M. Night Shyamalan strikes back ... again ... now with his own cinematic universe
The ultimate M. Night Shyamalan twist was one no one saw coming.
After scoring a critical and commercial breakthrough with 1999âs Oscar-nominated âThe Sixth Sense,â Shyamalan had more than his share of ups and downs with critics and at the box office. But the roller-coaster ride is reaching a new peak with a cinematic universe two decades in the making.
His latest film, âGlass,â in theaters Jan. 18, unites the lead characters of 2000âs âUnbreakableâ and 2016âs âSplitâ for a compelling, suspenseful and very sly exercise in creating a comic book-esque universe from scratch. And Shyamalan â breaking Hollywoodâs roles by not working with preexisting properties and making films on his own terms â just might succeed where others have failed.
âGlassâ is the conclusion to a trilogy that Shyamalan, cinemaâs unorthodox auteur, has been slowly orchestrating since âUnbreakableâ â with a little help from the universe at many steps along the way.
âSo many things had to go right that had nothing to do with me that had to fall into place,â Shyamalan said from Philadelphia two weeks before the nationwide release of âGlass.â âIâve been fighting for so long to get things made and do them in the right way. When I look back on this trilogy and this movie thereâs a sense of, âWow â it was kind of meant to be.ââ
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A chance meeting with James McAvoy, for example, led to the actor starring in âSplitâ as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with dissociative identity disorder living with 23 âaltersâ collectively known as the Horde. A âfriendly agreementâ with Disney exec Sean Bailey granted âSplitâ studio Universal permission to borrow Bruce Willisâ âUnbreakableâ character for the surprise post-credits cameo that signaled that the two films occupied the same narrative universe.
And then everyone had to be game to come back and tie the trilogy together in âGlass,â in which Willis fully reprises his role as everyman superhero David Dunn, now older, grizzlier and moonlighting as a vigilante hero known as the Overseer.
News about a kidnapping sends the Overseer on a collision course with the Horde, but âGlassâ is purposefully named after Elijah Price, aka Mr. Glass, the comic book collector with a rare genetic disease who spent âUnbreakableâ trying to prove he was the supervillain to Dunnâs superhero.
For the last 16 years, âGlassâ reveals, Price has been wheelchair-bound and under heavy sedation at the Raven Hill Memorial Psychiatric Research Hospital, where Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) seeks to treat all three men for the affliction she suspects they share: A clinical disorder in which delusional patients believe they have superpowers.
The linchpin to the series, Samuel L. Jacksonâs portrayal of Mr. Glass has been years in the making. And so has his understanding of what Price has endured since the events of âUnbreakable.â
âI thought it important to show that his mind was even sharper, and his focus was more intense,â said the actor via email ahead of the filmâs London premiere. âHeâs already been imprisoned by his body for his entire life, and his incarceration has focused him that much more. When he learns about Kevin Crumb and his relationship with [Dunn], he sees the opportunity to achieve his greatest goal, and he goes after setting it in motion with everything heâs got.â
âIt had to be these studios,â Shyamalan said of Universal and Disney, who co-produced with the filmmakerâs Blinding Edge Pictures and split global distribution rights. âAnd it had to be these actors. There were a lot of âifsâ on the table: Can we get this done? Will they be available? Will they want to do this in the way I want to do this?ââ
In the intervening years, Shyamalan had moved on to write and direct more of his signature original tales (2002âs âSigns,â 2004âs âThe Village,â 2006âs âLady in the Waterâ and 2008âs âThe Happeningâ) but found diminishing returns swinging for blockbuster heights (2010âs âThe Last Airbender,â adapted from the Nickelodeon series and 2013âs âAfter Earth,â based on an original idea by Will Smith were both savaged by critics and delivered underwhelming box office).
2015âs $5 million-budgeted âThe Visit,â made independently with Blumhouse for a fraction of what his biggest films had cost, returned Shyamalan to his roots. And the greater creative control that lower budgets afford. It grossed $98 million worldwide, setting him on a path to make films in a new way, his way.
âWhen I look back on this trilogy and this movie thereâs a sense of, âWow â it was kind of meant to be.ââ
— M. Night Shyamalan
Fans â and his own stars, adds Night â had been asking about an âUnbreakableâ sequel since the film opened.
âIt was actually them always saying to me, âLetâs make the sequel, letâs make the sequel,ââ Shyamalan laughed. âAnd I was like, âYeah, yeah, yeah â Iâm workinâ on it!â I think they probably just kind of gave up on the idea that I was ever going to do it. Until I wrote âSplit.ââ
He had the idea for the âSplitâ cameo and called Willis, who âwas 100% for it and said yes immediately,â said Shyamalan. The actor flew to the set and filmed his scene in secret in a matter of hours. Shyamalan, meanwhile, kept the cameo footage out of early screenings of the film âjust to be super safe â and to [let viewers] think of the movie as its own thing. It was a very healthy way to approach it.â
While making âSplit,â heâd let McAvoy and costar Anya Taylor-Joy in on his plans, giving them an inkling of the cinematic worlds theyâd be bridging. But Jackson had no clue yet that Willisâ Dunn was back in action or what that might mean for their long-ago plans. Shyamalan broke the news with a cryptic message.
âNight surprised me with the idea of âGlass,ââ recalled Jackson. âHe told me to see âSplit,â and to give him a call after I watched it. So I watched âSplitâ and enjoyed and had no idea until the scene with Bruce at the end. When he mentioned Mr. Glass, I knew that we were finally going to do a sequel, and that these films were in the same universe.â
âHe came out and said, âWhat does this mean?ââ Shyamalan said with a laugh. âIt means weâre making the sequel!â
Meanwhile, across the Shyamalan-verse âŠ
Sarah Paulson had just flown to New York with her freshly acquired 2017 Golden Globe award for âAmerican Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpsonâ in her carry-on luggage when a friend suggested they go check out the new M. Night Shyamalan film.
âIâm a huge fan of his movies, and I always have been,â said Paulson, en route to take another flight, this time to meet up with her âGlassâ costars for the European press tour. âI saw âSignsâ at the Grove in Los Angeles with Amanda Peet, who wouldnât let me leave her house afterwards because she was so afraid there was going to be some weird alien in the bathroom!â
âNothing in his movies is happenstance,â she added. âEverything is really purposeful, and thatâs extraordinary.â
Paulson caught a showing of âSplitâ on 34th Street and erupted along with the rest of the audience when she realized what Willisâ cameo meant. But she had no idea Shyamalan had her in mind to help complete the trilogy when he asked for a meeting months later.
Shyamalan was in the process of writing the role that would eventually become Dr. Ellie Staple, a character that required a âpowerfulâ actor to hold their own against Willis, Jackson and McAvoy. He visited Paulson on the set of âAmerican Horror Story: Cultâ to discuss the mystery project over lunch.
âI wanted someone complex and buoyant, and I always tend toward theater actors because I think their craft is strong. The way I shoot my movies without much coverage requires commitment; not fearing it but really embracing the concept that whatever choice you made that started your take, thatâs the right choice,â said Shyamalan.
Ever secretive, he didnât tell Paulson much in their meetings about the character. But three weeks later he called to offer her the part âand I burst into tears,â said Paulson. âAnd I had not read the script! I had no idea what it was going to be, but it was the idea of working with him in whatever capacity that was so thrilling to me. Thatâs when he told me it was the sequel to these two movies. And I was like, wait â what?!â
Watching Paulsonâs Dr. Staple introduce a new and electric dynamic to the already complicated connections between David, Elijah and Kevin as the four stars explored scenes set in an actual former psychiatric hospital in Philly âwas just delicious,â said Shyamalan.
A trailer for director M. Night Shyamalanâs new film âGlass,â starring Sam Jackson, Bruce Willis and James McAvoy.
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Adding another special undercurrent to âGlassâ are the family members whose relationships to the central trio are key to understanding them as people, not just superpowered heroes or villains. To complete the cast and bring âGlassâ full circle, Shyamalan tapped Spencer Treat Clark, who was 6 years old when he appeared in âUnbreakable,â to reprise his role as Dunnâs now-25-year-old son Joseph, and Charlayne Woodard, who returns as Elijahâs caring mother, Mrs. Price.
âIt really gave veracity to what we were trying to do, this kind of âBoyhoodâ approach,â said Shyamalan, who integrated unused footage from âUnbreakableâ into the film. âYou see a boy turn into a man on screen, and Bruce ages 18 years. It gave it a sense of inevitability, and hopefully power.â
He also compares âGlassâ to âThe Sopranos.â âTo see what [Tony Sopranoâs] home life is like, going to therapy, his teenagers not listening to him, all of that stuff, is amazing. Yeah, during the day he kills people. But heâs just a dude struggling,â he said. âFor me, telling a comic book story about comic book characters and their struggles and seeing what their home life is like, essentially, âWhat are their hearts like when theyâre at home?â Theyâre just like us. It just so happens that theyâre superheroes.â
In spite of his longstanding resistance to traditional Hollywood methods (âGlassâ is the first sequel in his resume), might more films in the âUnbreakableâ universe be in the cards if âGlassâ connects with audiences?
âI highly doubt you will ever see another sequel from me. But I donât want to be an idiot and say never, because tomorrow youâll read that Iâm doing âStar Wars 10â and go, âHe lied!ââ he said, laughing.
Sequels arenât really his thing, said Shyamalan, who describes feeling more akin to a novelist, crafting original stories he dreams up out of his home base in Philly from his notebook of ideas.
âThe challenge of original movies is that thereâs no frame,â he said. âIf you know itâs an appetizer, youâre taking it as an appetizer. If you know itâs an entrĂ©e, youâre taking it as an entrĂ©e â and you judge it that way. If I donât tell you what youâre eating, then I say, âWhat do you think?â Itâs harder.â
âThe nature of doing something very unusual â Iâm doing a sequel to two separate movies, from two separate generations, from two separate studios! â is the exciting, challenging part for me that makes me go, âOK. This dish has never been made before.ââ
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