In a environment where directors hide behind a shield of self awareness I admire the man for attempting sincerity even if he stumbles more than he succeeds.
I’m so glad you are brave enough to admit you admire Mr. Shyamalan! He gets so much hate, but I completely agree with you. I have always loved and connected with the characters he creates, even in storylines that haven’t been stellar. I admire how relatable and grounded they are: whether they’re a super hero, a boy who sees dead people, or a family who is faced with an unknown alien threat- I care about what happens to them.
It's kind of crazy how in lot of art forms, if someone fails once or twice, it is considered indicative of how they are as an artist. But in most normal professions, failure is an expected part of growth. Maybe because critics are not involved haha. Also you're cute.
good points about defining him as a risk taker. i think you also should have mentioned the series he is a part of called Servant on Apple's streaming service. its unique and well-received.
Mr. Shyamalan is a genius. I respect that he takes risks to tell original story. How will you know something will work unless you actually put it out there. He's creative and love his movies. BTW...The Happening was done in early 2000s to bring awareness to what was then known as "Global War.ming". There were articles written by scientists saying Bees were dying and this is going to impact the entire world. Shyamalan was doing his part to bring attention to Bees dying and its impact on global warming
Chris stuckman for years has displayed respect and admiration for shymalan but I see how it is easy to make fun of him I did enjoy the yms video critiquing shymalan but I do have respect for his films and think some of them are more hated than they deserve
I think I've watched all but 2 of M. Night's movies. I remember being in a theater and the trailer for Devil was shown the entire theater groaned when it was revealed who wrote the movie. But he's one of those creators who I'll probably always check out his work just out of curiosity. Success or fail he does create interesting stories.
I am in the minority (i think) in that i honestly liked The Village. I know a lot of people harp on the ending and the disappointment that its not a monster/horror like they expected. (Marketing was not kind to this film) But if you look at it as M.Night intended the twist wasn't the ending. It was the Protagonist flip midway through and it's genre was more of a period Drama.
I guess my problem with Bay, at least, is how cynical his movies feel. I believe that Shyamalan and Snyder are trying to make their vision a reality, but I always get the sense that Bay is just trying to make money without artistic value.
Very happy to see the admiration for Shyamalan here, and which been popping up more and more in recent years. I do not care for much of his work for various reasons personally, but his films are so lovingly and experimentally made. There are so many aspects mentioned here that I’m glad are being praised, considering the many years of hate Shyamalan has received otherwise
M Night Shyamalan seems like he’s improving(The Visit, Split, and his new upcoming movie it looks like) I also want to see a director’s project video on either Stanley Kubrick or Quintin Tarantino. Those two directors are my favorite movie directors
Am I the only one ho actually liked glass? In a world were super-hero movies are very popular The concept of people believing they have superpowers after surviving dramatic events is actually really interesting, I only feel like the movie was way ahead of time before avengers got the popularity it needed for this movie to become relevant right now all we have is "what if captain superman was an asshole" which for me doesn't really interest me as much as
I like most of his work. Call me crazy but I think Signs is his best film. Split is also awesome. I like his style and except for Airbender all his movies are at least ok.
i dont particularly care about shyamalan due to knowing just how good he treats everyone on set (i knew someone who worked with him and this dude has a better work ethic then most other directors imo) but his egocentricities with how he handles properties that he is only a temporary custodian of are absolutely a thing, hes basically got the mindset of "okay this is great, i understand the barebones of it, so im gonna change everything else to suit it" because for some reason, he just doesnt, and has never listened to critics or even consultants unless theyre basically treating him like a king, even if theyre the original creator of something hes working on, like michael dante dimartino who wrote and produced the ATLA series, he was all but brushed off in favor in favor of someone whos only knowledge of the series was maybe 40 minutes of the series in total if what i heard was right, which wouldnt surprise me with how jumbled it is. i respect his work ethic, but nothing else, hes honestly the main example who i point too when someone believes theyre above criticism, being human means you learn from your mistakes after all, however ironic that might seem.
I think it's a bit unfair to talk of "properties" in plural when it happened only once with AIRBENDER. And even then, as terrible as that movie is, it's pretty close to the material. Too close imo to talk like it disregarded everything. Look at stuff like the 90s Mario movie or DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION. Those movies barely resemble anything. AIRBENDER follows the plot of the 1st season pretty closely. All it changes are pronounciations and stuff like the firebenders needing a source. Whether those changes are "good" is a different story but they are minor. This would be like saying the LOTR movies are ego-trips from Peter Jackson because he exchanged Glorfindel for Arwen. To ne fair, having the elves help out at Helm's Deep is a far bigger change than all the AIRBENDER changes combined. Additionally, from what I gathered, Shyamalan was a huge fan of the show. His daughter wanted the DVD set of season 1 and the family watched the whole thing in a day. He immediately called Nickelodeon to ask if he could adapt it. This was when season 3 wasn't even out. Look at the making of clips and interviews from before. The dude was excited as hell. His first script was 500 pages long and was basically just every Episode written down. There are rumors that Nickelodeon and Paramount killed the film by wanting it converted to 3D so they had to cut a lot of stuff and replace it with cheap reshoots or even just voice over. This might be true or it might not. But even if it's not, I Don't think it's fair to lambast him like everybody does for 12 fucking years now. He didn't set out to destroy a beloved series. He was a fan who got the greenlight to adapt something he liked and was either sabotaged or simply wasn't up to it.
@@CenterRow - oh you’re right, looks like RT gave it 61% critics score :( I thought it was a good movie. Kinda like Hook - apparently critics hate it but everyone else loves it.
I think Signs was the first genuine horror movie I ever saw and it left such a lasting impact on me. I’ve been battling with myself on whether or not that’s just because I was young when I saw it or if the creepy atmosphere that the film creates is deserved. I feel it’s a bit of both, but I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure. lol
great video I mostly agree although some of it is hard to excuse like his absolute refusal to STOP USING TWIST ENDINGS EVERY DANG TIME like I guess it's not a huge deal necessarily although it can be but still would it kill him to not have a twist once in a while and just let it be a good movie. Also the VERY questionable portrayal of mental health in split I know it made most people with DID upset I get that it's a movie but it can and has spread very bad stereotypes I mean it could have at least left some kind of warning that this is not what DID people are like although I wont hold it against him to much since I sure it wasn't malicious. As a whole though I very much agree that it's good take risks and not get stale and I do admire that it very much can result in amazing art and I do hope that more people will do that in the future and that people start recognizing that it's often good to take risks.
My problem with the reveals at the end of Glass were that he felt compelled to over explain what was happening. He did that in The Village as well and it drives me.
thank god for no spoilers except one. had watched the sixth sense before i knew the spoiler. in hindsight, i had come across the spoiler in some places before watching the movie. fortunately it didn't stick.
@@CenterRow weird! Sure, happy to help! You might like my new music video. It has footage from the Marlon Brando movie Onr-eyed Jacks in it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jc1oM6Ovr78.html
I will never forgive him for the way he handled Avatar. It was beyond bad and I do not think he swung for the fences and missed. It seems like he didn't even pick up the bat with that one.
@Inazarab [PART 1] You're wrong for blaming him for the way he handled Avatar. Your mistake is your failure to recognize that most of the most of the 2010 movie's screwups are NOT HIS FAULT ... The Movie's Novelization (based on Shyamalan's original screenplay before they forced him to do reshoots) was *praised by fans* for its faithfulness to Season 1 and for its attention to detail. The blame falls specifically on Paramount/Nickelodeon (a studio already well-known to be one of the most low-standarded and unethical studios in Hollywood, if not *the* most....That's why Nickelodeon butchered Korra's schedules/presentations, and that horrible episode with Varrick pulling a Michael Bay with the "like a ride" excuse, which holds no water in reality). Nickelodeon only cares about "what kids like" and refuses to appreciate the amazing epicness of its shows. *M. Night did watch the show and definitely understood what made the series successful* ... It was logically explained (back on August 2014) that most of the movie's screwups were the result of EXECUTIVE/STUDIO MEDDLING. This was revealed by one of the movie's storyboard artists, and that storyboard artist provided *impressively logical insights* to explain what happened behind the scenes. Here's a copy of the article that shows the whole revelation: The text in multi-parentheses is the quotes from the storyboard artist who worked on the movie. * * * * * * * * * * * * _A member of an Avatar forum, posted a story about what happened behind the scenes (it has since been removed by the forum owner), and by the looks of it, _*_Night is owed an apology._* _Night was thrown under the bus many times by many people. I’m really happy to be able to show a bit of what actually happened, behind the scenes on The Last Airbender. Prepare yourselves, this is rather long._ (((( What it came down to was M Night really was the only one who knew the show and what he was doing (the first draft of the screenplay? gorgeous. hence Bryke giving him the okay). The producers, who are actually in charge of at least 80% of production including casting…. not so much. They clearly never bothered to watch the show, nor had the ghostwriter who did the final screenplay. )))) _This sort of thing happens more than you’d think on many movies. Sometimes a studio will hire an awesome screenwriter like Frank Darabont as a ‘script doctor.’ Darabont himself was script doctor on such films as Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report and 2014’s Godzilla (in which he wrote the scenes that convinced Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to sign). We weren’t so fortunate on Airbender, and whomever it is that was the script doctor / ghostwriter to do the final screenplay will probably never come forward. Afterall, they’re actually the writer(s) that wrote the now infamous line: “We have to show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.”_ (((( Nicola [Peltz] was hired because she’s the daughter of someone that one of the producers owed a favor to as Hollywood loves its nepotism. (Her audition tape was subpar at best). In having to cast her, they had to cast a guy who could pass as her brother - hence Jackson. His audition was actually pretty good. He’s a funny guy and had clearly seen the show. Too bad the producers felt the movie didn’t have time for intentional humor and cut all that out of the script. Noah was the only one who honestly openly auditioned and was chosen based on talent. He just needed extra help acting because with a lot of it being green screened he was talking to air a lot of the time. Experienced adults have a hard time doing that let alone a kid. )))) _Just to cut in here a second… we also need to remember that Noah Ringer was also a newcomer to acting. After this he went on to play a small role in Cowboys & Aliens alongside Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde, with director John Favreau._ (((( If you recall they initially signed on Jesse McCartney as Zuko. Why? Because otherwise the lead actor roster would be “starring: two unknown kids you never heard of and that guy who played a minor character in Twilight!”. And then someone with a brain realized “wait a minute this show is kind of anime-esque and we’re hiring a bunch of white kids. Um.”. So what did they do? Because they couldn’t can Nicola without someone being really ticked, Jesse willingly bowed out and went with another project offered at the time. Even still, they still needed a big name to draw people in but it couldn’t be another white kid. Dev Patel just gave an Oscar-winning performance and was willing to sign on. And in getting him they had to make the rest of the Fire Nation match. Which is why it turned into heroic white kids VS evil brown people (which was intentionally unintentional). )))) (((( And then it was horribly budgeted. The opening at the SWT all nice and pretty in Greenland? Cost big bucks. And then they realized with a story about people manipulating elements that couldn’t be believably done with in camera practical effects. So they had to rebudget and gave most of the money to ILM for post production. You go from the beautiful SWT to everything looking dingy because everything else was shot in Pennsylvania. The Fire Nation Royal Palace? An old high school in Philadelphia. Parts of the Earth Kingdom (including Kyoshi Island which got cut)? Reading, PA. And everything that was the NWT…. some sets built in front of giant green screens in an old emptied aircraft hangar in the outskirts of Philadelphia. Yeah. )))) (((( And ILM was rushed despite most of the movie’s look being left up to them. And you had novice directors hired by producers to oversee that process. That’s how come the pebble dance happened. Sadly at that point M Night was just tired of arguing with the overheads, gave up, and collected his paycheck. If you look at the movie’s premiere and red carpet footage you can tell his excitement and happiness is fake. Bryke had little say in the film despite being listed as executive producers. That title was a fancy way of saying that they created the show it was based on and they’re still alive so they need some kind of nice credit. The actual producers didn’t know what they were dealing with and were only interested in a quick buck. Bryke and M Night gave up on the film around the same time for same reasons. The other people working on the film were a pain to deal with and Nickelodeon themselves only wanted the final product as quickly as possible and the money it would presumably make them. )))) (((( At least they hired good caterers. The food was great on that set. )))) --- *a person who worked on the production of the film.* [to be continued]
[PART 2] _But that wasn’t where it ended. The storyboard artist went on in further posts to bring more clarity to the story, which also further vindicates both Night and the creators of Avatar. Though I’m still kind of upset at Mike and Bryan, because they continue to blame Night publicly, probably because they’d like to keep their own struggling (in the ratings, at least) Korra series going until it is complete._ (((( M. Night’s a great guy. He really is. He knows how to write family films, and when allowed to have free reign does a decent job. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are classics. Many people are also fans of Signs and The Village. Lady in the Water, when watched without any marketing to give you an idea about what it could be - is a clever artistic piece that deviates heavily from his previous work (I really do blame its failure on being marketed wrong). )))) (((( But at that point he became kind of a joke and typecast itself. So whenever he tried to make a film happen he was put under more and more restrictions. “No, M Night you can’t make that movie you can only make this movie.” The Happening is intentionally hilarious because he was making fun of himself and previous works with it, not so subtly giving it to the corporate execs. )))) (((( He’s written for family films before, and himself as well as his kids are fans of [Avatar: The Last Airbender]. He really wanted to make a decent film. So he was hoping if by some miracle the corporate destruction of what could’ve been a real masterpiece that fans would love turned out to make enough of a profit, he’d be given more reign to do sequels. Or in enough time, make the movie over again how he actually wanted it to happen. Sadly, though, that’s not the case. )))) (((( *AFTER EARTH?* You got Will Smith and Jaden Smith wanting to do an awesome father-son movie together. No director could’ve saved that. It would’ve been exactly the same if J.J. Abrams or Michael Bay did it. Though I suppose with J.J. there’d have been more lens flare and Bay more explosions. )))) (((( He’s kind of given up at this point. The work he’s doing now is no longer so much his love for film like his earlier pieces than he needs to collect some cash for his kids’ college funds and to invest in retirement given the economy. It’s a little sad. M Night’s a surprisingly modest, down to earth guy. His main home is in Pennsylvania which is a huge part of why he does try to film his movies there. He wants to get work for local film enthusiasts and try to give them the same opportunities he got when he was starting out. Which is rare since most just use the go to places - LA, New York City, or Vancouver. )))) _A bit later he wrote further about the screenplays that Night wrote, and what happened to those scripts:_ (((( The initial script equated to about a 9 hour film, and his second draft that he wrote almost 3 hours. Those were his copies. Then a ghostwriter or two attacked. )))) _This is corroborated by the creators of the tv series, who said that Night originally had everything from the show in his script, and would have to cut out a lot of it._ (((( So yeah, no, he didn’t write it in 90 minutes, but he’s still a man who is proud of his work and feels himself to be an artist. With every project he wants to make art out of it. With "Lady in the Water" he wanted to prove he could do more than suspense thrillers so in response to the reception I can imagine it didn’t sit well with him. Yeah, he comes off as arrogant to the press but *90% of Hollywood is. You kind of have to be if you want people motivated to see your work.* […] 90% of what you see said to the press is a persona. Whether it’s an actor, writer, director, etc. That’s why I ignore gossip columns where people get up in arms over who said what in a press release, or on the red carpet, or on a TV show and they’re a horrible/amazing person because of it because it’s not actually them. M Night’s always given off the air of “misunderstood artistic genius” to the press since day one. And in some cases, like Sixth Sense, it’s valid. Others, not so much. But he’s got to maintain that image. Who he is on the job or home with friends and family isn’t who is answering interviewers’ questions. Let’s just say I’d rather work for him again than Spielberg. )))) [to be continued]
[PART 3] (((( I’m not saying M. Night’s perfect but a majority of the film’s screwups were not his fault at all. And in response to the 9 hour screenplay thing? That’s actually typical. Most original drafts for films are way, way, way longer than the final piece. They write out everything they want to get out and then go back in and weed out what’s not needed and rewrite things to take things like montages and other editing processes into consideration, etc. Screenplays are very interesting. )))) (((( His ego persona didn’t help any nor his previous reputation on his recent films, and he went about justifying the executives’ decisions the wrong way (though he may or may not have been coerced to - I have no idea). Just keep in mind when the film was in its earliest stages Mike and Bryan were very excited, loved working with M Night, and eager to get things going. If it was M Night’s fault entirely the movie would not have gotten off the ground at all. )))) _You might be wondering a bit about the pronunciation of names and the changing of the Chinese characters to an alien/fantasy world script were all Night’s doing as well. Personally, I believed that the show itself was set in a fantasy world (turtle ducks?), but I know that many believe that it was a version of our world. So what happened here is going to satisfy half of you and the other half will continue to be a bit upset._ (((( He felt his pronunciations of the names were more “authentic” to where they originated. The Chinese being changed to gibberish [re: alien/fantasy world script] *was a decision by Paramount*. They didn’t want to risk any potential offensive screwups that have happened in other films. There are way more people working on a live action film than an animated one and it’s difficult to keep tabs on every last detail. )))) (((( A lot of people, especially those with an anime background when the show first came out used “ee-roh” for “Iroh”, “ahng” for “Aang”, “soh-ka” for “Sokka”, etc. Until the show was watched enough and the westernized names heard enough that most people stopped. But if you come to the show hearing Asian names pronounced differently it does throw you off. And M Night is a man of Asian descent. This is a toss up because, to many Asians, the pronunciations of the names are offensive in the cartoon, and to fans of the show the pronunciations in the movie are offensive because they’re not show accurate. )))) _And so… if you didn’t like The Last Airbender, you now know that it wasn’t entirely Night’s fault. In fact, it was more the studio than anyone else. And this is a very complex issue where one domino lead to another and another, and the result was something of a mess of a production. Someone once said that when a movie comes together, it’s incredible, and for a movie to be great takes a small miracle. With the involvement of so many people on the outcome of a movie, you can see where things started to fall apart for this movie. _*_It all started with a certain girl getting a role in what could have been Shyamalan’s very own Lord of the Rings._*
Controversial take. He's actually very much like Ridley Scott. Scott has made some of the absolute greatest movies ever made (Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator) but he has made a lot of absolute garbage as well (Exodus: Gods and Kings, Alien: Covenant, Hannibal, and Legend). His issue is that his career is so long, and some of his movies are so good that he's hailed as a genius despite most of his movies ranging from mediocre to bad.
@LandoVendetta [PART 1] You better not be blaming M.Night for your choice to hate The Last Airbender, since most of that movie's screwups are NOT HIS FAULT ... The Movie's Novelization (based on Shyamalan's original screenplay before they forced him to do reshoots) was *praised by fans* for its faithfulness to Season 1 and for its attention to detail. The blame falls specifically on Paramount/Nickelodeon (a studio already well-known to be one of the most low-standarded and unethical studios in Hollywood, if not *the* most....That's why Nickelodeon butchered Korra's schedules/presentations, and that horrible episode with Varrick pulling a Michael Bay with the "like a ride" excuse, which holds no water in reality). Nickelodeon only cares about "what kids like" and refuses to appreciate the amazing epicness of its shows. *M. Night did watch the show and definitely understood what made the series successful* ... It was logically explained (back on August 2014) that most of the movie's screwups were the result of EXECUTIVE/STUDIO MEDDLING. This was revealed by one of the movie's storyboard artists, and that storyboard artist provided *impressively logical insights* to explain what happened behind the scenes. Here's a copy of the article that shows the whole revelation: The text in multi-parentheses is the quotes from the storyboard artist who worked on the movie. * * * * * * * * * * * * _A member of an Avatar forum, posted a story about what happened behind the scenes (it has since been removed by the forum owner), and by the looks of it, _*_Night is owed an apology._* _Night was thrown under the bus many times by many people. I’m really happy to be able to show a bit of what actually happened, behind the scenes on The Last Airbender. Prepare yourselves, this is rather long._ (((( What it came down to was M Night really was the only one who knew the show and what he was doing (the first draft of the screenplay? gorgeous. hence Bryke giving him the okay). The producers, who are actually in charge of at least 80% of production including casting…. not so much. They clearly never bothered to watch the show, nor had the ghostwriter who did the final screenplay. )))) _This sort of thing happens more than you’d think on many movies. Sometimes a studio will hire an awesome screenwriter like Frank Darabont as a ‘script doctor.’ Darabont himself was script doctor on such films as Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report and 2014’s Godzilla (in which he wrote the scenes that convinced Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to sign). We weren’t so fortunate on Airbender, and whomever it is that was the script doctor / ghostwriter to do the final screenplay will probably never come forward. Afterall, they’re actually the writer(s) that wrote the now infamous line: “We have to show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.”_ (((( Nicola [Peltz] was hired because she’s the daughter of someone that one of the producers owed a favor to as Hollywood loves its nepotism. (Her audition tape was subpar at best). In having to cast her, they had to cast a guy who could pass as her brother - hence Jackson. His audition was actually pretty good. He’s a funny guy and had clearly seen the show. Too bad the producers felt the movie didn’t have time for intentional humor and cut all that out of the script. Noah was the only one who honestly openly auditioned and was chosen based on talent. He just needed extra help acting because with a lot of it being green screened he was talking to air a lot of the time. Experienced adults have a hard time doing that let alone a kid. )))) _Just to cut in here a second… we also need to remember that Noah Ringer was also a newcomer to acting. After this he went on to play a small role in Cowboys & Aliens alongside Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde, with director John Favreau._ (((( If you recall they initially signed on Jesse McCartney as Zuko. Why? Because otherwise the lead actor roster would be “starring: two unknown kids you never heard of and that guy who played a minor character in Twilight!”. And then someone with a brain realized “wait a minute this show is kind of anime-esque and we’re hiring a bunch of white kids. Um.”. So what did they do? Because they couldn’t can Nicola without someone being really ticked, Jesse willingly bowed out and went with another project offered at the time. Even still, they still needed a big name to draw people in but it couldn’t be another white kid. Dev Patel just gave an Oscar-winning performance and was willing to sign on. And in getting him they had to make the rest of the Fire Nation match. Which is why it turned into heroic white kids VS evil brown people (which was intentionally unintentional). )))) (((( And then it was horribly budgeted. The opening at the SWT all nice and pretty in Greenland? Cost big bucks. And then they realized with a story about people manipulating elements that couldn’t be believably done with in camera practical effects. So they had to rebudget and gave most of the money to ILM for post production. You go from the beautiful SWT to everything looking dingy because everything else was shot in Pennsylvania. The Fire Nation Royal Palace? An old high school in Philadelphia. Parts of the Earth Kingdom (including Kyoshi Island which got cut)? Reading, PA. And everything that was the NWT…. some sets built in front of giant green screens in an old emptied aircraft hangar in the outskirts of Philadelphia. Yeah. )))) (((( And ILM was rushed despite most of the movie’s look being left up to them. And you had novice directors hired by producers to oversee that process. That’s how come the pebble dance happened. Sadly at that point M Night was just tired of arguing with the overheads, gave up, and collected his paycheck. If you look at the movie’s premiere and red carpet footage you can tell his excitement and happiness is fake. Bryke had little say in the film despite being listed as executive producers. That title was a fancy way of saying that they created the show it was based on and they’re still alive so they need some kind of nice credit. The actual producers didn’t know what they were dealing with and were only interested in a quick buck. Bryke and M Night gave up on the film around the same time for same reasons. The other people working on the film were a pain to deal with and Nickelodeon themselves only wanted the final product as quickly as possible and the money it would presumably make them. )))) (((( At least they hired good caterers. The food was great on that set. )))) --- *a person who worked on the production of the film.* [to be continued]
[PART 2] _But that wasn’t where it ended. The storyboard artist went on in further posts to bring more clarity to the story, which also further vindicates both Night and the creators of Avatar. Though I’m still kind of upset at Mike and Bryan, because they continue to blame Night publicly, probably because they’d like to keep their own struggling (in the ratings, at least) Korra series going until it is complete._ (((( M. Night’s a great guy. He really is. He knows how to write family films, and when allowed to have free reign does a decent job. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are classics. Many people are also fans of Signs and The Village. Lady in the Water, when watched without any marketing to give you an idea about what it could be - is a clever artistic piece that deviates heavily from his previous work (I really do blame its failure on being marketed wrong). )))) (((( But at that point he became kind of a joke and typecast itself. So whenever he tried to make a film happen he was put under more and more restrictions. “No, M Night you can’t make that movie you can only make this movie.” The Happening is intentionally hilarious because he was making fun of himself and previous works with it, not so subtly giving it to the corporate execs. )))) (((( He’s written for family films before, and himself as well as his kids are fans of [Avatar: The Last Airbender]. He really wanted to make a decent film. So he was hoping if by some miracle the corporate destruction of what could’ve been a real masterpiece that fans would love turned out to make enough of a profit, he’d be given more reign to do sequels. Or in enough time, make the movie over again how he actually wanted it to happen. Sadly, though, that’s not the case. )))) (((( *AFTER EARTH*? You got Will Smith and Jaden Smith wanting to do an awesome father-son movie together. No director could’ve saved that. It would’ve been exactly the same if J.J. Abrams or Michael Bay did it. Though I suppose with J.J. there’d have been more lens flare and Bay more explosions. )))) (((( He’s kind of given up at this point. The work he’s doing now is no longer so much his love for film like his earlier pieces than he needs to collect some cash for his kids’ college funds and to invest in retirement given the economy. It’s a little sad. M Night’s a surprisingly modest, down to earth guy. His main home is in Pennsylvania which is a huge part of why he does try to film his movies there. He wants to get work for local film enthusiasts and try to give them the same opportunities he got when he was starting out. Which is rare since most just use the go to places - LA, New York City, or Vancouver. )))) _A bit later he wrote further about the screenplays that Night wrote, and what happened to those scripts:_ (((( The initial script equated to about a 9 hour film, and his second draft that he wrote almost 3 hours. Those were his copies. Then a ghostwriter or two attacked. )))) _This is corroborated by the creators of the tv series, who said that Night originally had everything from the show in his script, and would have to cut out a lot of it._ (((( So yeah, no, he didn’t write it in 90 minutes, but he’s still a man who is proud of his work and feels himself to be an artist. With every project he wants to make art out of it. With "Lady in the Water" he wanted to prove he could do more than suspense thrillers so in response to the reception I can imagine it didn’t sit well with him. Yeah, he comes off as arrogant to the press but *90% of Hollywood is. You kind of have to be if you want people motivated to see your work.* […] 90% of what you see said to the press is a persona. Whether it’s an actor, writer, director, etc. That’s why I ignore gossip columns where people get up in arms over who said what in a press release, or on the red carpet, or on a TV show and they’re a horrible/amazing person because of it because it’s not actually them. M Night’s always given off the air of “misunderstood artistic genius” to the press since day one. And in some cases, like Sixth Sense, it’s valid. Others, not so much. But he’s got to maintain that image. Who he is on the job or home with friends and family isn’t who is answering interviewers’ questions. Let’s just say I’d rather work for him again than Spielberg. )))) [to be continued]
[PART 3] (((( I’m not saying M. Night’s perfect but a majority of the film’s screwups were not his fault at all. And in response to the 9 hour screenplay thing? That’s actually typical. Most original drafts for films are way, way, way longer than the final piece. They write out everything they want to get out and then go back in and weed out what’s not needed and rewrite things to take things like montages and other editing processes into consideration, etc. Screenplays are very interesting. )))) (((( His ego persona didn’t help any nor his previous reputation on his recent films, and he went about justifying the executives’ decisions the wrong way (though he may or may not have been coerced to - I have no idea). Just keep in mind when the film was in its earliest stages Mike and Bryan were very excited, loved working with M Night, and eager to get things going. If it was M Night’s fault entirely the movie would not have gotten off the ground at all. )))) _You might be wondering a bit about the pronunciation of names and the changing of the Chinese characters to an alien/fantasy world script were all Night’s doing as well. Personally, I believed that the show itself was set in a fantasy world (turtle ducks?), but I know that many believe that it was a version of our world. So what happened here is going to satisfy half of you and the other half will continue to be a bit upset._ (((( He felt his pronunciations of the names were more “authentic” to where they originated. The Chinese being changed to gibberish [re: alien/fantasy world script] *was a decision by Paramount*. They didn’t want to risk any potential offensive screwups that have happened in other films. There are way more people working on a live action film than an animated one and it’s difficult to keep tabs on every last detail. )))) (((( A lot of people, especially those with an anime background when the show first came out used “ee-roh” for “Iroh”, “ahng” for “Aang”, “soh-ka” for “Sokka”, etc. Until the show was watched enough and the westernized names heard enough that most people stopped. But if you come to the show hearing Asian names pronounced differently it does throw you off. And M Night is a man of Asian descent. This is a toss up because, to many Asians, the pronunciations of the names are offensive in the cartoon, and to fans of the show the pronunciations in the movie are offensive because they’re not show accurate. )))) _And so… if you didn’t like The Last Airbender, you now know that it wasn’t entirely Night’s fault. In fact, it was more the studio than anyone else. And this is a very complex issue where one domino lead to another and another, and the result was something of a mess of a production. Someone once said that when a movie comes together, it’s incredible, and for a movie to be great takes a small miracle. With the involvement of so many people on the outcome of a movie, you can see where things started to fall apart for this movie. _*_It all started with a certain girl getting a role in what could have been Shyamalan’s very own Lord of the Rings._*
The Visit was a hit? I don't remember that. "The kubricks, the ...." Are those prodigies though? Or do we simply assert that any movie made by one of those guys must be a good movie because they have such a well established name? Is "a clockwork orange" actually a good movie, or do people say it's a good movie because it's a kubrick and it's all rebellious and gritty and rapey? Can you actually watch 2001 without getting bored at the *huge* takes that last minutes with nothing happening? Apparently it's a bad thing to do very long takes unless your name is Kubrick? Did we simply skip over The War Of The Worlds? An interesting note there; critics found that movie good, the audience bad. That underlines what I'm saying: the reputation of a director makes up 80% of what "critics" pretend to think of a movie. The same is true in a lot of art. Any clown (literally: clowns) can make a balloon animal, but when Jeff Koons makes one suddenly people line up to tell the world how amazingly superlative Koons is for doing this. So yeah.
@JuanCAPS [PART 1] 3 words: *You are wrong.* Your mistake is your failure to recognize that most of the 2010 movie's screwups were NOT HIS FAULT ... The Movie's Novelization (based on Shyamalan's original screenplay before they forced him to do reshoots) was *praised by fans* for its faithfulness to Season 1 and for its attention to detail. The blame falls specifically on Paramount/Nickelodeon (a studio already well-known to be one of the most low-standarded and unethical studios in Hollywood, if not *the* most....That's why Nickelodeon butchered Korra's schedules/presentations, and that horrible episode with Varrick pulling a Michael Bay with the "like a ride" excuse, which holds no water in reality). Nickelodeon only cares about "what kids like" and refuses to appreciate the amazing epicness of its shows. *M. Night did watch the show and definitely understood what made the series successful* ... It was logically explained (back on August 2014) that most of the movie's screwups were the result of EXECUTIVE/STUDIO MEDDLING. This was revealed by one of the movie's storyboard artists, and that storyboard artist provided *impressively logical insights* to explain what happened behind the scenes. Here's a copy of the article that shows the whole revelation: The text in multi-parentheses is the quotes from the storyboard artist who worked on the movie. * * * * * * * * * * * * _A member of an Avatar forum, posted a story about what happened behind the scenes (it has since been removed by the forum owner), and by the looks of it, _*_Night is owed an apology._* _Night was thrown under the bus many times by many people. I’m really happy to be able to show a bit of what actually happened, behind the scenes on The Last Airbender. Prepare yourselves, this is rather long._ (((( What it came down to was M Night really was the only one who knew the show and what he was doing (the first draft of the screenplay? gorgeous. hence Bryke giving him the okay). The producers, who are actually in charge of at least 80% of production including casting…. not so much. They clearly never bothered to watch the show, nor had the ghostwriter who did the final screenplay. )))) _This sort of thing happens more than you’d think on many movies. Sometimes a studio will hire an awesome screenwriter like Frank Darabont as a ‘script doctor.’ Darabont himself was script doctor on such films as Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report and 2014’s Godzilla (in which he wrote the scenes that convinced Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to sign). We weren’t so fortunate on Airbender, and whomever it is that was the script doctor / ghostwriter to do the final screenplay will probably never come forward. Afterall, they’re actually the writer(s) that wrote the now infamous line: “We have to show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.”_ (((( Nicola [Peltz] was hired because she’s the daughter of someone that one of the producers owed a favor to as Hollywood loves its nepotism. (Her audition tape was subpar at best). In having to cast her, they had to cast a guy who could pass as her brother - hence Jackson. His audition was actually pretty good. He’s a funny guy and had clearly seen the show. Too bad the producers felt the movie didn’t have time for intentional humor and cut all that out of the script. Noah was the only one who honestly openly auditioned and was chosen based on talent. He just needed extra help acting because with a lot of it being green screened he was talking to air a lot of the time. Experienced adults have a hard time doing that let alone a kid. )))) _Just to cut in here a second… we also need to remember that Noah Ringer was also a newcomer to acting. After this he went on to play a small role in Cowboys & Aliens alongside Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde, with director John Favreau._ (((( If you recall they initially signed on Jesse McCartney as Zuko. Why? Because otherwise the lead actor roster would be “starring: two unknown kids you never heard of and that guy who played a minor character in Twilight!”. And then someone with a brain realized “wait a minute this show is kind of anime-esque and we’re hiring a bunch of white kids. Um.”. So what did they do? Because they couldn’t can Nicola without someone being really ticked, Jesse willingly bowed out and went with another project offered at the time. Even still, they still needed a big name to draw people in but it couldn’t be another white kid. Dev Patel just gave an Oscar-winning performance and was willing to sign on. And in getting him they had to make the rest of the Fire Nation match. Which is why it turned into heroic white kids VS evil brown people (which was intentionally unintentional). )))) (((( And then it was horribly budgeted. The opening at the SWT all nice and pretty in Greenland? Cost big bucks. And then they realized with a story about people manipulating elements that couldn’t be believably done with in camera practical effects. So they had to rebudget and gave most of the money to ILM for post production. You go from the beautiful SWT to everything looking dingy because everything else was shot in Pennsylvania. The Fire Nation Royal Palace? An old high school in Philadelphia. Parts of the Earth Kingdom (including Kyoshi Island which got cut)? Reading, PA. And everything that was the NWT…. some sets built in front of giant green screens in an old emptied aircraft hangar in the outskirts of Philadelphia. Yeah. )))) (((( And ILM was rushed despite most of the movie’s look being left up to them. And you had novice directors hired by producers to oversee that process. That’s how come the pebble dance happened. Sadly at that point M Night was just tired of arguing with the overheads, gave up, and collected his paycheck. If you look at the movie’s premiere and red carpet footage you can tell his excitement and happiness is fake. Bryke had little say in the film despite being listed as executive producers. That title was a fancy way of saying that they created the show it was based on and they’re still alive so they need some kind of nice credit. The actual producers didn’t know what they were dealing with and were only interested in a quick buck. Bryke and M Night gave up on the film around the same time for same reasons. The other people working on the film were a pain to deal with and Nickelodeon themselves only wanted the final product as quickly as possible and the money it would presumably make them. )))) (((( At least they hired good caterers. The food was great on that set. )))) --- *a person who worked on the production of the film.* [to be continued]
[PART 2] _But that wasn’t where it ended. The storyboard artist went on in further posts to bring more clarity to the story, which also further vindicates both Night and the creators of Avatar. Though I’m still kind of upset at Mike and Bryan, because they continue to blame Night publicly, probably because they’d like to keep their own struggling (in the ratings, at least) Korra series going until it is complete._ (((( M. Night’s a great guy. He really is. He knows how to write family films, and when allowed to have free reign does a decent job. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are classics. Many people are also fans of Signs and The Village. Lady in the Water, when watched without any marketing to give you an idea about what it could be - is a clever artistic piece that deviates heavily from his previous work (I really do blame its failure on being marketed wrong). )))) (((( But at that point he became kind of a joke and typecast itself. So whenever he tried to make a film happen he was put under more and more restrictions. “No, M Night you can’t make that movie you can only make this movie.” The Happening is intentionally hilarious because he was making fun of himself and previous works with it, not so subtly giving it to the corporate execs. )))) (((( He’s written for family films before, and himself as well as his kids are fans of [Avatar: The Last Airbender]. He really wanted to make a decent film. So he was hoping if by some miracle the corporate destruction of what could’ve been a real masterpiece that fans would love turned out to make enough of a profit, he’d be given more reign to do sequels. Or in enough time, make the movie over again how he actually wanted it to happen. Sadly, though, that’s not the case. )))) (((( *AFTER EARTH*? You got Will Smith and Jaden Smith wanting to do an awesome father-son movie together. No director could’ve saved that. It would’ve been exactly the same if J.J. Abrams or Michael Bay did it. Though I suppose with J.J. there’d have been more lens flare and Bay more explosions. )))) (((( He’s kind of given up at this point. The work he’s doing now is no longer so much his love for film like his earlier pieces than he needs to collect some cash for his kids’ college funds and to invest in retirement given the economy. It’s a little sad. M Night’s a surprisingly modest, down to earth guy. His main home is in Pennsylvania which is a huge part of why he does try to film his movies there. He wants to get work for local film enthusiasts and try to give them the same opportunities he got when he was starting out. Which is rare since most just use the go to places - LA, New York City, or Vancouver. )))) _A bit later he wrote further about the screenplays that Night wrote, and what happened to those scripts:_ (((( The initial script equated to about a 9 hour film, and his second draft that he wrote almost 3 hours. Those were his copies. Then a ghostwriter or two attacked. )))) _This is corroborated by the creators of the tv series, who said that Night originally had everything from the show in his script, and would have to cut out a lot of it._ (((( So yeah, no, he didn’t write it in 90 minutes, but he’s still a man who is proud of his work and feels himself to be an artist. With every project he wants to make art out of it. With "Lady in the Water" he wanted to prove he could do more than suspense thrillers so in response to the reception I can imagine it didn’t sit well with him. Yeah, he comes off as arrogant to the press but *90% of Hollywood is. You kind of have to be if you want people motivated to see your work.* […] 90% of what you see said to the press is a persona. Whether it’s an actor, writer, director, etc. That’s why I ignore gossip columns where people get up in arms over who said what in a press release, or on the red carpet, or on a TV show and they’re a horrible/amazing person because of it because it’s not actually them. M Night’s always given off the air of “misunderstood artistic genius” to the press since day one. And in some cases, like Sixth Sense, it’s valid. Others, not so much. But he’s got to maintain that image. Who he is on the job or home with friends and family isn’t who is answering interviewers’ questions. Let’s just say I’d rather work for him again than Spielberg. )))) [to be continued]
@Skywardking77 [PART 1] You're wrong for acting as though he deserve to lose any respect after avatar. Your mistake is your failure to recognize that most of the 2010 movie's screwups were NOT HIS FAULT ... The Movie's Novelization (based on Shyamalan's original screenplay before they forced him to do reshoots) was *praised by fans* for its faithfulness to Season 1 and for its attention to detail. The blame falls specifically on Paramount/Nickelodeon (a studio already well-known to be one of the most low-standarded and unethical studios in Hollywood, if not *the* most....That's why Nickelodeon butchered Korra's schedules/presentations, and that horrible episode with Varrick pulling a Michael Bay with the "like a ride" excuse, which holds no water in reality). Nickelodeon only cares about "what kids like" and refuses to appreciate the amazing epicness of its shows. *M. Night did watch the show and definitely understood what made the series successful* ... It was logically explained (back on August 2014) that most of the movie's screwups were the result of EXECUTIVE/STUDIO MEDDLING. This was revealed by one of the movie's storyboard artists, and that storyboard artist provided *impressively logical insights* to explain what happened behind the scenes. Here's a copy of the article that shows the whole revelation: The text in multi-parentheses is the quotes from the storyboard artist who worked on the movie. * * * * * * * * * * * * _A member of an Avatar forum, posted a story about what happened behind the scenes (it has since been removed by the forum owner), and by the looks of it, _*_Night is owed an apology._* _Night was thrown under the bus many times by many people. I’m really happy to be able to show a bit of what actually happened, behind the scenes on The Last Airbender. Prepare yourselves, this is rather long._ (((( What it came down to was M Night really was the only one who knew the show and what he was doing (the first draft of the screenplay? gorgeous. hence Bryke giving him the okay). The producers, who are actually in charge of at least 80% of production including casting…. not so much. They clearly never bothered to watch the show, nor had the ghostwriter who did the final screenplay. )))) _This sort of thing happens more than you’d think on many movies. Sometimes a studio will hire an awesome screenwriter like Frank Darabont as a ‘script doctor.’ Darabont himself was script doctor on such films as Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report and 2014’s Godzilla (in which he wrote the scenes that convinced Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche to sign). We weren’t so fortunate on Airbender, and whomever it is that was the script doctor / ghostwriter to do the final screenplay will probably never come forward. Afterall, they’re actually the writer(s) that wrote the now infamous line: “We have to show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.”_ (((( Nicola [Peltz] was hired because she’s the daughter of someone that one of the producers owed a favor to as Hollywood loves its nepotism. (Her audition tape was subpar at best). In having to cast her, they had to cast a guy who could pass as her brother - hence Jackson. His audition was actually pretty good. He’s a funny guy and had clearly seen the show. Too bad the producers felt the movie didn’t have time for intentional humor and cut all that out of the script. Noah was the only one who honestly openly auditioned and was chosen based on talent. He just needed extra help acting because with a lot of it being green screened he was talking to air a lot of the time. Experienced adults have a hard time doing that let alone a kid. )))) _Just to cut in here a second… we also need to remember that Noah Ringer was also a newcomer to acting. After this he went on to play a small role in Cowboys & Aliens alongside Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde, with director John Favreau._ (((( If you recall they initially signed on Jesse McCartney as Zuko. Why? Because otherwise the lead actor roster would be “starring: two unknown kids you never heard of and that guy who played a minor character in Twilight!”. And then someone with a brain realized “wait a minute this show is kind of anime-esque and we’re hiring a bunch of white kids. Um.”. So what did they do? Because they couldn’t can Nicola without someone being really ticked, Jesse willingly bowed out and went with another project offered at the time. Even still, they still needed a big name to draw people in but it couldn’t be another white kid. Dev Patel just gave an Oscar-winning performance and was willing to sign on. And in getting him they had to make the rest of the Fire Nation match. Which is why it turned into heroic white kids VS evil brown people (which was intentionally unintentional). )))) (((( And then it was horribly budgeted. The opening at the SWT all nice and pretty in Greenland? Cost big bucks. And then they realized with a story about people manipulating elements that couldn’t be believably done with in camera practical effects. So they had to rebudget and gave most of the money to ILM for post production. You go from the beautiful SWT to everything looking dingy because everything else was shot in Pennsylvania. The Fire Nation Royal Palace? An old high school in Philadelphia. Parts of the Earth Kingdom (including Kyoshi Island which got cut)? Reading, PA. And everything that was the NWT…. some sets built in front of giant green screens in an old emptied aircraft hangar in the outskirts of Philadelphia. Yeah. )))) (((( And ILM was rushed despite most of the movie’s look being left up to them. And you had novice directors hired by producers to oversee that process. That’s how come the pebble dance happened. Sadly at that point M Night was just tired of arguing with the overheads, gave up, and collected his paycheck. If you look at the movie’s premiere and red carpet footage you can tell his excitement and happiness is fake. Bryke had little say in the film despite being listed as executive producers. That title was a fancy way of saying that they created the show it was based on and they’re still alive so they need some kind of nice credit. The actual producers didn’t know what they were dealing with and were only interested in a quick buck. Bryke and M Night gave up on the film around the same time for same reasons. The other people working on the film were a pain to deal with and Nickelodeon themselves only wanted the final product as quickly as possible and the money it would presumably make them. )))) (((( At least they hired good caterers. The food was great on that set. )))) --- *a person who worked on the production of the film.* [to be continued]
Daring. I like him more that JJ abrams. I mean I don't like JJ. He lacks commitment and ..eh hem... BALLS. He doesn't try anything original and couldn't even stick around to complete a trilogy properly( like a little movie franchise named STAR WARS). Geez. And don't get me started about his story telling. Oh. My. God. M. Night has his flaws but you can't help but be engaged in even his least liked films because of his story telling technique.
