M. Night Fans

With the release of Rogue Pictures’ Devil from the Brothers Dowdle (Quarantine) and based on an idea and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, less than a month away on September 17, Rogue has stepped up the marketing campaign for the movie. What better way to get attention for the movie than to take over all the ads on one side of a building in Times Square? That’s exactly what they’ve done with these rather distinctive title posters that oddly faces the building formerly inhabited by Lehman Brothers. Who knows what the tourists must think as they walk by the giant word “DEVIL” not once but twice as they walk down 7th Avenue between 49th and 50th Street, but ShockTillYouDrop.com took some pictures of the sight for those of you who can’t make it into New York City to check them out for yourself.

Jump in here to view the pictures

M. Night Shyamalan says he has learned to turn a blind eye to his detractors, particularly the ones across the pond.

“I don’t know what’s going on with me and the critics in the United States. They’ve never got me and it’s getting worse!” said the filmmaker.

Despite high praise for 1999′s The Sixth Sense, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, follow-ups including The Village and Lady In The Water went down like lead balloons.

The writer and director thinks cultural differences may play a part:

“I’ve always had a European sensibility to my movies, so the pacing is always a little bit off for (Americans). It feels a little stilted, they need more electricity. 

“I’m very used to getting on a plane from the US having been savaged by them and going to – in this case – Japan next, and then they’re like ‘genius!’, he added.

Poor reviews or not, Shyamalan has already penned the sequel to The Last Airbender and a strong peformance at the US box office means it is likely to be made.

Who is Shobba De? – In the 1980s, Shobba contributed to the Sunday magazine section of the Times of India, she used to explore the socialite life in Mumbai lifestyles of the celebrities. At present, she is a freelance writer and columnist for several newspapers, magazines and just recently she tweeted to Dev Patel and advising the “Slumdog” star on how and why some big Bollywood stars decided to stay in Bollywood and rejecting offers from Hollywood because Dev Patel calls Hollywood racist.

I don’t know much about Dev Patel, but based on his remarks about Hollywood being racist and him getting offers to play steriotypical roles  is the voice of an amateur actor. He doesn’t know that his acting abilities isn’t much to talk about yet and in my opinion the actor should be careful before murdering his career. Hindustan Times published the article recently which puts the spotlight on Dev Patel’s remarks and what they think of Hollywood.

The 20-year-old actor from London, frustrated by the lack of decent roles on offer, called Hollywood “institutionally racist”, according to The Telegraph.

“Because Slumdog was such a big hit, there was a lot of pressure in terms of what I did next,” said the actor, whose latest film The Last Airbender was also caught in a racist row. “And all I was getting offered were stereotypical parts.” 

 “Asian actors tend not to be sent challenging Hollywood scripts. I’m likely to be offered roles of a terrorist, cab driver and smart geek… I want to show that I have versatility,” he added. Patel said he was still hoping to overcome prejudice. “I’m buzzing with adrenaline and raring to go, but I have to be realistic. Being an Asian actor, it’s never going to be easy. Hopefully the industry is changing and the casting directors will be less focused on colour, so that people like myself can get through the door.”

Meanwhile, author Shobha De tweeted in response to Patel’s comment, saying: “Bachchoo Dev Patel calls Hollywood racist. Why do you think SRK, Big B, Salman, Aamir have stayed away? Badshahs here, cabbies there. Got it, Dev?”

Bob Dowling, President of The Bob Dowling Group, and Unicomm, LLC, a leading event management company, announced today that Writer Director M. Night Shyamalan (The Last Airbender; Sixth Sense) and Chris Cookson, President of Sony Pictures Technologies, will be joining Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG, as Keynote Speakers at the 3rd annual 3D Entertainment Summit presented in association with Variety. The two-day conference is scheduled for September 15-16, 2010 at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, CA.

“Using new creative techniques to tell stories with fierce and brilliant intelligence has been the hallmark of M. Night Shyamalan’s remarkable career,” said Dowling, “and we look forward to his insights into the immersive narrative possibilities of 3D as one of our Keynote Speakers.” M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed the 1999 breakout hit Sixth Sense, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay; other notable films include Unbreakable (2001), Signs (2002), The Happening (2008) and the current box office hit, The Last Airbender.

“As President of Sony Pictures Technologies, Chris Cookson’s mandate is to oversee the use of hardware and software in the service of content creation and creators across Sony’s vast entertainment space,” Dowling said. “Few executives can speak more authoritatively than Chris about the critical importance of company-wide integration of technology and creativity to maximize audience response to 3D in all its platforms.”

Visit http://www.3d-summit.com/

OPENING in UK cinemas this Friday, August 13, is M. Night Shyamalan’s new fantasy film The Last Airbender.

The filmmaker has revealed he already has two further instalments in mind in what’s envisaged as a potential franchise.

The movie is based on the children’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, with the Avatar part dropped for the big screen because of James Cameron’s sci-fi epic of the same name.

Night was interviewed by Wales Online and the topics featured a number of things.  It’s a very good interview and gives us some more perspective on Night as a person.  Soapbox:  Regardless of how folks feel about him, and how he comes across to some, he is still a human being.  He deserves to be treated with dignity and respect as all deserve to be treated.  That should go without saying, but a lot of people just don’t care, and that’s very sad.  End soapbox.

“There were two types of film that were my guilty pleasure when I was kid and they were horror movies and martial arts movies,” says the talkative Indian-born director.

“I’ve been able to do my version of scarier movies, so I started to think about martial arts, the philosophy involved with every movement and how you discipline yourself. It’s a great medium for entertaining but also talking about deeper things.”

Shyamalan was responsible for adapting more than 30 hours of stories into a feature-length film, and plotted the film on boards for a year prior to principal photography.

Read the rest of this entry »

Producer Frank Marshall has worked on a few of Night’s films over the years, and has many great movies on his resume.  He’s a great producer with a lot of insight into films that no many can see. Thirty years, 50-plus movies, and almost $5billion at the box office later, the man known as one of Hollywood’s “super producers” is here with the tale. Before we get to spaghetti, Indiana Jones, Bourne, or Marshall’s new project, a screen version of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, there’s The Last Airbender, out next week.

With an estimated production budget of $150 million, a lot is riding on M Night Shyamalan’s fantasy adventure, adapted from the TV series, about a young hero striving to unite a magical world. Starring Dev Patel in his first major role since Slumdog Millionaire, it is also Shyamalan’s latest attempt to regain the career high of The Sixth Sense after the lows of Lady in the Water and The Happening.

Marshall worked with Shyamalan on The Sixth Sense and Signs. “They like to put you up on pedestals so they can knock you down quickly,” he says of the critical reaction to Shyamalan’s recent movies. “I’ve seen that a lot, particularly when you don’t do the kind of projects they think you should do. This is not in his usual genre of horror and twists and scary movies. This is a family film that has a lot of heart and warmth.”

-via Herald Scotland

Say whatever you want to say or rant about M.Night Shyamalan, but it seems like Jackson Rathbone is standing shoulder to shoulder with M.Night Shyamalan from the beginning and defending the director.  Jackson recently had the chance to sit with Digitalspy.com and do some talking.

 Jackson Rathbone has said that there is more to M. Night Shyamalan’s work than plot turns and gimmicks. Rathbone also told Digital Spy that his Last Airbender director, whose early films The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable featured twist endings, was “amazing” to work with.
“People say he does twists in all his movies but where really was the twist in Signs?” he said. “It’s kind of hard to say that there’s a gimmick to his work, it’s not that, he tells a story so compelling that you’re on the edge of your seat all the way through the film.”

On Shyamalan’s approach to The Last Airbender, which is based on the popular Nickelodeon children’s TV show, Rathbone said: “What he was able to put into the live-action adaptation was a condensed version of the animated series. It was fun, it was amazing to get to work with a director of Night’s calibre, someone we’ve respected and admired for years now. We’re waiting for his next film to get out and see what he was going to do next.”

Do you agree or disagree with Jackson Rathbone?

Though it performed respectably at the box office, grossing nearly $130 million since its July 1 release date, M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy flick “The Last Airbender” received an icy reception from critics — a reaction that star Jackson Rathbone says is undeserved.

“The critics in the U.S. … I just don’t think they really like M. Night Shyamalan anymore,” Rathbone told MTV News while on the blue carpet for the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. “I don’t know why. It’s sad because he’s such an amazing director and an amazing person.”

The film, written and directed by Shyamalan, is a live-action remake of the popular Nickelodeon animated TV series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and the first installment in a proposed trilogy. It received mixed reviews from critics, many who said the film emphasized style over substance. Nonetheless, Rathbone stands by the film’s box-office performance, adding that Shyamalan’s popularity is stronger than ever in foreign markets.

“It was interesting, the reception with ‘The Last Airbender,’ because they did extremely well with the U.S. domestic box office and even better than expected overseas,” he said. “Overseas, internationally, they still love him and think his work is genius.”

In the end, Rathbone believes it’s just a matter of taste. “It’s just one of those things,” he said. “Art is subjective.”

Shyamalan’s mettle will next be tested with September’s stuck-in-an-elevator horror-thriller “Devil,” a story he conceptualized, while Rathbone will begin work on the two-part “Breaking Dawn” film this fall.

Source: www.mtv.com

Dev Patel‘s fight scenes in new movie The Last Airbender were so realistic he was left covered in bruises after each day of filming.

The Slumdog Millionaire star plays a martial arts expert in the action film, and underwent hours of gruelling rehearsals to make the fighting as lifelike as possible.

The shoot left Patel nursing several injuries, but he is adamant the stuntmen suffered even more – because he kept accidentally punching them in the face.

He tells Britain’s Mail on Sunday, “We did this whole sequence of 30 fight moves in one take. I had this flurry of fists coming at me. It was like being in The Matrix, an incredible adrenaline rush. There were broken bones and bleeding noses every day.

“I caused a few minor injuries when I’d miss my cue and one of the stunt guys would run into my fist or something. There’d be days when I was covered in bruises… Luckily, I avoided any kicks to the groin. I try to avoid those if possible!” »