The Happening: New Shyamalan Movie Begins Shooting Monday
By Norm Schrager at August 2, 2007 | 10:23 pm | Print
QUESTION: Which of these M. Night Shyamalan movies is best: Unbreakable, Signs or The Village? (C’mon, The Sixth Sense is too easy and Lady in the Water is just dumb.) TELL US
After seeing Unbreakable, I wrote that the great American screenplay existed somewhere in M. Night Shyamalan’s head. He’s getting yet another chance to prove I’m not stupid.
According to Variety, Shyamalan’s new thriller, The Happening, begins production Monday in Philadelphia. (For those who don’t know, Shyamalan only shoots in his home state of Pennsylvania.) The film stars Mark Wahlberg as a man who must protect his family from an environmental disaster. Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo co-star.
There’s not too much information floating around about the script — no big surprise considering Shyamalan’s passion for secrecy, which he eagerly made fun of on a recent episode of Entourage (his best work in a while…)
The story’s framework does have parallels with Signs, his 2002 entry where Mel Gibson is forced to defend his family against an alien invasion. But this one certainly sounds more politically pertinent, set in a world where Mother Nature is pissed off at her ungrateful kids and puts a hurt on humanity. According to reports from January, the initial spec script was called “The Green Effect.”
The Happening‘s release date is set for Friday the 13th of June, 2008.
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8 Comments
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Signs certainly. I figured out The Village’s plot rather early – but the blind woman walking through the forest alone was a great move conceptually. I thought Unbreakable was clever and a well though-out concept. Reminds me of my own weird ruminations. I don’t get your comment on Unbreakable and the great American screenplay. Link to the review?
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The Village
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“Unbreakable” is probably his best out of the three you mentioned. “Signs” can’t be good because it stras Nazi sympathizer Mel Gibson. And “The Village” is a too long “Twilight Zone” episode.
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- und3rdog –
Impressive that you figured out what was going on in The Village early. I thought Shyamalan had developed such a nice mythology with the “creatures” I hadn’t thought to look much deeper. Excellent decoy, I thought.To answer your question, I was a fan of Unbrekable (minus the last 20 seconds or so). I placed it #10 for that year and wrote the following about Shyamalan: “somewhere in his head is an American classic yet unrealized”. My editor replied “You are on crack.”
– TB -
Why The Village?– Elijah Scott –
The Village acting as a Twilight Zone episode is a good point. Signs could be described the same way, in my opinion.Thanks guys.
-Norm S.
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