After Shattering Expectations, Shyamalan Wants to Make Unbreakable 2

Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 8, 2008

After letting down fans with Lady in the Water and The Happening, director M. Night Shyamalan is considering Unbreakable 2, which begs the question, if it isn’t broke then why fix it?

Once upon a time in a film galaxy far, far away Shyamalan was hailed as a genius. Unbreakable, his follow-up to the smashing The Sixth Sense, has developed a cult following. That support, according to Sci Fi Wire, has Shyamalan considering a return to the superhero story about a man (Bruce Willis) who finds out he is invulnerable to harm and must decide what to do with the gift.

“I am a strange creature,” Shyamalan told reporters on a conference call. “When Unbreakable came out I was like, ‘God, man, I’m so excited.’ I thought [it] was like comic books. No one had really done comic books like this; reality-based comic books. I really think this is a metaphor for things that people can go crazy over.” Hasn’t M. Night seen the A-ha video for “Take on Me?” Geez.

Shyamalan explained the pain he felt when the film was met with mixed criticism. “When the reaction was mixed, kind of a disappointment, I was pettily hurt, and I was like, ‘God, I took so many incredible risks’ and things like that,” Shyamalan said.

The hurt he felt forced him to put off any ideas for a sequel. To date he hasn’t done a sequel to any of his films. “I felt really hurt, and I couldn’t bring myself to write. It’s literally like I have a relationship with the audience … And then over the years, as it just grew and grew and grew, and people were like, ‘You know, I really like that. That’s actually my favorite movie, and I watch that all the time,’ and on and on. I’ll be on the street, and some kid will run across traffic with it in his backpack– he is just carrying it in his backpack– and he’ll be running [saying], ‘I can’t believe it’s you!’ ‘Will you sign my Unbreakable DVD?’ and quoting the thing and all that stuff.

The director now feels compelled to write the sequel that now haunts him. “How bizarre,” Shyamalan said. “I want to write it right now, but I want to write it for the right reasons. I want a story to pop in my head that is organic and expressive of who I am. You know, these are all kind of journals of where I am emotionally, so it’s kind of hard. I’m kind of trying to go back to the journal that existed in 1999 for me. But I know me: As soon as I give up on it is when the idea will come to me. It’s just I need to go into therapy; I guess that’s the end of the answer to this.”

First off, where the hell was Shyamalan when I used to carry my Unbreakable DVD around in my backpack as a kid? I don’t know a kid who can’t quote the entire film. Second, it’s nice to know that Shyamalan has maintained that sense of humility that served him so well with his issues over the production of Lady in the Water. All jokes aside, I am a fan of Unbreakable and the film seems like the best of his portfolio to make a sequel to. The comic influence automatically leaves doors open for a progressional tale of good and evil. I also would look forward to Samuel L. Jackson taking on the role of Mr. Glass again. Will the story be any good? There’s no telling, at this point you can flip a coin as to whether Shyamalan can get back on track.

Are you interested in an Unbreakable sequel? How do you rank M. Night Shyamalan’s previous films?

Read more articles by Adam Sweeney