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VM: You didn't even audition Bryce Howard for the part of Ivy Walker in The Village - what made you know she was right for this demanding role?
M N Shyamalan: I just have a gut instinct about these things. My wife is always complaining that I should be more thorough and I'm lazy, but I just know if something is right - it fell into place and I know now it was a good decision.
VM: You're known as the "master of suspense" - what's the secret to keeping your audience on the edge of their seats?
M N Shyamalan: Fear is the unknown. We fear what we do not know, and it is genetically in us to keep us safe, to make us live longer! So it's making things familiar to you, unfamiliar. Playing your bedroom as a normal bedroom, until you realise the phone is off the hook, or you see broken glass, all of a sudden the room is unknown to you. I remember when I was a kid coming home from the mall once and we drove into the drive and the front door was open, suddenly my own home became terrifying and I did not want to go in. Making the familiar alien to you is key in suspense. I prefer the subtle things rather than blood on the walls or the usual scary stuff.
VM: You are under a lot of pressure to achieve financial success with your releases, do you carefully follow results at the box office?
M N Shyamalan: For me to measure the success of a movie with takings at the box office is crazy. When I released Unbreakable everyone was being critical about how much money it made - now I have people telling me it was their favourite film ever. Film making is a crazy process so I guess I just have to live with the Hollywood rules.