Shyamalan was hanging out at the Fox portion of TCA Winter Press Tour thanks to Collider for the word — Night attended the event for his upcoming series Wayward Pines, which he didn’t just direct the pilot for, but also executive produced it. The 10-episode event thriller is about Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon), who drives to the town of Wayward Pines, Idaho, to search for two missing federal agents, and mysteries within the town pile up, making Burke wonder whether he’ll ever make it home again.
Collider’s Christina Radish got the chance to sit with Shyamalan and chat about the show, his upcoming thriller, The Visit and the possibility of making Unbreakable 2. Below are some of the excerpts from their interview:
You’ve been in the studio system since you started your career, but you just self-financed your next movie, totally outside of the studio system. How was that even possible?
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN: It was a huge risk. You’re saying, “I’m gonna do this thing,” and you have to be aware, as a rational human being, that you may not be allowed back in. That was a real situation. Because they didn’t make it, it doesn’t necessarily go back into the system. That was a risk that I was willing to take. I tried to stay on top of why The Visit was an amazing movie to make, and why someone would want it in the system. Its best shot at being the best version of itself was to make it small. If I was a basketball player, it would be like me going and playing street ball. I just wanted to go back to feeling a love for the sport. I love making movies and I wanted to get back there. I had the greatest year making it. I had the greatest time writing it. You can feel that, when you see the movie. I’m super lucky that my number one choice, Universal, was interested. When I wrote it, I said, “Universal is the right place to release this movie.” They said, “Show it to me when it’s done.” I showed them when it was done, and they bought it.
You’ve said that you’ve always wanted to do a sequel for Unbreakable. Is that something you’re still holding out hope for?
SHYAMALAN: Yeah, I do sometimes. I love those characters and I love that world. Of course, the whole world makes comic book movies now. At the time, it was completely novel. I remember when I made it, Disney was literally like, “Comic books?! There’s no market for comic books!” That’s all they make now! It was a hilarious conversation. I remember it. I was like, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe nobody will come see comic book movies.” They were like, “Those are people in little conventions who like comic books.” And I was like, “But, I like comic books!”
To read the interview in its entirety head to the Collider and don’t forget to sound off in the comments located below.
