mnightshyamalan movies interviews Virgin Media
Director M Night Shyamalan is best known for his hugely successful supernatural thrillers The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs. We met up to hear more about his latest venture, The Village...
VM: Night, you are a prodigious talent, your long list of hit films include The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and now The Village. As a writer, producer and director, do you ever get tempted to take a break from this hugely demanding role and focus on just one aspect of film making?
M N Shyamalan: Yes, I really do, I get offered so many great scripts that I am very tempted to save myself eight months of torture writing and just dive straight in and direct. Before I started working on The Village I was offered a film version of Wuthering Heights, there were already actors attached as well, it was very tempting, then I went and wrote The Village! There is a lot of pressure when it is your own product because everything is judged on money, it is a dance between art and commerce and it is difficult. Film is not like any other art form, it is like making a product that is immediately consumed and financially judged.
VM: You are placed on a pedestal with the world's finest directors - what qualities do you think a great director possesses?
M N Shyamalan: For me the ability to judge a director is from their tone. My favourite movie from last year was Lost In Translation - Sofia Coppola maintained exactly the same tone from beginning to end and knew exactly what she wanted, that is perfect direction. The accent I speak in as a director is suspense so if I am having two people in conversation I immediately think how do I create this with a ticking clock, defying expectation, delivering a line in an unexpected way, surprising music coming in, an unusual camera move, anything to create the right tension. Constantly defying expectation, finding the heartbeat, that is the key to good direction.
