M. Night Fans

DEVIL has two viral websites

Rohan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:40:10 +0000

Producer M.Night Shyamalan’s latest project DEVIL is going to arrive in theatres this September 17th , and to help promote the film, Universal Pictures has released two new viral websites for movie fans to explore, as well as updated the official Devil site.

TheDevilsMeeting.com offers a look at several pop culture and news stories that show where the Devil has popped up in recent months. You can watch vidoes, read the blog posts, and much more to see how the Devil has influenced society today. Also on the site is a link to The Devil Made Me Do It site, where you can share you deepest, darkest secrets, and users can decide whether to forgive you or damn you.

The What Are You Afraid Of ? website allows users to choose between two random ‘fears’. You can sign onto the site through Facebook or Twitter and see what other users share your same fears. You can also look at the Facebook App for DEVIL.

Devil will appear on September 17th, 2010 in theatres and the film is directed by Drew Dowdle, John Erick Dowdle.

‘Unbreakable 2′ repurposed for ‘Night Chronicles’

Rohan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:12:32 +0000

MTV Movies recently had the chance to sit with Writer/Director/Producer M.Night Shyamalan where Shyamalan was again asked about the possibility of a sequel to his 2000 dark superhero film “Unbreakable”. Previously M.Night Shyamalan stated that he is looking for the right story for “Unbreakable 2″, yet we were not sure if M.Night Shyamalan was seriously considering a sequel to Unbreakable.

It’s a great news for all the fans out there because M.Night Shyamalan revealed that his “Unbreakable 2″ story will indeed hit the big screens, but as a completely different film.

“I cannibalized the idea for the sequel to ‘Unbreakable’ for one of the ‘Night Chronicles,’” revealed Shyamalan.

“It was such a cool idea for a villain, and it was actually originally in the script for ‘Unbreakable,’ and it was too much,” he said of his reasons for excising the element that was intended to become “Unbreakable 2.” “There were too many villains, so I pulled this villain out and was like, ‘I’ll make this the second flick.’”

However, as the filmmaker got caught up in other projects and “Unbreakable 2″ became less likely, the seed of that idea still managed to grow.

“I fleshed it out more and more, and thought, ‘This could be a standalone movie,’” he said. “I’ll just say it: the third ‘Night Chronicles’ movie is what would have been the sequel [to 'Unbreakable']. So now I need to come up with a new idea.”

Shyamalan also semi-validated “Unbreakable” fans’ appreciation for the 2000 film, admitting that it’s also one of his own favorites.

“Literally, that’s the question I get asked the most anywhere around the world — if I’m making the sequel to ‘Unbreakable,’” he laughed. “I love that movie. ‘Unbreakable’ and ‘The Village’ are my favorite two movies of mine.”

What you guys think about a sequel to Unbreakable?

M. Night Shyamalan Explains Origins Of ‘Devil’

Rohan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:59:14 +0000

M. Night Shyamalan is not letting the rather mixed reviews for “The Last Airbender” darken his easygoing spirit or dampen his creative verve. Late last month, as “Airbender” continued to rake in dough overseas, Shyamalan sat down with MTV News to chat about his upcoming “Devil,” which follows five strangers trapped in an elevator — one of whom just might be the Prince of Darkness.

The film is the first in his planned “Night Chronicles” trilogy, a series based on his original ideas and helmed by other directors, and Shyamalan seems to relish the idea of getting out of the director’s chair and into the role of producer, a job he likened to being the goalie on a hockey team.

As part of our Fall Movie Preview, Shyamalan talked amiably about the film’s genesis, how he’s openly borrowed from other directors throughout his career and why he has such a complicated relationship with the public and the press.

MTV: This is an M. Night Shyamalan film, but it’s not an M. Night Shyamalan-directed film. What does that mean?

M. Night Shyamalan: Well, it just means I have a bunch of stories, a lot of journals I wrote, a lot of movie ideas that I really thought I was going to direct, and then I get another idea and I fill another journal. And I just decided to make a few of them and get really exciting young filmmakers to come and challenge me and show me everything and get some camaraderie going. It’s so lonely making movies, dude. You sit in a room by yourself and do it, and I’ve always kind of dreamed of having like, you know, a group of friends and we all make movies and I say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?” And they say, “That sucks! And this is why it sucks,” and I go, “Really? Because I thought it was fantastic!” And they have that thing and have different languages of storytellers.

So, basically, we started a series of movies called “The Night Chronicles,” and “Devil” is the first one. I hired John and Drew Dowdle, who absolutely killed it in this independent movie called “The Poughkeepsie Tapes,” which is an absolutely traumatic experience to watch. We watched it in our house, we had just moved into our new house, and I felt totally violated. I didn’t want to live there anymore, and I was like, “Who did this movie?” We saw their second movie, “Quarantine,” which was so much fun, and I was like, “I gotta meet these guys, these guys would be perfect for ‘Devil.’ ”

MTV: With “The Night Chronicles,” do you imagine this all to be one creepy universe?

Shyamalan: It’s funny you should say that. As we were getting ready, we’re gearing up the second one, I was like, “Do they all live in the same world? Do they reference something that happened in an elevator down the other side of town in Philadelphia?” And we have a line in there so it could be that and maybe there’s, like, little reoccurring characters that kind of tell you this is all one world where weird stuff happens.

MTV: A creepy world that’s fun to visit but not to live in maybe.

Shyamalan: Yeah, definitely! A world where all your worst things happen.

MTV: What was the idea in the notebook that created this one?

Shyamalan: I remember when I wrote in the notebook, it’s this little black notebook … choosing a whole notebook about what the idea in the notebook [is], is a whole ritual by the way. It’s like you have to match the notebook, I’m really OCD about it, and “This is too thin, and this is not the right, the lines are too thick, are too far apart, this isn’t the spirit of this.” I’m like insane!

MTV: There’s not one uniform notebook for all the movies?

Shyamalan: Yeah. When I go traveling and all, going to journal places or paper-book is a huge thing! Like for me, I make everyone stop when we go and I go, “No, this is not it.” It’s ridiculous! It’s ridiculous. But in this little black journal that “Devil” was in, the first thing I wrote was like, “Five people trapped in an elevator, one of them is the devil. And one by one, they each get killed off until you see who the devil is.” And it kind of was like an Agatha Christie nod.

MTV: There’s almost like a “Twilight Zone”-ish vibe. Do you think you look for influences? Are you more focused on your own thing or do you think of other movies that were close to this in spirit?

Shyamalan: If it feels similar to something else that makes me feel icky, you know like, “Oh, they did that in, ‘Close Encounters’ or something,” if I’m conscious of it, it bothers me. When I watch “The Sixth Sense,” when I see the cabinet scene, it bothers me because it’s so familiar from “Poltergeist” with the chairs on the table and I’m like, “Dude, I totally ripped them off!” And so you feel really bad. Whenever I meet filmmakers that I like, I’m like, “Total apologies for ripping you off, and I’m sure I’ve done it a hundred times and you’ve been cursing me out watching [like] ‘This guy’s just stealing my stuff!’ ”

MTV: As long as you’re ripping off the best.

Shyamalan: Absolutely, exactly! The greatest. I met Robert Wise once and I was like, “Dude, I’ve stolen everything from ‘The Haunting’ that you made. It’s fantastic!”

MTV: When you’re producing this, are you on set? What’s your day-to-day role in this?

Shyamalan: My feeling about “The Night Chronicles” is it isn’t like “Oh, I’m watching over it like a policeman.” I completely see myself now as the goalie, and I hired these guys to score as many points, win the championship, and if somebody gets by them, I’ll be there to try and stop the puck. That’s how the Dowdles felt about it, and I felt really comfortable in that role of “Hey, I’m watching you do your thing, you’re amazing. I hired you because I believed in you, I want to be inspired by you, I want you to teach me about filmmaking.” And if there’s something that goes by, I would be like, “Oh, that kid’s performance is really going to be a problem, we should address it and reshoot it,” I catch it in the end and we talk about it and say, “These are the three things that are bothering me, we should work on it.”

MTV: Most of your work has been PG-13. Is that important to you? Do you think that’s better, and do you put a limit on yourself so that it builds better suspense?

Shyamalan: Absolutely, it’s exactly right. When you can’t show it, it makes you think in much more creative ways of insinuation and glimpsing something and how can we show someone getting killed in an elevator and not show it. You imply it and it happened, and if it’s really gruesome, how do you imply it? Your imagination becomes active, and what you really try to do, especially in suspense movies, which is my favorite style of filmmaking, is you have to engage the audience as a participant; it’s not a complete painting. Actually there’s a quote from Walter Murch that I love about incompleteness and why he thought black-and-white movies had such power is they’re slightly incomplete, they’re not reality-based. The audience was part of finishing the painting. They were finishing the picture they were seeing, and so it was very customized and very internal and scary to them.

MTV: How do you create, kind of set pieces? How do you amp up the suspense and action if you’re confined to that one space?

Shyamalan: I love confinement. It’s not something I find as a limitation, but more as an excitement. I get very uncomfortable with the, “You’ve got the whole world, and there’s events happening all around the world,” and I’m like, “No, it’s one house with a family,” and I enjoy that … thinking what could happen in a very, very small space. In fact, most of “The Night Chronicles,” most of those ideas are very confined, big ideas kept in a little area.

MTV: Is there a scene that you felt is really going to scare the hell out of people?

Shyamalan: Oh my gosh, they did such a good job. The best part about me watching these guys do it — because, every single decision wasn’t mine — I watch it as an audience member. When we have a preview screening, I’m one of the people screaming! You hear seven girls and me screaming in the back. I’m like, “Ahhh!”

MTV: You’re one of these guys that has this thing about them, with your mix of successes and failures. Do you feel philosophical about that, do you understand what that’s about?

Shyamalan: Yeah, it’s something that I’ve thought about a bunch because my normal environment of the people I work with, the X-amount of a people that I work with to make movies, is such a calm and friendly and non-confrontational way. I’ve gotten angry, like, four times in my life, and one was over basketball. We all hang out. I feel very close to everybody. The famous version of me doesn’t reflect — doesn’t have any bearing. I don’t even know who they’re talking about most of the time. I think that we all think of ourselves as we were in high school, and I was definitely the uncool kid in high school and definitely got made fun of when I walked in, like, “Those pants?” — that guy. I’m OK with that and I know I’m not going to be Mr. Cool and I’ll always be on the outside of things a little bit and had to become comfortable with it.

There’s good things and bad things with that, because you see things in a different way, because you don’t know how to quite fit in. I don’t know quite how to be cool. I remember I had my first movie in a festival in Toronto and all of us had our first movies. There was me, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Baz Luhrmann, we were all 22, 23 years old, and they were so cool and I was making this kind of sincere movie about a kid in India, and I felt so uncool and I was cringing and they were so cool and hanging out and edgy and I’m like, “Uh, uh!” And I kind of feel that way all the time. I wish I could be naturally more cool and edgy. So I understand the dynamic because it feels kind of familiar to me. The guy who makes fun of me with his friends and then comes like, “Hey you wanna hang out?” and I’m like, “But you just made fun of me!” “All right, let’s go play Atari.”

The Last Airbender box office update

Rohan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:23:43 +0000

Critics took their turn bashing M.Night Shyamalan’ s THE LAST AIRBENDER and some even stepped outside of the box to bash M.Night Shyamalan personally. Disrespecting the “The Sixth Sense” “Unbreakable” director and chanted that M.Night Shyamalan’s career is over.

However, reviews are often useless when it comes to the box office, which can disgust critics and make studios sign in relief. Even some poorly reviewed movies are box office hits and can save a franchise. The Last Airbender was opened on the Fourth of July weekend and in spite of review rants the film opened big and Shyamalan laughed heading to the bank.

The Last Airbender was opened in a difficult period. Twilight: Eclipse was destroying all competitions in its first weekend, while Toy Story 3 was still doing big business in its third week. All the awful The Last Airbender review scores may ensured that it would get blown by Eclipse, yet that didn’t meant that the film would be a bomb.

According to Deadline Hollywood, the film opened to $16 millions on Friday July, 2, 2010, behind Eclipse’s third day of $28.2 million. Despite all of The Last Airbender review complaints, the film was built in brand name. M.Night Shyamlan himself is still a brand, despite his declining reputation. In addition, the 3D prices also helped boost the numbers, even though most critics stated that the 3D conversion was terrible.

Let’s not constitute the film a bomb. The Last Airbender earned $20.3 million from 45 territories according to Box Office Mojo. It held steady to a $3 million first week take in China and a $4.3 million debut in Mexico. In two months, The Last Airbender earned $122.2 million overseas for a worldwide (domestic plus foreign) total of $252.8 million.

M.Night Shyamalan always planned to make THE LAST AIRBENDER into a trilogy. Now we are waiting for Paramount to green lit the project with a trilogy.

A guide to the world of The Last Airbender

Rohan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:33:03 +0000

The folks at Coventry Telegraph just published an lengthy guide to M.Night Shyamlan’s THE LAST AIRBENDER – adapted from the Nickelodeon animated series – four nations represent the elements of air, water, earth and fire.

The Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others and a century passes with no end in sight to the destruction.

Then a boy called Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. He joins forces with a waterbender called Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) to restore balance to their wartorn world.

We have been sent a rather handy guide to the world presented in the film and, whether you’ve seen the movie or not, it’s interesting and informative enough to share with you here… read more about the world of The Last Airbender

FIRE NATION

Power sources
Firebenders draw their energy from a variety of sources and the size of the source determines how much fire can be manipulated by the art of bending. For instance, bending fire from a candle will not be as strong or powerful as bending from a forest fire. Experts benders such as Zuko and Uncle Iroh possess unique abilities to increase and even create fire. These powerful benders derive their energy from their inner chi – as well as the cosmos including the sun and comets.

The Fire Nation Navy
Commander Zhao is the leader of the powerful Fire Nation Navy. The armada of the Fire Nation is armed, equipped and vast – and can cover large distances quickly. The Navy is a good example of the Fire Nation’s industrial might and their approach is sometimes signalled by black ash falling from the sky.

Fire Nation Ships
The massive ships in armada of the Fire Nation have been crafted purposely from solid iron to both resist attacks and to prevent earthbender, waterbender and airbender prisoners from escaping by using their bending abilities. Metal is impermeable to these elements. The ships are fuelled by firebending heat from coal to make steam – these vessels have the ability to break through the frozen seas of the Polar regions.

Komodo rhino
Komodo Rhinos are large beasts with long and powerful tails that the Fire Nation often uses in large scale battles. These relentless beasts wear armor and are often employed by the military for overcoming steep walls and vertical surfaces – a fast and ferocious transport vehicle exclusive to Firebenders.

Strengths
Firebenders’ greatest strength is the fact that their element can continue doing damage after the bending has stopped: fire can cause destruction even on its own. Combining this quality with the techniques of a masterful bender who draws energy from one’s inner chi can result in a spectacular and lethal combination.

Weaknesses
Darkness and eclipses of the sun can weaken a Firebender’s abilities as they draw upon the power of the cosmos. Firebenders are also vulnerable to the waterbenders’ ability to extinguish flames with their element. Because of their strong and aggressive nature, firebenders are traditionally lacking in defensive moves, which can also leave them vulnerable in one-on-one battles.

Characters:
Zuko – Despite his youth, Prince Zuko is highly skilled in Firebending and is capable of holding his own against benders more experienced than himself due to his adaptability and undying resolve. Having been shamed and outcast by his nation, Zuko has a lot at stake and it is his mission to regain his honour in his father’s eyes. His fiery inner drive and determination brings him closer every day to capturing the Avatar.

Iroh – Prince Zuko’s uncle Iroh is a benevolent and spiritual Firebending master as well as a retired General of the Fire Nation (and older brother of Fire Lord Ozai). Iroh is like a father to Zuko and accompanies his exiled nephew on his quest to capture the Avatar. Uncle Iroh also wants to help restore the young prince’s honor, but finds it more important to guide him whenever he can along the way morally and spiritually – and teach him the real meaning of honour.

Zhao – Commander Zhao is the egotistical, self-gratifying leader of the powerful Fire Nation Navy and believes in the unequivocal dominion of the Fire Nation over the other weaker nations. He is also a smouldering thorn in Zuko’s side and wishes to take Zuko’s place next to the Fire Lord. Zhao furthermore stands in the way of Zuko capturing Aang and sometimes exhibits a dangerous lack of self-control with his fiery temper.

AIR NOMAD

Airbending Techniques
Airbending is a highly versatile form of martial arts, mainly used for defensive manoeuvres and to aid in travel and motion. An airbender can move faster and jump higher and farther by creating circular wind gusts to enhance his motion, kicking up dirt and dust in the process. The Last Airbender can do much more, including running up vertical surfaces by generating a wind current behind him and gliding across the sky (with the aid of a staff).

The Avatar State
When his emotions are in turmoil – Aang’s eyes turn white-hot and his tattoos glow and he enters the Avatar state. This high-energy state can cause untold destruction and is exhausting for Aang to endure as it creates a bridge to the Spirit World and his hard to control. The Avatar state is triggered by extreme physical or emotional stress and unlocks the enormous powers of all the previous Avatars at once in Aang.

Staff
Although it does not possess any magical properties, an airbender’s staff can transform mechanically into a small glider. To propel the glider, Aang controls air currents to sustain flights over limited distances. If necessary, airbenders can also use their staffs to enhance the power of their defensive air blasts in a fight with the Fire Nation.

Monks
The Air Nomads are a peaceful order of Monks that meditate upon the harmony and wonder of nature and have learned how to harness the power of air currents. Unlike children of the other nations, all air nomads are born with airbending abilities.

Sky Bison
Six-legged flying bison were benevolent but intelligent creatures from which the air benders originally learned how to bend air. The arrow tattoos used by Air Nomads were adapted from the markings on this once plentiful creature. Flying bison are paired for life with monks as they come of age and they can travel long distances using their wide tails to navigate air currents.

Winged Lemurs
Winged lemurs were the air nomad children’s favorite pets a long time ago. Fun, playful, and highly social, these flying lemurs were trained by airbenders to perform many helpful tasks, including alerting others to Fire Nation danger nearby.

Characters:
Aang – Aang is a simple 12 year old monk that is also the current incarnation of the Avatar. Born an airbender, Aang was unable to accept his destiny at such a young age and ran away. 100 years later he is found and must accept his role to bring balance back to the warring world. Sokka and Katara are like family to Aang, and help him along the way.

Appa – Appa is Aang’s sky bison, a sacred animal of the Air Nomads. Aang chose him from the Eastern Air Temple when Appa was just a pup. Once chosen a sky bison is a beloved companion for life. In a fight, Appa can be ferocious.

Momo – Momo is a winged lemur Aang found at the abandoned Southern Air Temple when he went looking for his old teacher. Momo has an incredible sense of hearing and smell and can alert people of danger from miles away. He also has quite an appetite.

WATER TRIBE

Water Kingdom insignia
The symbol of the Water Tribes is a circle created by a crescent moon and ocean waves. The insignia represents the Moon Spirit and the Ocean Spirit, who together provide life and power to the Water Nation and guide their beliefs. They coexist in harmony, the moon’s force exerting a pushing and pulling motion on the ocean in the form of tides. This motion is the foundation for the art of waterbending. The Water Tribes’ belief in peaceful cooperation among all nations stems from the relationship between these two powerful and balanced spirits.

Location
The Southern Water Tribe is located at the South Pole and the Northern Water Tribe is found at the North Pole. The Southern Water Tribe has been ravaged from the war and mostly lives in primitive conditions – whereas the Northern Water Tribe is surrounded by a fortress and has built larger structures to protect themselves from the Fire Nation. In both locations the terrain is snow-capped mountains, frozen lakes, giant glaciers and endless ice. The weather is cold and harsh in both regions, with snow falling year round – though in the summer, the North experiences milder days than the South.

Strengths
A Waterbender’s power comes from a limitless internal life energy which is known as chi. Because of this, the Bender’s power and ability is often tied to his or her emotional state. For instance, when a less experienced waterbender gets angry, his or her waterbending force may increase in intensity, but control will be lost. Waterbenders also possess the unique ability to increase circulation and ‘heal’ the body through bending because the body is 75 per cent water. Waterbenders are the most powerful when the moon is full (as only the moon and the Avatar has the power to push and pull the tides of the ocean.)

The Water Scroll
The legends of the Water Tribes states that long ago, thieves stole a very valuable scroll from a Waterbender of the Northern Tribe. The parchment contained several ancient waterbending techniques, including the single water whip, which some believed was lost forever.

Waterbending
A waterbender can control water in any of its forms, as a liquid, solid (ice or snow), or gas (steam) – including from moisture in the air and ground. This gives the waterbender a variety of defensive as well as offensive moves to draw from. Waterbending is rooted in the ancient martial art of Tai Chi – with long graceful moves and limitless internal power.

Weakness
One potential weakness waterbenders face is the possibility that they are in a place where no water is found. Just In case there is not enough moisture around, smart waterbenders like Katara carry skins filled with water to defend themselves from the Fire Nation at all times.

Characters:
Katara – grew up as the mature, motherly figure of her family and tribe. When Katara was very young her mother was killed in a Fire Nation raid, and her father went off to fight against the Fire Nation. They currently live with Grandma and though her interests lie in developing her waterbending skills to become a warrior, her brother Sokka thinks that brains are more important than bending. Katara keeps her mother’s necklace (passed down from generations) around her neck at all times, and carries a silk pouch of water just in case.

Sokka – His most prized possession is his boomerang, a traditional Water Tribe weapon given to him by his father. Unlike his younger sister Katara, he does not posses any bending abilities – and thinks that waterbending sometimes brings more trouble than solutions. Sokka believes that planning strategies and thinking things through is the smart way to fight against the Fire Nation. He’ll do anything to protect his family and friends and has no problem taking on soldiers with his bare hands and warrior tactics if necessary.

Princess Yue – was born to Northern Water Tribe royalty with an unknown sickness and her condition was critical. When the Tribe’s healers failed to cure her, the King prayed to the Moon Spirit in desperation, and placed her in an oasis at the spiritual centre of the North Pole. The Moon Spirit gifted her with part of its own life force, saving her and turning her hair white. Grateful, her parents named her Yue, after the moon.

EARTH KINGDOM

Location
The Earth Kingdom is by far the largest of all the four nations and stretches across a vast expanse of varied landscapes, cultures and peoples.

Cultures
Though the Earth Kingdom is ruled by a monarchy, the distinct cultures of the Earth Nation are several and varied with a range of classes. One region is distinctly different than the next in terms of mythology, physical likeness and cultural traditions. Earthbenders however share in common a deep connection to the earth and a firm commitment to resist the Fire Nation and protect their cities and villages by any means necessary.

Earthbending techniques
Earthbenders root their powerful bending abilities deeply within the earth itself. They can strike the ground with their hands or feet, manipulating the dirt and stone beneath them. For instance, stomping the ground hard can cause an earthen wall or a boulder to shoot up, which can then be kicked at the Fire Nation.

Weakness
Earthbender’s most significant weakness is their inability to manipulate metal, which has been exploited by the Fire Nation through metal armouries, ships and metal-fortified prisons which keep the earthbenders from being able to fight back.

Earth Kingdom insignia
The symbol of the Earth Kingdom is a square inside a circle, representing the depths of the earth and rocks which earthbenders draw from to defend themselves, as well as the depth of their commitment to a civilised, peaceful and productive way of life.

Daniel Stamm to direct Twelve Strangers?

Rohan — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:13:00 +0000

The Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm might be directing the next movie in The Night Chronicles series, Twelve Strangers, according to HeyUGuys.

The site was at a roundtable interview session with Daniel Stamm, where he revealed some information that falls in line with the format for The Night Chronicles series, where M. Night Shyamalan produces and comes up with an original premise for other writers and directors to take and make the film from. Here’s what he had to say:

“My next project is a supernatural thriller and it’s not going to be shot in documentary style…One of my favorite filmmakers in the world, who’s a legend, is producing it…an idea of his that another writer is writing and I’m going to direct. It has a twist in the ending, without giving away who it is.”

We reported back in June that Buried screenwriter Chris Sparling had been hired to write Twelve Strangers. The story revolves around twelve jurors who are deliberating a case that involves supernatural elements. The first movie in The Night Chronicles series, Devil, opens on September 17.

M. Night Shyamalan’s name was brought up at the roundtable session, along with other filmmakers like Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan and David Lynch, when the journalists were asked to guess which filmmaker he would be working with. While Daniel Stamm did say that one of those guesses was correct, he would not confirm which one it was.

We will keep you guys updated with more news regarding TWELVE STRANGERS. Twelve Strangers comes to theatres 2012.

M.Night Shyamalan’s Escalation

Rohan — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:32:20 +0000

Things are looking up for M. Night Shyamalan! He is in the prime of life at age 40, and despite all critical evidence to the contrary, The Last Airbender has managed a healthy global box-office take of $225 million and counting. His Night Chronicles debut next month with the nifty-looking Devil, and his return to acting alongside Penthouse Pet Ryan Keely and MTV Movies correspondent Josh Horowitz is one of his finest performances to date. No, seriously. And there’s a special cameo! Watch it after the jump.

For a guy widely perceived to be humorless and/or utterly doomed, Manoj brings his self-deprecating A-game to this tale of three passengers stranded on an escalator. Keely, meanwhile, brings her lacy underthings, and Horowitz, as per usual, brings his knives. Let’s not give away the other inspired casting here; let it suffice to say that you will not see a better send-up of Devil’s stuck-in-an-elevator-with-Satan plot all day.

Shyamalan embraces inner kid

Rohan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:45:18 +0000

M.Night Shyamalan is known for spine-chilling thrillers with ghoulish final-frame twists like in The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Village. But director M Night Shyamalan says he loved getting the chance to be a big kid again when making his latest film ‘extravaganza’ The Last Airbender.

Based on a hit children’s TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the film in which the world is at war and its fate lies in the hand of one small boy. ‘I think each artist thinks of themselves at a certain period of their life and a little bit of me perceives me as a ten-year-old a lot,’ Shyamalan tells AAP from his home in the US.

‘You see it, even in my darker pieces – there’s always a perspective from that age group. Whether it’s Unbreakable when he sees his father in a certain way, obviously in The Sixth Sense and also in Signs which tells the kid’s point of view of what’s going on.

‘It’s always feathered in there. ‘The Last Airbender tells the story of a primitive world which is being threatened with extinction by the Fire Nation, who aims to annihilate the more peace-loving nations of Air, Water and Earth.

But then a ‘waterbender’, who is still learning to control her powers, discovers the long-lost Aang – not only the world’s last airbender, but an avatar sent to save the earth.

It was Shyamalan’s own children who introduced him to the captivating TV series which inspired the big-budget, CGI-assisted, 3D film. ‘Usually people are getting stabbed in all of my movies,’ Shyamalan laughs.

‘It was fun to make a movie that the whole family was a part of from beginning to end. ‘(My kids) were hanging out (on set) and they’re friends with the cast and when I come home, the cast is at my house – it was like that kind of atmosphere.

‘It was a very emotional, fun time – kind of being a kid and doing something for the family and families and thinking with a different part of my brain. It was a soul-enriching kind of thing.’ Wrapping the movie and saying goodbye to the young cast was a tough day, Shyamalan says.

‘It’s always emotional at the end of a movie, but that one in particular was hard,’ he says. Shyamalan is hoping to get the green light on a sequel to The Last Airbender, but he doesn’t think his darker film-making days are over. ‘As the kids grow older and become teenagers, I’ll start to make movies for them at that age, and soon they’ll be adults and we’ll be making only thrillers again,’ he laughs.

‘But it’s nice to make movies for your kids while you have kids.’ The director always had it in his mind to create an alternate world on film, but he acknowledges that in transforming the hit TV series for the big screens he is under a lot of pressure from hard-core fans to get it right.

‘They know the width of the arrow on the head and all that stuff,’ he says. But it was a story that should always have been told on a grand scale, he argues.

‘The ideas were so cinematic … it felt like it was almost too big for what it was before,’ he says. Shyamalan says he had always considered CGI effects to be his ‘arch nemesis’, but he embraced them for this film and soon learned to love them.

‘I’m glad I don’t see it as an enemy anymore,’ he says.

‘I’m a technophobe a little bit. I think it’s just my old curmudgeon ways of not wanting to change, more than anything else.

‘But spending all this time working with CGI I’ve really come to love it as an art form … I think I’ve learned a new tool for the belt.’ Shyamalan, who describes himself as a ‘minimalist film maker’ doesn’t envisage a CGI-dominated movie like Transformers on his horizons.

‘I think when I go back to doing other movies I’ll be able to use it as a tool, but it will still have a minimal part of the story-telling process,’ he says.

Devil activated its official site

Rohan — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:58:38 +0000

Devil has officially activated its official site and you can check it out here http://www.devilmovie.net. Devil is a supernatural thriller comes originally from the mind of M.Night Shyamalan and directed by Drew Dowdle and John Erick Dowdle. The film is written for screen by Brian Nelson.

Devil is about a group of people trapped in a elevator realize that the devil is among them. The film is the first film in this series of THE NIGHT CHRONICLES. Devil opens on September, 17, 2010.

Win passes to advance screening of DEVIL

Rohan — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 07:21:21 +0000

OPENING IN THEATERS SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

Welcome to Universal Pictures’ supernatural thriller with M. Night Shyamalan’s (The Sixth Sense, Signs) signature touch, Devil. Devil is directed by John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, The Poughkeepsie Tapes) from a screenplay by Brian Nelson (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) and a story by Shyamalan, Devil stars Chris Messina (Julie & Julia), Logan Marshall-Green (Brooklyn’s Finest), Geoffrey Arend (500 Days of Summer), Bojana Novakovic (Drag Me to Hell), Jenny O’Hara (Mystic River), Bokeem Woodbine (The Last Sentinel) and Jacob Vargas (Death Race).

In the film, a group of people is trapped in the elevator, and one of them is the devil.

Devil is produced by Shyamalan and Sam Mercer (The Sixth Sense) and executive produced by Drew Dowdle (Quarantine) and Trish Hofmann (The Ruins).

You have to fill a form a chance to win tickets to this advance screening taking place THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 at 11:59 PM. Winners will be selected via random drawing and notified no later than MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13. Must be 17 years or older to enter. Only one entry per household. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

Fill the form here and find out who is the Devil early.

M. Night Fans

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