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M Night Shyamalan’s Devil Relocates To Canada

Posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

M. Night Shyamalan

M Night Shyamalan is known for shooting his films close to home, in and around the Philadelphia area. Right now the director is even doing post production on his latest, The Last Airbender, in Philly. This morning I received an e-mail from a /Film reader named Bruce W who alerts me that Shyamalan is being forced to relocate his next film, Devil, to Toronto. My first reaction was… Wait, what the hell is Shyamalan’s Devil? (pun intended) Details after the jump.

Somehow I totally must have missed this project when it was first reported last October. Devil is a supernatural thriller, based on an original idea from Night, co-written by Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night) and directed by The Dowdle Brothers, John Eick and Drew Dowdle, who were executive producers and writers on Quarantine and The Poughkeepsie Tapes. What is it about? We don’t know… details are being kept tightly under wraps. The only thing we know is that it is aiming for a PG-13, and is the first feature film of three planned in The Night Chronicles production brand.

Apparently the plan was for Shyamalan to very closely oversee all three films’ development and production, but things are getting a bit more complicated now. Jane Saul, director of the Pennsylvania Film Office tells Philly.com: “Last week, at the 11th hour, Devil withdrew its application for credits because of uncertainty with respect to whether film tax credits would be in the state budget,. This is an obvious sign that without the film tax credit in place, we lose film business, and in turn, jobs.” Looks like Night will be racking some frequent flier miles flying back and forth from Toronto.

Comments

Delta_Assault

A supernatural thriller... there's a shocker.

Gelman

When will he have time to direct the prequel: "The First Airbender"?

Steve

CoughCough HACK CoughCough

Name

And the Devil turns out to be... M. Night's SCAARRY overconfidence as a filmmaker!

filmbuffrich

As soon as I saw the headline I knew that it was going to be a tax credit thing.

freemachine

I was wondering how Shyamalan manages to get his shitty movies made. Essentially, the state of Pennsylvania has been subsidizing the productions. You know, I contribute to my local economy and by doing so I help to create jobs. Where's my tax credit?

Shyamala is a pathetic one (actually two) hit wonder, I don't care if he starts filming in other countries. The farther the better. Hey, he can move to Germany where Ewe Boll can teach him how to really scam the government when it comes to producing crap-fests. BTW, Shylamalan's films are partly produced and distributed by Fox, so boo-fucking-hoo.

Emurion

I wish I lived there to subsidize his movies.

Sean Kelly

You know, you may not like Shyamalan's movies, however he has still managed to at least break even on his films. If that isn't reason enough for studios to continue greenlighting a director, I don't know what is.

However, to compare him to Uwe Boll? That's kicking it low dude.

freemachine

Sorry, but breaking even is hardly something to be proud of. Studios are in the business to turn a profit, even you should know that. As far as Uwe Boll? 'The Happening' made 'Dungeon Siege' look like an Oscar contender, so maybe it's more of an insult to Boll when making comparisons.

that1

Actually with the exception of Lady in the Water, EVERY Shayamalan film made some money. Some movies might have made very little, while some might have made a lot more, but the fact is, none with the exception of Lady in the Water lost money.

Even The Village (however god awful it was) made a profit. Actually freemachine, the reason film makers get credits is because they contribute to the economy in a larger manner than the residents, not because they're contributing period.

Why aren't you talking about films like Sixth Sense, Unbreakable or Signs?

Ya he maybe a 2 hit wonder (personally I loved Unbreakable so I consider him to be a 3 hit wonder), but considering he only made 6 movies so far that's still pretty damn impressive (and his 2 hits were some of the biggest hits for their respective leads)

Michael_C

I'm pretty sure he's exhausted his "good original ideas" well.

RalphRobertMoore

I actually like his movies. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were great. Signs was a bit of a mess, plot-wise and tone-wise, but in such a bizarre way that it is kind of interesting. The opening scenes of The Happening, I thought, were powerful, and there are some great scenes in the film. I'd much, much rather watch The Happening than Transformers. I don't get the hate.

purdy

I don't understand the hate either. The majority of comments on this sight are negative. Is this a site for people who like film or hate it?

that1

I totally agree, I loved Unbreakable and liked The Village sans the final plot wise. Couldn't dare to watch either Lady in the Water or The Happening.

He has more talent than 10 Bays put together.

Saladinho

I have to admit, I've loved or liked all of his films up to this point. The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are his best films (Unbreakable being his masterpiece), and the others have all been good to varying degrees. I enjoy his style. Very graceful and engaging. I thought both Lady in the Water and The Happening had two of the best final shots in recent history. Ah well, each to their own.

RalphRobertMoore

I agree. He's absolutely great at creating tension in a scene, and as a director he can also be quite subtle. We should be thankful he's working in film. Is everything he does perfect? Of course not. But he's one of those directors where I always know I'm going to get a very personal point of view, and how many directors can you say that about, in these days of big, loud, CGI blockbusters?

Saladinho

Exactly.

Dave

"He's absolutely great at creating tension in a scene and as a director he can also be quite subtle."

Uh, did you see The Happening?

chrisgst

As a movie, I enjoyed The Happening and as a fan of his i would say that it's one of the top films in terms of the obvious point he was getting across and the way he puts forth that message in his films.

vegabro

Bro, The Happening was brilliant in the way he built tension out of, literally, the air. The leads and the hackneyed heavy handed environmental message were the failings of that film.

But despite the whole, Shyamalan proves his mastery in one way or another every single film he makes.

CyT

I loved sixth sense, enjoyed unbreakable and thought Signs was just so interesting and different that I thought he could do no wrong. The village came out next which I still thought was pretty cool, and I love how he does a big twist in all of his films. Then the Lady in the Water, and the Happening, happened and he dropped very low on my list of enjoyed directors. They were two seriously bad and uninsteresting films :(

Liam

Oh goodie, M Night and the guys who ripped off [Rec]?
Yeah thanks, I'll pass....

maxk2010

even though i shouldnt give him another chance after The Happening, I will check this out

existenz

Just curious -- since when do taxpayers have to pay the salaries of movie stars and film crews? I'm sure the industry loves it -- they have states fighting states, countries fighting countries to see who is most generous -- but this sounds like a real bad deal for taxpayers. It's basically corporate welfare.

that1

Well think about it. They're creating jobs in the area and helping expand the money supply.

CyT

Its an initiative to increase the production of movies and thus employ more people more frequently. People working in the film production world often go weeks and months without work, this is designed to help them out. It should also indirectly help us out as more films will be made for us to bitch about :)

And enjoy of course!

Only Read if you want to know

########################SPOILER ALERT##########################
#################################################################
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Devil is basically a supernatural thriller set inside of an office building. There are some people stuck in an elevator, and one of them is not who they say they are (*cough* it's in the title *caugh*)

There is also a security guard and a policeman. The security guard is trying to convince the policeman to get them out of the elevator. He is also trying to convince the policeman that he is the chosen one to save the people.

No joke, this is for real.

chrisgst

If you're telling the truth then awesome. He tends to do these sociological type movies and they do at times intrigue me.

Only Read if you want to know

Total truth man, inside info from the script, it's a cool concept, the script is a little weak, but it could be made up in style.

fude

Mark Wahlberg talking to plastic trees and making up stories about superfluous bottles of cough medicine. What's not to like?

chrisgst

I have always been a fan of his movies. I realize that they tend to get a tad cheesy towards the end, but the plots are always interesting despite the execution. I'm not one to badmouth any of his films even if a few of them have left me wondering what I spent my time doing. But I will say he has a great creative mind for plots and understands what it takes to bring in the crowd.

dr_laggig

My first thought was that the name of the film was 'Devil Relocates To Canada', would have been so much more interesting.

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