stage a discussion of this, I do think that Shaymalan really gave the best and ballsiest answer to that question for someone in his position. And by "that position" I mean "hasn't made a watchable movie in a decade."
I wouldn't mind articles such as this if they were actually funny. The Playlist typically tries a little too hard to forcibly shove humor into posts that don't need it. This is a good example of a post that could simply say, M. Night was booed hardy, har.
I just saw the "Devil" trailer before Scott Pilgrim this past weekend, and the entire audience laughed as soon as "From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan" appeared on the screen.
Laughing is *slightly* nicer than booing, right?
All I can say is M Night took a beautiful, likable family story based on asian and native american mythology and totally butchered it to make a profit. I just don't understand why he was allowed to direct when the last airbender story is not really his style of filmmaking. The studios and executive producers won't admit it, but I have a hunch it was all to make a profit considering how much money Shyamalans films usually make. They won't cast asians or native americans in leads because they think it would make more money. If this is true, how does one explain the popularity of Harold and Kumar films? The third one is coming out soon. Shyamalan's defense on the unfair representation of the casting is pretty lame, and I have a feeling this will haunt him the rest of his life. The race question will never go away, and he did it to himself, ha ha.