Even M. Night Shyamalan — known for making darker movies like “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs” — goes looking for the light sometimes.
“I just finished three really dark movies, ‘Old,’ ‘Knock at the Cabin’ and ‘Trap,’ which are really edgy movies where the characters are super, super dark and complicated, and I wanted to do something different,” said the director.
He found an interesting opportunity to collaborate on a new supernatural romance novel called “Remain” with Nicholas Sparks. Yes, that Nicholas Sparks — king of romantic dramas like “The Notebook” and “A Walk to Remember.”
Co-authored books are a hot trend right now in the publishing world. Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben have a new novel out. James Patterson has teamed up with Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton on books. This collab, however, is different in that Shyamalan had written the screenplay and Sparks agreed to write a novel based on that story. A “Remain” film — starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Phoebe Dynevor — already wrapped production and will be released next year.
“I don’t think anybody has ever done what we just did, which was take the same story and simultaneously go do our separate things,” said Sparks. “It isn’t in linear fashion. It’s two people doing two different art forms from the same story. I trusted him 100% to make the best film version of that story possible and he trusted me.”
The two crossed paths years ago when Shyamalan was asked if he would want to adapt Sparks’ novel “The Notebook” into a feature film. The job ended up going to Nick Cassavetes, but Shyamalan said Sparks’ work “always represented something magical to me.” It meant something to him that he would be entrusted with a story so beloved.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Sparks and Shyamalan talk about teaming up, scary movies and chicken salad. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
____
AP: At first thought, you two working together seems like an unlikely duo. but the supernatural and romance genres have a lot in common.
SPARKS: We’re not the first to dabble in this. The biggest movie of 1990 was “Ghost.” Shakespeare used to put ghosts into his plays.
SHYAMALAN: I think love is a supernatural conceit. It’s a mythology we all buy into, but it is still a mythology, a supernatural mythology that there’s a “one.” The “destined one” that you meet in the coffee shop and that you know it was meant to be, and then all the things that happened because you met.
AP: Night, you say you approached Gyllenhaal at the beginning of the year about this role. When you did that, did you tell him it would also be a novel written by Sparks?
SHYAMALAN: I must have. But it was such an unusual moment because I had finished writing the screenplay, pressed save, rushed to get in the car to go to New York for my daughter’s birthday. In the car the phone rings, and it’s Jake. And I’m like, “What’s up, man?” We hadn’t talked in five years, something more. And he’s like, “I’d love to be in one of your movies.” And I went, “That is so weird. Where are you?” And he’s like, “I’m in New York.” I said, “Well, I’m going to New York. Want to have tea?” I had a gut feeling that the universe was doing something. So, I called my assistant. I said, “Print the script.” So, we’re just having tea and catching up. And he’s telling me how in love he is and how he’s just so happy and in love. And I said, “You know what? Here.” He was in shock. He called me two days later and said, “I’m in. I love it.” It was a weird kind of beautiful thing.
AP: Does the book follow the screenplay to the letter or vice versa?
SPARKS: Like any adaptation, no. The first thing I said when I read his script was, “Hey, this is great. Of course, it’s gonna be nothing like my novel. It’s entirely different.” Night said basically the same thing.
SHYAMALAN: I think for audiences, it’ll be really interesting. They can point out the differences and ask, “Why did Nicholas do that with the character and the backstory? Why did Night do this?” Our dialogue isn’t the same.
AP: Night, we’re in spooky season with Halloween coming up. Are there any films — besides your own — that you recommend watching?
SHYAMALAN: “The Exorcist,” of course, it’s always there. There’s “The Innocents.” “The Haunting” 1963 film by Robert Wise. And the Japanese movie “Cure.”
AP: Nicholas, have you made Night your famous chicken salad with Splenda?
SPARKS: No, I haven’t. I did an interview with the New York Times where I offered the reporter some of my homemade chicken salad and it had Splenda. And whatever reason this blew up on social media. People thought it must be the most disgusting chicken salad ever. So, I said, “No, it’s delicious.” We started making it on my book tour last year, handing it out to people. And in fact, Splenda put the recipe on its boxes. You can get them. I was invited to the Indianapolis 500 to see the Splenda car.
SHYAMALAN: To get to the core of your question. No, he has not made it. Nor has he mentioned it. Didn’t even offer it.
October is here, bringing with it pumpkins, black cats, and several new books about witches—not to mention romantasies, sci-fi adventures, demons, werewolves, vampires, haunted houses, haunted shipwrecks, and so much more. Need a new book or two (or 10)? Read on!
In a magical version of Los Angeles, a folklore student learns she will die the next day unless she can track down a mysterious object called “the Alchemical Heart.” (October 7)
“Drawing on historical, botanical, and occult research, and steeped in the gothic tradition, Atlas of Unknowable Things considers what it means to search for meaning in the scientific, only to come face to face with the sublime.” (October 7)
“A prince, a secret society, a momentous decision—the call of the ravens rings out. From the award-winning creator of the global board game sensation, Catan: Order of the Ravens picks up 18 years later, continuing the riveting tale of family, love, and the bitter struggle for power.” (October 7)
“When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies, and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate, and utterly compelling horror novella.” (October 7)
“Colin is a low-level employee at a Hell-like multinational corporation solving the world’s most difficult problems in deeply questionable ways. … When Colin meets a shadowy figure promising his deepest desire in return for a small, unspecified favor, he asks for the one thing that will improve his life: a promotion. But that small favor unleashes an ancient evil.” (October 7)
In this historical romantasy, a man seeks to break his curse by uncovering a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. But when he sneaks his way into the court of Mary Queen of Scots, he clashes with her alluring magical protector. (October 7)
“Beelzebub, the Lord of Gluttony, is no longer his own. He’s been mine ever since he caught me singing to myself, falling prey to the magic of my song. If I can keep my distance, we can both move on. But now, he is caught under my spell, which makes him forbidden to touch. And yet, he is the only one I can trust to get me back to Crystal Hollow.” (October 7)
“In Lansdale’s nightmarish visions, you’ll discover psychotic demon nuns, a psychopathic preacher, cannibals, 80-year-old Elvis, undead strippers, flying ghost fish, Elder Gods, possessed cars, and the worst evil of all: mankind.” With an introduction by Joe Hill. (October 7)
The Apollo Murders series continues with this “edge-of-your-seat thriller about China’s secret role in the space race,” written by veteran astronaut-turned-author Chris Hadfield.(October 7)
“The daughter of legendary Dungeons & Dragons adventurers Drizzt Do’Urden and Catti-brie fights to build her own legacy in a brand-new series from R.A. Salvatore.” (October 7)
“The sequel to The Naturalist Society follows a young scientist unlocking her magical abilities amid a high-seas adventure filled with international intrigue.” (October 7)
The Dust Knights series continues, set in a world where “the worlds of three interstellar civilizations vie for honors in the Olympics … The team from Raylicon, a dying world of scorching temperatures, has never won honors”—until a new generation of gifted speedsters emerges, and the stakes rise exponentially. (October 7)
“In this queer retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne classic gothic story Rappaccini’s Daughter, a young woman is lured to a lush estate owned by a botanist who might be hiding dark secrets.” (October 7)
This horror debut novel follows “a woman who seeks refuge at an all-trans girl commune only to discover that demons haunt her fellow comrades—and she’s their next prey!” (October 7)
“In this incisive, irreverent, and whimsical cozy dark academia novel, a struggling mage student with intense anxiety must prove that classic literature contained magic—and learn to wield her own stories to change her institution for the better.” (October 7)
“Drawing on Wilson’s unique background as both a threat forecaster for the United States Air Force and a Cherokee Nation citizen, this propulsive novel asks probing questions about nonhuman intelligence, the Western mindset, and humans’ understanding of reality.” (October 7)
“A sexy, dark fantasy reimagining of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, where Katrina Van Tassel doesn’t have to choose between Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane, and there are worse things haunting them than the Headless Horseman.” (October 7)
In 1950s Hong Kong, a young Chinese refugee joins a séance competition among mediums in a haunted house, with revenge motivating her participation. It ended in a confusing disaster—and decades later, she returns to the scene to find out the truth about what happened there. (October 7)
“Theodosia’s already survived being the evil stepsister in one fairy tale, but surviving fae bargains, fairy rings, and being turned into a hedgehog will be a whole new challenge in this hilarious sequel to Laura Mayo’s How to Summon a Fairy Godmother.” (October 7)
“When a young girl goes missing, the ghosts of the past collide with her family’s secrets in a mesmerizing Native American Southern Gothic.” (October 7)
“When a young woman is bequeathed a shuttered dance hall, she begins to dream of its heyday—and learns to see her present-day entanglements in a new light.” (October 7)
The Grand Illusion series continues as “Dominic Mikail Ysella―ancestor of Avraal Ysella―is the grandson of the last king of Aloor. Stripped of most of their land, Dominic, as the third son, must support himself. He becomes a legalist and is elected to the Imperial Council quietly working as an isolate, someone unreadable by government telepaths.” (October 7)
“Someone is killing werewolves. At least, that’s the way Vincent Van Gogh tells it when he shows up at Mark Abernathy’s art gallery seeking protection. For gallery assistant and art history addict Hanna Harvey, meeting Van Gogh is a dream come true―until death follows the troubled artist to town and Hanna becomes the murderer’s next target.” (October 7)
“Malevolent doppelgangers, bizarre murders, ancient evils, Western ghosts, mirror monsters, poisonous playthings, and more populate the pages of this brilliant–and petrifying–collection of stories.” This expanded edition includes six new stories. (October 7)
The Singing Hills Cycle continues. “Wandering Cleric Chih of Singing Hills and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant come to the river town of Baolin chasing stories of a legendary famine. Amid tales of dishes served to royalty and desserts made of dust, they discover the secrets of what happens when hunger stalks the land and what the powerful will do to hide their crimes.” (October 7)
“When her sense of safety is shattered, a young girl realizes she must become something untamable—even otherworldly—to find freedom, in this visceral coming-of-age horror debut.” (October 7)
A struggling sailor takes a high-paying job helping bring an aging boat from Seattle to England, but soon finds she may be in over her head when the vessel reveals it’s haunted. (October 7)
In this romantasy tale, a young illusionist tries to break free from her cruel uncle by gaining entry to an elite magic school—with challenges that may spell her doom if she’s not careful. (October 7)
“From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes the remarkable sequel to Witch King. A fantasy of epic scope, Queen Demon is a story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.” (October 7)
“In the gripping conclusion to the Warring Gods duology, two women find themselves caught in an ancient feud between ruthless entities, and embark on an epic quest for power and liberation.” (October 7)
“A magical theater atop a cobblestone path alters what a couple knows about themselves—and each other—in this scintillating debut brimming with nostalgia and life-affirming wonder.” (October 7)
In 1932, a Milwaukee private eye sets out to find a missing heiress—and soon becomes “entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with.” (October 7)
In a small Louisiana town, intersecting characters look toward an uncertain future while sharing a connection to a “malevolent shape-shifting entity whose rage and despair stems from a tragic history of misogyny, maternal loss, and stolen ambitions.” (October 7)
“A sharply personal and expansive memoir-in-essays dedicated to the strange and absurd beauty of horror films, exploring the complications of gender, the insidiousness of class ascension, and the latent violence hidden in our own uncanny reflections.” (October 7)
“Embark on a thrilling alternate historical mystery with Sir Seaton Begg and Doctor Sinclair as they chase the enigmatic Red King assassin through the streets of Istanbul.” (October 14)
“Award-winning author Ken Liu returns with his first sci-fi thriller in a brand-new series following former ‘orphan hacker’ Julia Z as she is thrust into a high-stakes adventure where she must use her AI-whispering skills to unravel a virtual reality mystery, rescue a kidnapped dream artist, and confront the blurred lines between technology, selfhood, and the power of shared dreams.” (October 14)
“Set in the near future, A Better Paradise tells the story of the ill-fated development of an ambitious but addictive video game project that goes very wrong. As the software they developed starts to produce unexpected and disturbing results, the project is shut down and abandoned. Until now.” (October 14)
The sequel to NecroTek is “an action-packed sci-fi thriller full of weird science, kick-ass heroes, humor, passion, heroism, and sacrifice.” (October 14)
“In the far future, one young woman finds herself torn between two loves—and two sides of a rebellion boiling under the surface—in the first novel of a sweeping dystopian romance series.” (October 14)
“In a world where the line between proper and forbidden magic blurs, Quell and Jordan, along with two unlikely allies, must navigate a treachero’s path where freedom hangs by a thread. Can love tip the scales toward freedom? Or will rivalries and deadly betrayals shatter their hearts and destroy the world they once knew?” (October 14)
“A poignant, heartfelt, and funny memoir about how, in 1985, Michael J. Fox brought to life two iconic roles simultaneously―Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties and Marty McFly in Back to the Future. An amazing true story as only Michael J. Fox can tell it.” (October 14)
“In this darkly funny gothic tale, a reclusive mother and her saturnine daughter move into a haunted building brimming with eccentrics―and secrets.” (October 14)
“Based on a true story, this sparkling and witty novel whisks you to 1956 Manhattan, where famed director Alfred Hitchcock is hosting a star-studded party in an allegedly haunted house…only for the soiree to be interrupted by a ghostly party crasher.” (October 14)
“Based on the incredible true story of a woman who challenged a man who went on to become one of Europe’s most notorious and cruel witchfinders, this novel offers a jewel-bright portrait of female power.” (October 14)
“City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring ‘Perfection’ and ‘Correctness’ to an imperfect world. But before these ruthless Tyrant Philosophers send in their legions, they dispatch Outreach—the rain before the storm.” (October 14)
Set in New York City circa 2075, this Great Gatsby riff follows “a corporate hacker. An elusive billionaire. A society trying to survive the American Nightmare.” (October 14)
After losing a battle, a woman is married off to a fae prince as a way to join their kingdoms. She ends up falling for him as a new conflict looms, leading to more life-or-death romantic complications. (October 14)
“When she’s accused of witchcraft, Fortune must flee her village to spare her neck, marrying a man she barely knows. But is the man who promises to be her saviour all he seems?” (October 14)
“A princess desperate to win back the prince who broke her heart follows him to his kingdom’s prestigious military academy—and in doing so, falls in love, saves the realm, and continues to look fabulous in this delightful debut fantasy.” (October 14)
“A dark and deadly contemporary fantasy of magical warfare, star-crossed ambition, and the pursuit of perfection at any cost, set in a glittering alternate Los Angeles.” (October 14)
“A one-of-a-kind novel that grapples with the supernatural mysteries of life, death, and human connection—an unprecedented collaboration between the globally bestselling author of love stories like The Notebook and the renowned writer and director of blockbuster thrillers like The Sixth Sense.”(October 14)
“Magic stirs in the darkness, strengthening all who believe in it. But will it be enough to save Tamsyn, the pride, the kingdom…and a fiery love fated to endure for centuries, as deep as a scar in the bone?” (October 14)
“After winning an old casefile at auction outlining the disappearance of a hunting party back in the nineties, Kory and his pregnant wife invite their friend and mentor, Professor Frank Colista, and others, for a casual long weekend of exploring the mystery onsite … When one of their factions disappears without a trace, Kory and Colista fear the past may repeat itself.” (October 14)
“As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork … No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice. Guy doesn’t have a choice.” (October 14)
“A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by award-winning author of Death of the Author and the Binti Trilogy, Nnedi Okorafor, and series editor John Joseph Adams.” (October 21)
“When the deadly werewolf Asil is gifted five blind dates by some anonymous ‘friends,’ his reclusive life will never be the same in this enthralling novel in stories.” (October 21)
“A down-on-her-luck woman makes a deal with a crafty demon to win back her ex-girlfriend after a proposal gone awry, only to discover the girl of her dreams might be the devil she knows.” (October 21)
“In this hilarious contemporary fantasy romance, an exasperated low-level investment banker is trapped in a magical realm by a faerie prince, where she must survive in a strange new world with only her wits—and a solid wi-fi connection.” (October 21)
The Cunning Man series continues as “Hiram Woolley and his son Michael carry an itinerant preacher across the border into Mexico … where they’re dragged into investigating an impossible murder … They battle bandits and also an elusive ghostmaster who blights the land with the spirits of the uneasy dead.” (October 21)
“In this thrilling sequel to The Hollow and the Haunted, the web of dark magic around two rival families becomes ever more difficult to untangle. Time is running out, and the dead are hungry.” (October 21)
“A chilling tale of modern-world dangers, dark academia, and the unexpected consequences of revenge as six friends dabble in the occult and are tragically, horrifyingly successful… calling forth an evil entity that demands regular human sacrifice.” (October 21)
In this thriller, “a group of strangers with tinnitus begins seeing numbers—numbers they soon realize are a code that will change the world.” (October 21)
“Two expertly crafted crime stories set in a far-future science fiction universe, from two award-winning authors known for their gripping plots and unforgettable characters—a short novel and a long novella that will thrill fans of space adventures, mystery, and intergalactic intrigue in this Saga Double.” (October 21)
“When mysterious drownings plague her small town, a detective haunted by her serial killer father must uncover whether revenge, ancient legends, or something darker lurks beneath the surface.” (October 21)
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls in this humorous contemporary standalone fantasy about a group of former Chosen Ones coming out of retirement to save the world one last time.” (October 21)
“Following the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the Resistance rescues a ship full of young passengers who had been kidnapped by the First Order. As Finn and Jannah set out to find the First Order officer responsible before he can endanger any more children, the two former stormtroopers must wrestle with their own complicated pasts as soldiers of the oppressive regime.” (October 21)
“You’d think I’d have learned by now: don’t mouth off to deities. Don’t fall for the King of the Underworld. And definitely don’t get dragged into a divine death match where I’m the cursed mortal prize.” (October 21)
“Singapore, 1972: Newly independent and grappling for power in a fast-modernizing world. Here, gangsters in Chinese secret societies are the last conduits of their ancestors’ migrant gods, and the back alleys where they fight are the last place magic has not been assimilated and legislated away.” (October 21)
The Book of Dust Trilogy concludes: “Picking up right where The Secret Commonwealth left off, this story finds Lyra alone in a city haunted by daemons, searching for her beloved Pan. Malcolm Polstead isn’t far behind, searching for Lyra. And they are both racing toward the desert of Karamakan, following the trail of roses said to hold the secret of Dust.” (October 23)
“From the bestselling author of the Japanese sensation The Full Moon Coffee Shop, this charming and heartfelt novel showcases the magic of Christmas as lost souls find themselves—with a little help from an enchanted café run by cats.” (October 28)
“The sequel to Blood of the Old Kings is an epic fantasy adventure where the corpses of sorcerers power an empire and ordinary people rise up to tear it down.” (October 28)
“In this chilling follow-up to Blood Like Mine, one mother faces the ultimate supernatural horror: the monster she must become to protect her child.” (October 28)
“Packed with spicy romance, Greek mythology, and dangerous husbands, Bonds of Hercules is perfect for fans of tension, betrayal, and choosing sides.” Sequel to Blood of Hercules. (October 28)
“Humanity has reached the stars—as has corporate greed—but the discovery of an alien artifact will change everything in this epic first-contact story.” (October 28)
“A modern twist on the Faustian tale about a gilded street in a Pacific Northwest town where the charmed residents have made a frightening deal… resulting in devastating consequences.” (October 28)
“Great powers clash and epic action unfolds in book three of the Craft Wars series. The time until the end-times is ticking away. If the world has any hope of surviving, it must come together now.” (October 28)
“Within McKillip’s magical landscapes, a mermaid statue comes to life; princesses dance with dead suitors; a painting and a muse possess a youthful artist; seductive sea travelers enrapture distant lovers; a time-traveling angel endures religious madness; and an overachieving teenage mage discovers her own true name.” (October 28)
“A moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.”(October 28)
“A goddess awakens to a new world in the second thrilling book in the Witness series, continuing the iconic saga of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.” (October 28)
“Enter a new world of romantic fantasy—a journey of powerful magic, enemies-to-lovers, and political intrigue—as a warrior-princess and a vengeful king from rival fae courts form a fierce alliance to take down a merciless despot.” (October 28)
“Adam Binder’s life has never been better. Sure, he has no money, no car, no home to call his own, and he’s worried about creating a future with his boyfriend Vic, but he’s closer to his family than ever before. He’s also Page to the Elven Court of Swords, and that appointment is not without its perks—like the invisible sword strapped to his back. But on Halloween night, Adam’s life takes a disturbing turn. Annie, his brother’s long-lost wife, turns up on her husband’s doorstep alive and well, with no memory of her death. But is it really Annie, or a Trojan horse from some new magical enemy?” (October 28)
“From the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Arrival comes a phenomenal speculative thriller about a federal agent and a therapist who team up to stop an otherworldly killer.” (October 28)
A true-crime podcaster sets out to investigate the decades-old case of an experimental artist who killed his family and himself after recording sounds at an abandoned military base. What she finds in his tapes is far more unsettling that she could have imagined. (October 28)
“In a remote castle perched atop a windswept island, a long-awaited royal heir is born. In accordance with ancient custom, a blessing ceremony takes place to bestow the princess with magical gifts—along with a terrible curse. But this is not the love story you may think you know … Just three women, who together concoct a desperate plan of misdirect that changes the course of all their lives.” (October 28)
“At a top-secret Army training facility in the Mojave Desert, Special Agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor plunge into a deadly web of military intrigue, AI technology, and robot soldiers as they unravel the shocking murder of a senior scientist in this gripping thriller.” (October 28)
“The first book in the Reckoning Storm duology, To Bargain with Mortals is a stunning reflection on politics and purpose, blood and allegiance—and what we do with the histories we inherit.” (October 28)
“For sure no one expected the dead to rise, but they did. No one expected the mountain to fall either, but it did. No one expected an act of courage so great, and likewise so appalling, that it still staggers the heart and mind of anyone who knows anything about the Katanogos massif, to say nothing of Pillars Meadow.” (October 28)
“The outcast daughter of a powerful family of witches returns home to New York City and is immediately embroiled in a supernatural power struggle in this wickedly funny fantasy debut.” (October 28)
“Journey to a magical hotel in the Swiss Alps, where two lost souls living in different centuries meet and discover if a second chance awaits them behind its doors.” (October 28)
“When a librarian discovers she’s descended from a long line of powerful witches, she’ll need all of her bookish knowledge to harness her family’s magic.” (October 28)
“In a deep medieval future, a band of players travels across France to perform the same old tales in the same old towns. When passing soldiers entrust them with a mysterious box that they say must be delivered to the Imperator, old playwright Master Guillaume and young escaped thief Rufus puzzle at what the box might contain. When Rufus overhears strange conversations between his Master Guillaume and the thing in the box, he must choose between his loyalty to the man who saved him from the noose and fear of the ancient intelligence working in their midst.” (October 31)
At least he’s consistent? Joaquin Phoenix is once again making headlines for allegedly leaving a movie on short notice. In a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, James McAvoy recounted the timeline of him replacing Phoenix as the lead in M. Night Shyamalan’s movie Split. We’ve known for a while that Phoenix left the project abruptly; The Guardian reported in 2017 that Phoenix had dropped out “at the 11th hour.” But what does that really mean? “I think he ditched it two weeks before they started shooting,” McAvoy told Horowitz. “It was really last minute. I had two weeks.” (Hey, it could’ve been worse — Phoenix reportedly quit a Todd Haynes gay romance movie just five days before filming was scheduled to start this year.)
Split follows a man with dissociative identity disorder. Given the amount of time McAvoy had to prepare, he was understandably nervous for the first table read. “I’m sitting there like, God, I’ve got to do all these 15 characters and be judged by everybody in the room, including Universal studio executives, including Jason Blum and all that … and I haven’t even found some of the characters,” he recalled. “It just came on really, really quick.” Still, McAvoy doesn’t seem too disappointed with the way things went down. Noting that it can keep an actor from overthinking, he suggested, “Sometimes coming in last minute is the best way.” Hmm … [in our best PR voice] maybe Phoenix was just trying to help!
As someone who has spent a majority of his life writing, acting, rehearsing, and basically doing anything and everything I can to make it into the motion picture industry, I can’t bring myself to be cynical about movies, even while knowing there’s lots of cynicism to spread around.
While it’s easier now to make a movie than ever before (I can name at least two great movies made on iPhones), it’s still not necessarily a walk in the park to finish one. Every movie that gets made, from the worst of Neal Breen to the best of Francis Ford Coppola, every single finished film is a miracle… some larger than others.
But a triple feature that I saw in one day was stacked with such bad movies that I felt the twinge of cynicism building behind my exhausted eyes. In fact, I was unable to completely sit through the third movie of my makeshift trilogy.
In no way do I think we’re living in the nadir of the motion picture industry right now (that was probably the 1950s… and during COVID), I do sometimes think of how amazing it would have been to live through the New Hollywood/American New Wave era of the late ’60s through the early ’80s and how that would have informed my obsession with cinema.
Even though I don’t think this is the worst period of filmmaking in history, this triple header made me think about maybe, just maybe, not watching all movies.
I started with Trap, the new film by M. Night Shyamalan and starring a recently returned from hiatus Josh Hartnett. Shyamalan is hit and miss (I wasn’t in love with his most recent Knock at the Cabin, but think he probably gets a lifetime pass for The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable). But Trap is his worst outing since at least The Last Airbender. The concept of a serial killer and his tween daughter at a massive arena concert surrounded by cops is solid enough and should have been an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride.
Somehow, not only does Shyamalan fail to summon a single second of tension in the entire film, the characters all have ridiculous dialogue. The story becomes more and more ridiculous and the structure falls apart into a messy collage of tropes and cliche.
Actually, the only thing that really works in Trap is Hartnett, who seems to be having a great time playing against type and using his deep well of charisma to make a creepy serial killer compelling. This movie is so bad it’s exhausting and a little depressing.
I followed that up with a screening of Cuckoo, a new science fiction/thriller/mystery/absurdist comedy starring Hunter Schafer, who effortlessly carries every frame of the film, even as the plot becomes sillier and, eventually, nonsensical. I was hyped for this one because of its great trailer and my love for Schafer and her co-star Dan Stevens.
I found the first half of the film very compelling because director Tilman Singer uses some visually hypnotizing formal tricks that pull you through the absurdist horror of the plot and imagery, but once you actually find out what’s going on and why everyone is acting strangely, it’s so ridiculous that the horror and terror inherent in the film up to that point then becomes campy and loses all sense of fear and tension. I found myself laughing at the film instead of with it and that’s a shame. Cuckoo is absolute nonsense and could have been so much more.
Then I saw Borderlands — a movie that was plagued with so many behind-the-scenes issues that when reshoots started, director Eli Roth wasn’t invited back to actually direct them and was instead replaced by Deadpool director Tim Miller. I’m not a huge fan of Rotten Tomatoes as a source for people to decide on the quality of a movie, but the current score for Borderlands is 7% with an audience score of 50%, both of which seem a little high to me. This might actually be the worst video game movie of all time.
Cate Blanchett looks like she’s having fun, but Kevin Hart, Ariana Greenblatt, and Jamie Lee Curtis all seem pretty embarrassed. The special effects don’t look finished or even fully rendered, the script is dire, the dialogue grating, and the story is without excitement. I made it 41 minutes into this and then had to bounce and drink away my sorrows.
I know it’s incredibly unprofessional for me not to have finished a movie I’m reviewing. All I can say is that Borderlands took 41 minutes I could have spent doing something better, like crying myself to sleep or drinking various types of bleach and rating their differing levels of viscosity.
I don’t know what person these three movies are for, but it isn’t me or anyone else I’ve ever met. Walking out of a movie before it’s over in search of a stiff drink hurt my heart a little. Let’s do better next time.
Perhaps the thing that comes to mind as the most blatantly unbelievable—and, to be sure, there are many to choose from—in Trap is the idea that a Taylor Swift-esque pop star would ever use her powers for true (rather than ultimately performative) good. M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie (the sixteenth one he’s directed, to be precise), however, would like to posit just that. The woman playing such a pop star is none other than Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka (not to be confused with his other daughter, Ishana, whose movie, The Watchers, he recently produced). Indeed, the Trap Soundtrack serves as her second full-length album, albeit under the moniker of “Lady Raven,” with generically-titled songs like “Don’t Wanna Be Yours” and “Dreamer Girl” performed during the concert that serves as the primary backdrop for most of the film’s narrative. And yes, said concert is very clearly meant to mirror (or troll, as it were) The Eras Tour, not to mention the ilk that it attracts.
In point of fact, Shyamalan supposedly pitched the idea as: “What if The Silence of The Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?” Well, for a start, it’s a major insult to The Silence of the Lambs to compare Trap to it in any way, shape or form (where film releases of 2024 are concerned, that luxury is reserved solely for Longlegs). And, secondly, the musical style of Lady Raven is far too R&B-infused (circa the 00s) to be comparable to Swift’s typically vanilla stylings. Though one thing that is comparable between the two women is their costume choices, often awash in flowy, ethereal dresses. But, as is the case with Swift, it doesn’t really seem to matter what Lady Raven wears. To her adoring, devout fans, she can do and don no wrong. With that in mind, at one point in the movie, our “anti-hero” (read: murdering psychopath) Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), an “all-American dad” who works as a firefighter, remarks to a “spotter” at the concert (played by Shyamalan, who likes to pull Hitchcock-inspired cameos in his own movies) that Lady Raven has a cult-like power over the mostly tween and teenage girls who worship her—that they would listen to anything she said.
Such a specific way of phrasing something is, of course, foreshadowing for the way in which Lady Raven will turn out to be the primary key in apprehending Cooper a.k.a. The Butcher (a serial killer nickname almost as unoriginal as Trap itself). Even though she’s already done enough on that front—certainly above and beyond what any ordinary “mega star” would do—by allowing the FBI to wield her concert date in Philadelphia as a trap for The Butcher. Who, for whatever reason, left behind a remnant of a receipt in one of his safe houses indicating that he would be at the Lady Raven show.
The profiler heading up the investigation, Dr. Josephine Grant (Hayley Mills, who was cast literally only because she was in The Parent Trap—get it?), is, in truth, more out of her depth than she realizes once Cooper catches wind of the concert being a full-on sting operation (taking inspiration from the 1985 sting known as Operation Flagship). For, unsurprisingly, a psychopath of this level is fully capable of playing the part-time role of “family man” when he’s not out…butchering people. Hence, being the “dutiful dad” for the night by taking his twelve-year-old daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), to see Lady Raven. Almost as socially awkward and gawky as the Riley of Inside Out, her obsession with Lady Raven is basically the only thing that’s getting her through her ongoing painful ostracism by a group of girls who she once considered her friends.
Although Cooper tries his best to be “sympathetic” to Riley’s sensitivity to this often teen girl-specific plight, not only does he overtly find the concert and its audience annoying, but his attention is more than somewhat divided by the fact that he keeps noticing police officers escorting away random men at the show. Per Dr. Grant’s statistics, only three thousand men are in attendance among the twenty-thousand-plus crowd of women. On that note, the idea that such concerts, particularly The Eras Tour, are so often viewed as one of the few “safe spaces” where women can “just dance” and unapologetically exist precisely because of how repelled by such music/representations of femininity men are, has become a thing of the past. It first became one at its grandest scale in 2017, with Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman Tour in Manchester.
Lady Raven’s concert, “little did they know,” also presents just such a case of an infiltrated “last bastion” where younger girls and women alike can “feel safe,” unburdened by the fear of a psychologically wounded man’s wrath (and yes, the two-dimensional Cooper character is slapped with cliché mother issues out of the Hitchcock playbook). A concept that is, in reality, the ultimate impossibility, particularly in the United States. What’s more, despite the “hope” presented by a female candidate currently running for president (with infinitely better chances of winning than Hillary Clinton in 2016), the backlash that will inevitably result if she does win is bound to be rooted in radically enacted male chauvinism.
And so, women in power or not, in an evermore (no Taylor pun intended) misogynistic society, to present, as a horror premise, being trapped in a stadium full of tween and teenage girls screaming and mindlessly mimicking the dance moves and lyrics of their favorite generic pop star, well, it doesn’t exactly do much to bolster the overall female reputation (that Taylor pun intended).
Filmmaker and Philly-area native M. Night Shyamalan has stuck close to his roots throughout his career, though his new movie “Trap” has other locations dressed up as Philadelphia and its surrounding region.
The film follows a father (Josh Hartnett) taking his young daughter to a concert for fictional pop star sensation Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan). The bulk of the movie takes place in Tanaka Arena in Philadelphia — but it’s clearly not one of the city’s venues.
Tanaka Arena has red and yellow signage similar to the Wells Fargo Center, but the exterior of the fictional stadium is actually the Rogers Centre in Toronto and the inside is FirstOntario Centre in Ontario.
Screenshot/Warner Bros. Pictures; YouTube
The exterior of the fictional Philly stadium Tanaka Arena is actually the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Where this arena would be located in Philly is ambiguous. Near the beginning of the film, Hartnett parks near an elevated highway, and as the camera follows them, a sign for the U.S. Route 1 Philadelphia and Trenton exit is visible at the top of the frame.
There are also several shots depicting police vehicles driving through Market Street to the arena, and a police dispatcher at one point in the film mentions 9th and Market streets, where the Fashion District stands. Is Tanaka Arena an alternate, actualized version of the proposed 76ers arena?
The several high-rise buildings surrounding the arena are not recognizable as any in Philly. One shot of police en route to the arena shows a nearby building with the words “CONVENTION CENTER” in generic font, with no resemblance to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City.
Screenshot/Warner Bros. Pictures; YouTube
Philadelphia Police and SWAT vehicles drive through a fictionalized Market Street in the movie ‘Trap.’
It isn’t the first time Shyamalan has inserted a fictional building in Philly for one of his movies. In his 2019 film “Glass,” the opening of a new fictional skyscraper called the Osaka Tower is a major plot point; the film inserts the tower into the Philly skyline using CGI.
Spoilers for “Trap” follow.
After the Lady Raven concert ends, the action of the film moves to the surrounding suburbs of Philly, where Hartnett’s character lives. He states that his address is on Monk Road, which in real life is located in Gladwyne.
Bizarrely, police vehicles labeled “East Dublin Police” are seen in this area. There is an Upper Dublin Township in Montgomery County in real life, but Gladwyne is in the Lower Merion Township.
Adding to the confusion, a news report retelling the events of the movie during the credits mentions the Main Line town of Malvern, which is in East Whiteland Township — this fictional “East Dublin” is apparently an amalgamation of different suburban areas.
While “Trap” may have not been shot on location in Philadelphia like previous Shyamalan films, it is still clearly a Philly-set movie — one character even dresses in excessive Sixers apparel, if that doesn’t make it obvious enough.
The film serves as a fun nod to Shyamalan’s hometown — even if the confusing geography might flummox Philly folks who care about the details.
It’s almost absurd that we’re in the middle of July as I write this. I have friends groaning that the summer is over already, which is completely and wholly untrue in my eyes. But enough with the mourning, this article is about happiness (among other things.)
There’s something about the looming weekend that gets me overly excited. It may be because I don’t have to set an alarm for work, or even look at my laptop…but there’s another, very prevalent reason as to why I love Fridays (and you should, too): new music is released every weekend.
So yes, summer Fridays are amazing, but when you top it off with the promise of new music…you can’t go wrong. During the summer, everyone’s a bit more active- and that includes musicians. There are live performances galore, and every artist is dropping a song in hopes of winning the coveted “Song of the Summer” title.
And with the summer not even close to over, a brand new song of the summer could emerge at any given moment. So, that’s where I come in. On Fridays, I round up all of the new music released each week that’s worth listening to. That way, you don’t have to do all the work searching through playlist after playlist of new music to show your friends.
In the words of Sabrina Carpenter in her #1 hit single, “Please, Please, Please”: “I know I have good judgement, I know I have good taste.” I’ve found the best new music released July 12, 2024 and I’m nice enough to share. So, let’s get listening!
Teddy Swims- “Danger”
Teddy Swims is another up-and-coming artist who shouldn’t be counted out too early. He’s already hit the jackpot with “Lose Control,” but “Danger” is an impeccable follow up that deserves equal hype. It’s catchy, sexy, and makes you want to dance. It’s soulful in all the right places, with a sprinkle of pop and jazz.
My favorite on this playlist this weekend.
John Summit, Paige Cavell- “Tears”
John Summit has just released his debut album, Comfort in Chaos, amidst the summer of house music. He’s on of the leading names in electronic music right now- pushing boundaries and making headlines for his groundbreaking sets. With an innate ability to make hit after hit, John Summit is here with “Tears”- which I can already hear on every rooftop in NYC this summer.
Alesso, Nate Smith- “I Like It”
It’s certainly a country summer, and it’s also a summer of house music…so why not blend the two? That’s exactly what Alesso and Nate Smith do with “I Like It.” It’s an easy collaboration that can get your group dancing in no time. With Alesso’s ability to create an upbeat backtrack and Nate Smith’s satisfying country sound, “I Like It” will be on replay for you all summer.
Lexa Gates- “I Just Can’t Be Alone”
Queens native Lexa Gates embodies the New York spirit in her music through passionate, hard-hitting lyrics. Her voice is full of personality and soul, and she’s garnering attention for her music being both authentic and relatable. With a deep, soulful vibe, Gates is an exciting rising star who deserves for her voice to be celebrated.
“I Just Can’t Be Alone” is quintessential Gates: jazzy, smooth, rich vocals with insightful lyrics that build throughout the song. Her music and sound is entirely unique, which makes Gates so exciting to listen to.
keshi- “Say”
You may already know keshi- who captured the hearts of fans by bearing his soul in his music. He’s gearing up to release his sophomore album, Requiem, in September by dropping the first single: “Say.” “Say” is a complete vibe, a soft rock feel mixed with groove.
One of the best songs on the playlist this week, if “Say” is a glimpse into Requiem, there’s a lot to look forward to.
Ice Spice, Central Cee- “Did It First”
Ice Spice’s rapid rise to fame shows no signs of slowing down as she gears up to release Y2K!, her highly anticipated debut album. Her rap style is catchy, amassing huge amounts of streams on Spotify and making her one of TikTok’s favorite artists. “Did It First” is another addition to Ice Spice’s already prolific discography.
It’s fiery, worming its way into your brain from the moment you press play.
Eminem- “Somebody Save Me”
An apology (and love) letter to his children and family members he hurt due to addiction, Eminem provides his classic rap flow mixed with introspective lyricism. It’s an incredibly sad, yet beautiful rap that gives you a peek into the past few years of Eminem’s life and his struggles with addiction.
Ahead of his album, The Death of Slim Shady, “Somebody Save Me” is haunting in the best way.
SALEKA- “Save Me”
Although SALEKA plays popstar Lady Raven in M. Night Shyamalan’s newest thriller, TRAP, she’s also one in real life. As she releases the soundtrack for the film, the newest installment is equally impressive. The entire album, LADY RAVEN, was composed, produced, and performed entirely by SALEKA herself.
Her musical prowess is impressive, and “Save Me” exhibits her vocal ability perfectly. Someone who should be recognized beyond this film, SALEKA is a threat in the industry.
M. Night Shyamalan teases fans that Trap is more than just a thriller-mystery, but also a concert film.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker opened up about the concept behind his upcoming film starring Josh Hartnett in a recent interview with Empire magazine. When asked how he pitched the movie, Shyamalan responded, “What if The Silence of the Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?”
Trap follows a father (Hartnett) and his teen daughter (Ariel Donoghue), who attend a pop concert by Lady Raven (Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan). However, they realize they’re actually at the center of a much darker event — a police operation to capture a serial killer.
Shyamalan said the movie was partially inspired by the “twisted and funny” real-life 1985 “Operation Flagship,” a sting operation by U.S. Marshals and the DC Metropolitan Police Department, which resulted in the arrest of more than 100 wanted fugitives after they were coaxed to a stadium with free NFL tickets. The director added that his daughter’s rising music career also influenced the story.
“I directed an entire concert!” he told Empire. “And it wasn’t just a thing in the background. It’s equally important. There is no pretend concert going on. I love the idea of cinema as windows within windows. One of the reasons to come see the movie at the movie theater is because there’s literally a real concert that you can see nowhere except in that movie.”
The Knock at the Cabin director-writer explained that he wanted the overall film to be an original and unique experience for viewers.
“I really do believe in the original movie,” Shyamalan added. “I want the industry to move towards more original storytelling. I think audiences would really like it. Look, I know there’s safety in IP. But it’s really important that we come to the movies and see something we’ve never seen before. I’ll keep fighting for that.”
Trap, from Warner Bros. Pictures, hits theaters on Aug. 9.
It’s become a cliche to goof on that 2003 Newsweek cover that declared M. Night Shyamalan “The Next Spielberg,” just in time for his critical hot streak to cool off and plunge him into a decade-long drought. Instead, let’s start goofing on the way Night is becoming the next Coppola, hiring his close family as cast and crew in his occasionally self-financed productions in the effort to build a dynasty. Though they’ve been involved in M. Night’s projects for the past few years, 2024 marks the Summer of the Shyamalan Sisters, with both Saleka (age 27) and Ishana (age 24) stepping into the spotlight in front of and behind the camera, respectively. Saleka, a singer and songwriter, plays a massively successful pop star in M. Night’s latest feature, Trap, out this August. Ishana, an NYU Tisch graduate who has cut her teeth as a writer and director on her father’s Apple TV+ series Servant, has just made her feature directorial debut with The Watchers.
THE WATCHERS ★(1/4 stars) Directed by:Ishana Night Shyamalan Written by: Ishana Night Shyamalan Starring: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré, Oliver Finnegan Running time: 102 mins.
Even as someone who frequently whines about nepo babies, I feel a little crappy opening a review of a filmmaker’s first feature by writing about her father. I actually have way more respect for the way Ishana and Night have clung together on the press tour, never obscuring the nepotism at play, than I do for the countless young actors or directors whose deeply entrenched Hollywood legacies you have to dig around for on Wikipedia. Like any kind of privilege, nepotism doesn’t sting just because someone gets opportunities that others don’t, but because those who benefit get so defensive when it’s suggested that favorable conditions contributed to their success. Wear that name! Own that privilege! Be a good sport for the jokes, then prove the doubters wrong. Make us believe you’d have made it if you’d been just another kid from Philly.
But since I’ve gotten to this point in the review and have yet to go into any details about the film, you’ve likely guessed that The Watchers did not convince me of much. Worse, it is precisely what I’m sure the young director hoped it wouldn’t be—a pale imitation of her father’s patented style. The Watchers checks almost every box you’d expect from an M. Night film. It’s a twisty, high-concept mystery/dark fairy tale that follows a small cast across relatively few locations as they uncover each other’s secrets while spouting dialogue that sounds like it was written by a space alien. But The Watchers is missing the secret ingredient that transforms M. Night’s movies from weird, forgettable, self-indulgent fantasies into mesmerizing cinema: the mastery of blocking and camera movement that earned him the “next Spielberg” moniker in the first place.
Olwen Fouéré, Oliver Finnegan, Dakota Fanning and Georgina Campbell in The Watchers.Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
The Watchers is based upon a novel by A.M. Shine with a premise that already sounds like a Shyamalan movie. A young pet shop employee with a dark past (Elle Fanning) is captured by strange, unseen beings who keep humans in a display cage and watch their behavior every night. But are she and the other three captives simply pets, or is there a more nefarious purpose behind it all? Like Signs, The Village, or Old (a movie I quite like, actually), it has the makings of a solid 30-minute Twilight Zone episode that overextends itself via a string of twists that each make the story less interesting. Like any good thriller, information is strategically withheld to build intrigue, but then it’s simply dropped in the audience’s lap with no impact at all. The characters are paper-thin, each reduced to essentially one trait that is explained by one underwhelming secret.
There is, however, a single shot that shook me awake and had me performing the “Pointing Rick Dalton” meme in the theater. Fanning and another captive (Olwen Fouéré) are hiding in the roots of a rotting tree as one of the monsters passes above them. The camera begins on the two women, tilts quickly up to catch a glimpse of the skittering monster, and then slowly returns to its initial position, where Fouéré’s character now has a hand clasped over Fanning’s mouth, stifling a scream. “There it is!” I nearly exclaimed aloud for the two other filmgoers at my screening. “There’s that good Shyamalan shit!” I was not stirred from my slumber a second time.
It is, of course, deeply unfair to expect cinematic mastery from a 24-year-old first-time director. People forget that before exploding onto the scene with The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan directed two other features that practically no one saw, even after he became Hollywood’s next big thing. Ishana Night Shyamalan’s first feature, released wide by Warner subsidiary New Line Pictures, is going to be critiqued more harshly by more outlets than most filmmakers’ work ever will be. That sucks, but that’s the other side of nepotism. The good news is that, as the offspring of a successful movie producer, Ishana Shyamalan is going to get another crack at directing a feature film if she wants it, regardless of whether or not the critical or box office response warrants it. You could call that deeply unfair, too, and she might very well agree with you. Fairness is not the issue here. The movie is bad. Her next one might be great. More artists should get the chance to try and fail like this, not just the ones with famous dads.
Oh, the sound I just made. M. Night Shyamalan has been sorta-kinda mounting a comeback for almost a decade now, starting with 2015’s low-budget horror The Visit all the way through to last year’s end-of-the-world-thriller Knock at the Cabin. (Let’s just skip over Glass, all right? It still hurts.) As an old Shyamalan-head, I’ve mostly greeted the renaissance with respectable grunts, but there’s something about the premise of his latest, Trap, slated to hit theaters August 9.
Josh Hartnett plays a hot dad who’s taking his teenage daughter to see a vaguely Rihanna-esque superstar — played by Shyamalan’s own offspring Saleka (whose sister Ishana is also hitting theaters this summer with her own directorial debut) — when he notices cops massing at the venue. Naturally, one wonders: Terrorism? Aliens? A rival superstar mounting a siege? Not quite. As Hot Dad Hartnett learns from a merch-stand employee, the cops hope to capture a serial killer they believe is attending the concert. Turns out, Hot Dad Hartnett happens to have a nanny cam watching the victim in his basement. Did we forget this is a Shyamalan flick? Now that’s a twist. Will it be the only one? Hope not!
M. Night Shyamalan insists that he isn’t a “twist” guy. “Everybody keeps on saying that,” the director said in a Zoom interview about the final episodes of Servant, which finished its Apple TV+ run Friday after four seasons. “I traffic in mysteries, ultimately, so you’re going to learn something. Sometimes it’s a big one-moment thing, and sometimes the reveal is in the middle of the movie. Sometimes it’s the high concept of the movie. I haven’t really honored that expectation all that much, but it’s been so prevalent in people’s minds.”
When it became clear that Servant, created by Tony Basgallop, was wrapping up its story, fans braced for the answer to the biggest question of the show: What, exactly, is Leanne, the strange and off-putting nanny who seems to be able to bring a dead child back to life? The character, played by Nell Tiger Free, believes she possesses increasingly dangerous supernatural abilities; over the course of four seasons, the family she lives with comes to agree with her. Is she some sort of angel? Something more sinister? Are they all imagining things, connecting dots where there are no dots to connect?
“It was always meant to be right on the fence for me,” Shyamalan explains. “You could, if you wanted to, [say] it’s a group of crazy people that believe this stuff. But they’re pretty convincing.”
It took three seasons—plus a pandemic-assisted script-writing binge for Shyamalan, Basgallop, and their team—to build out the story introduced in the show’s first season. “You have this beautiful setup—the idea of a woman who’s forgotten what’s happened to a child, and what she did, and a young woman who is obsessed with this woman, but also has weird things that happen around her. That’s delicious. I can feel that that’s going to go somewhere,” he says. “It became really clear that we were telling the story of this broken family that’s not having a conversation, and they will eventually have this conversation. We don’t know what the results of it will be.”
The show’s final episode appears, at first, to offer a conclusion. As the end draws near, Leanne’s “powers” get more and more destructive. She agitates animals brought to the house for a birthday party; causes off-season weather events; takes away the senses—taste, smell, speech—of the people living in the Turner family’s palatial brownstone. When patriarch Sean (Toby Kebbell) and his brother-in-law Julian (Rupert Grint) attempt to return Leanne to the cultish “Church of the Lesser Saints,” she drives them from the house, appearing to injure them with blasts of wind and ill-timed stumbles into basement sinkholes.
In episode nine, “Awake,” which Shyamalan directed, Sean and Julian make one last desperate attempt to reclaim their home by forcing Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose), mother of baby Jericho, to remember her child’s tragic death. When she finally accepts what happened as a horrible accident, they confront Leanne, accusing her of using the family’s trauma to finagle her way into their home while pretending to have abilities she does not.
“There’s two story lines,” Shyamalan says. “One’s a potentially supernatural story line. And one’s just a very poignant experience with a family that I’ve never seen before. The level of tragedy involved is so deep and so traumatic that it is the engine underneath everything, this mother that has to wake up and realize what happened.” They were having conversations about “waking” Dorothy up as early as the first season, but ultimately realized that, once they resolved the show’s most important question, there was nowhere else to go. “Once we went past the first season, I went, ‘She can’t wake up until the show’s over. And then the show is over when she wakes up.’”
After all of that, another episode feels almost superfluous. But the show’s series finale, “Fallen,” must conclude Servant’s other half by declaring once and for all what Leanne’s role has been. The best thing about the episode, though, is it does everything else but that.
Leanne and Dorothy have a shouting match on the roof in the middle of a storm, where Dorothy tells Leanne that not only does she believe her, she forgives her. Leanne, however, thinks she has been condemned by a higher power for her actions, and “saves” the Turners from the danger of her proximity by burning herself alive inside their home. Her body, having fallen into a (bottomless??) sinkhole, is never found.
In the final scene of the show, one of the police officers who shows up to help the Turners has a conversation with Julian, who’s still reeling from Leanne’s death and the terrible power she held over him for the past few months. She reminds him of his sudden collapse two seasons ago, and how Leanne seemingly brought him back to life. She has a few cryptic lines about things happening for reasons, Julian’s purpose, and the fact that they’re “family” now. When she leaves, Julian sees his reflection in the shop window, and behind him, the spreading wings of a bird mural across the street.
“Rupert’s pretty convinced at the end,” Shyamalan says wryly. “I think, in a wish-fulfillment way, we all want it to be true, even if I don’t one hundred percent confirm it.”
That rejection of easy answers is what made Servant so compelling throughout its four-season run. “I think life is like that,” Shyamalan says. “My version of religion—I’m not an organized-religion dude at all—but my things I believe in, I can’t one hundred percent confirm them. But I believe in them. Whether our energies bring good things and bad things to our lives and all that stuff, which maybe is, at the end of the day, physics or science, I don’t get a definitive answer. So that’s kind of the beauty of it.”
The director of “The Sixth Sense” is sharing his love for Bruce Willis.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, M. Night Shyamalan was asked about the actor, who retired from acting last year due to the effects of aphasia.
“He’s a true movie star,” the director said. “I’m not being self-deprecating here, but I’m a nerdy, boring dude most of the time. But when I first got to hang out with him, I felt the electric charm of this blue-collar, great-looking guy. He could take over a room with his humor and his charm, and that’s what he could imbue into his characters.”
Shyamalan continued, “When I was a kid, I had his posters up on my wall, and only he could play that character in ‘Pulp Fiction’ or ‘Die Hard’. And for him to be so pivotal in my life and start my career means so much.”
He added, “Our families are also very close, and I will always think of him as a big brother and remember how much he protected me. So the things that are happening with him are happening to a family member.”
Willis starred in three movies for Shyamalan, his 1999 breakout “The Sixth Sense”, as well as “Unbreakable” and “Glass”, along with a cameo appearance in “Split”.
