he’s known first twist endings and
masterful screen direction welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re taking a
look at the career of writer and
director M night Shyamalan born August 6
1970 in Pondicherry India he was quickly
relocated by family to Penn Valley
Pennsylvania there he went on to attend
a Catholic school before studying film
at New York University’s Tisch School of
Arts his passion for film developed as a
result of being given a super 8 camera
in his youth
by age 17 he had already made over 45
short films in his spare time before
pursuing his dream of becoming a
professional filmmaker to accomplish
this he borrowed money from friends and
family to produce the 1992
semi-autobiographical drama praying with
anger in which he starred in the title
role of a young man returning to India
to explore his heritage several years
later he wrote and directed his first
major feature film wide awake starring
Rosie O’Donnell the comedy-drama focused
on a ten-year-old Catholic school boy
who search for God following the death
of his grandfather no one is going to
help his next feature The Sixth Sense
made better use of a supernatural
subplot and shocked audiences with its
iconic twist ending miraculously the
film not only became a cinematic
phenomenon but made six hundred million
dollars on a very modest forty million
dollar budget and was nominated for six
Academy Awards plus the creepy tale of a
boy who sees dead people became a part
of popular culture and made Shyamalan a
well-known Hollywood director overnight
next he created the superhero drama
unbreakable the film told the tale of a
sole survivor of a train crash who
discovered that he had the superpower of
invincibility while a great film it
failed to recapture the success of its
predecessor and friends listen to each
other they don’t and they don’t shoot
each other do they Audrey
no shooting friends Joseph unfazed
Shyamalan then tackled aliens subject
matter with his sci-fi drama set in
rural Pennsylvania this time the feature
starred Mel Gibson as a priest who had
lost his faith yet regains it during an
alien invasion notable for its sense of
atmosphere and music signs cleaned up at
the box office two years later he
released his monster movie The Village
starring Joaquin Phoenix despite turning
a profit it was largely considered a
commercial and critical failure by this
point in his career his use of the twist
ending had given him a reputation as a
one-trick filmmaker fearing being
typecast he released two
sixes lady in the water starring Paul
Giamatti ditching his signature twist it
conveyed a fairytale plot about a water
nymph searching for an author who would
change the world
Shyamalan self casting caused critics to
dismiss him as a crackpot and resulted
in the film receiving four Golden
Raspberry Awards for worst picture
director screenplay and supporting actor
the following year he received a lot of
attention for creating his first r-rated
film The Happening generating big bucks
it continued the trend of disappointing
critics and longtime fans that didn’t
dig its killer plant plot just going to
talk in a very positive manner giving
off good vibes we’re just here to use
the bathroom switching gears the
director helmed the highly anticipated
live-action adaptation of the
Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar The
Last Airbender taking himself out of the
increasingly negative genre series that
he had popularized the director showed
that he can create a spectacle that
relies more on mythology and action than
twist endings and chills
masterful screen direction welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re taking a
look at the career of writer and
director M night Shyamalan born August 6
1970 in Pondicherry India he was quickly
relocated by family to Penn Valley
Pennsylvania there he went on to attend
a Catholic school before studying film
at New York University’s Tisch School of
Arts his passion for film developed as a
result of being given a super 8 camera
in his youth
by age 17 he had already made over 45
short films in his spare time before
pursuing his dream of becoming a
professional filmmaker to accomplish
this he borrowed money from friends and
family to produce the 1992
semi-autobiographical drama praying with
anger in which he starred in the title
role of a young man returning to India
to explore his heritage several years
later he wrote and directed his first
major feature film wide awake starring
Rosie O’Donnell the comedy-drama focused
on a ten-year-old Catholic school boy
who search for God following the death
of his grandfather no one is going to
help his next feature The Sixth Sense
made better use of a supernatural
subplot and shocked audiences with its
iconic twist ending miraculously the
film not only became a cinematic
phenomenon but made six hundred million
dollars on a very modest forty million
dollar budget and was nominated for six
Academy Awards plus the creepy tale of a
boy who sees dead people became a part
of popular culture and made Shyamalan a
well-known Hollywood director overnight
next he created the superhero drama
unbreakable the film told the tale of a
sole survivor of a train crash who
discovered that he had the superpower of
invincibility while a great film it
failed to recapture the success of its
predecessor and friends listen to each
other they don’t and they don’t shoot
each other do they Audrey
no shooting friends Joseph unfazed
Shyamalan then tackled aliens subject
matter with his sci-fi drama set in
rural Pennsylvania this time the feature
starred Mel Gibson as a priest who had
lost his faith yet regains it during an
alien invasion notable for its sense of
atmosphere and music signs cleaned up at
the box office two years later he
released his monster movie The Village
starring Joaquin Phoenix despite turning
a profit it was largely considered a
commercial and critical failure by this
point in his career his use of the twist
ending had given him a reputation as a
one-trick filmmaker fearing being
typecast he released two
sixes lady in the water starring Paul
Giamatti ditching his signature twist it
conveyed a fairytale plot about a water
nymph searching for an author who would
change the world
Shyamalan self casting caused critics to
dismiss him as a crackpot and resulted
in the film receiving four Golden
Raspberry Awards for worst picture
director screenplay and supporting actor
the following year he received a lot of
attention for creating his first r-rated
film The Happening generating big bucks
it continued the trend of disappointing
critics and longtime fans that didn’t
dig its killer plant plot just going to
talk in a very positive manner giving
off good vibes we’re just here to use
the bathroom switching gears the
director helmed the highly anticipated
live-action adaptation of the
Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar The
Last Airbender taking himself out of the
increasingly negative genre series that
he had popularized the director showed
that he can create a spectacle that
relies more on mythology and action than
twist endings and chills
Please follow and like us: