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More Cast Revealed For Shyamalan’s Devil… And Also The Film’s Premise, Maybe?

Posted on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly

On Friday, /Film’s Russ Fischer said of Devil, the upcoming Dowdle Bros. film from a story by M. Night Shyamalan and script by Brian Nelson, that “The film starts shooting in Toronto a week from Monday, and that’s all we’ve got. It’s tightly under wraps, and has been for a while. Which, I suspect, really means that there’s some info out there that we haven’t dug up yet.”

Look’s like we’ve now managed to dig a bit of it up, with a little help from our friends. Be wary of potential spoilers as you read on.

After Russ’ post was published, I received a kindly nudge in the direction of the film’s logline. Googling it (of course) I found it published on just one site - the rather unexpected Hollywood.Com. Here it is, word for word:

A group of people are trapped in an elevator, and one of them is the devil.

As simple as that. So, I began digging further to see what else I could find. Again, the info was in an unexpected place… it was right here, at /Film. Right under my nose.

Back when Peter reported on the film changing shooting location to Canada, we received a comment from Only Read if you want to know. It read:

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.

The commenter later followed up with:

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.

So, that’s now three sources in corroboration. I’m calling this one… and if you’re reading this, Only Read, I’d love a look at that script myself. Thanks for your info.

In further Devil news, The Hollywood Reporter have rounded up a more comprehensive cast list. As well as Chris Messina they name Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend and Caroline Dhavernas. Place your bets now on who will be the eponymous evil. I’m betting on there being a real angel in there too.

Comments

frelling_cute

Why is this guy still allowed to write and make movies??

Lu Galasso

Interesting premise...could work. Definitely something a little different.

Sallywangss

Good place for all big and tall singles, please check: ____Tallconnect Co M____ ,More fun waiting for you... :-)

chrisgst

As I've stated before about his movies, they are either hit or miss and at most are hits from the beginning and then kinda die out at the end for me. But his style in shooting and editing are superb and I tend to go see the movies more for the way he shoots them then the actual content which is not that uncommon for most movie goers.

mchops

brendan if you want to look into it or mention it to somebody the email replies comment system is screwed up. it says im subscribed to comments without requesting it and before i post a comment. and when i click subscribe to comments im not getting any emails.

BrendonConnelly

I'll pass this message on to Peter, who might be able to help.

jasonb26

well, i was actually thinking this sounded cool as hell, until i read this:

"the script is a little weak, but it could be made up in style."

no. never. a weak script is a weak script.

BrendonConnelly

Sure, but a lot of weak scripts have become stylish films. Not necessarily good films, but stylish ones.

MattEss

I hate weak scripted stylish films.

BrendonConnelly

Me too. Hate them.

Some mediocre scripts have made good films, though - Silence of the Lambs, for example.

spikeshinizle

I think it sounds fucking awesome. Very Twilight Zone (and in some ways, brings to mind THE MAN FROM EARTH). Even though his scripts are a little lacking, I find Shyamalans concepts to be pretty cool. Here's hoping that this comes together.

Steve

All of his movies are like the Twilight Zone. Just poorly made and too long. Seriously. Go watch the original series and then re-think how 'original' his concepts are. Protip: They're not.

jonrob5000

But how long do you need to deliver a twist? Even Twilight Zone episodes pushed the limit at 50mins.
If we have to wait 2hrs to be told a twist that's in the title, what's the point?
The best at delivering a twist? Futurama's The Scary Door

spikeshinizle

Well, everyone is just guessing that the whole Devil thing is a twist. I don't think that's the case.

Captain_Howdy

Agreed. The man just needs to find his stride again and stop trying to do too much with each story. Break it down to a chore theme and keep it simple.

Name

Turns out it was man.

goobity

I won't be excited by any of this 'news' until I see the finished product.
Then I REALLY won't be excited about any of it.

He really needs to finish up the proposed Unbreakable Trilogy, and then retire quietly.

richCie

conceit sounds awesome.
bet he fucks it up (sorry but im not much of a fan - and the 'script is a little weak' comment is worrying - this would be all about the script surely?

kirklazarus97

Ya this is all about the script, which is why I was surprised that Shyamalan was focusing solely on the scripts.

MattEss

I'm pretty sure that M. Night isn't even writing the scripts for the Night Chronicles film series. He comes up with the concept, produces, and hand picks the writer and director. Cool concepts is something M. Night can still pull of, if you ask me, which is why I like this whole Night Chronicles idea. Let's hope this script was tightened up.

kiklazarus97

I'm a big Shyamalan fan but the premise sounds a little bit ridiculous. Why would the Devil be in the elevator? I hope he has a plausible explanation, just not something stupid like the whole messiah crap from Lady in the Water.

kirklazarus97

Shyamalan is an amazing director but a pretty lame writer. I always imagined he would get a strong writer and direct good movies, not write (and produce) movies for someone else to direct.

solarguardian

The Last Airbender! Though I forgot if he's writing the adaptation or if it's someone else... God, I hope DiMartino and Konietzko are writing! They freakin' made the show!

Ryan

They are writing the movie, thank god. Shyamalan's writing is terrible and Last Airbender is a great show.

ryz

@Brendon
He may have a tiny involvement with it(so he can add his twist lol) but Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino the creators of the show are the ones writing it majorly.

BrendonConnelly

Shyamalan wrote the Last Aribender movie.

The Great Cambino

I smell a fart joke in this movie. Possibly sulfur related.

freevideoblog

2 hours in an elevator sounds like fun

J.R. LeMar

One of my all-time favorite films is about 5 teenagers spending all day in a School library.

Jake Rochon

The twist is going to be that nobody is the devil and one of them ends up dead. WATCH IT HAPPEN.

Name

They won't really need a big budget since everything happens in an elevator.

J.R. LeMar

Exactly. Which is like what "kirklazarus97" said up there, in response to the question of why studios keep greenlighting his films. Because, so far, they always turn a profit. And so you have a movie that won't have a huge budget to begin, and @ least the studio doesn't really have to worry about loosing money. They are likely to @ least make it back, along with a decent profit, even it it's not a blockbuster.

It's the same reason Woody Allen has been making films steadily for decades.

Ashitaka

That's another thing. This script is vague as hell. What if the story has the characters descending into hell (via elevator plummeting!) and they need these crazy CGI landscapes. And will they show the devil and God in their true form or just in their disguises. Let's hope the studio execs asked these questions haha

Ashitaka

Why wouldn't the studio wait until Avatar is released to see how it does? This guy is making flop after flop.

jasonb26

100% agree with you. the guy is an excellent director, he's just completely run out of steam in the writing department. after avatar, we can all re-evaluate.

solarguardian

I disagree, i believe he's a great writer but fails to execute his own stories with his directing. that's why i have confidence in The Last Airbender, because he doesn't have to worry so much over story as much as how to execute it.

Anrkist

I disagree with all of you. What the hell were the plants about? It was like a "SY FY" movie you watch because nothing else is on. Just play the Killer Mosquitoes 3 again... way better then deadly plants.

kirklazarus97

Because with the exception of Lady in the Water, all of his "flops" made money at the box office alone (they probably made considerable profits once you factor DVD Sales/Renting, Satellite Rights etc)

Not to be nitpicky but Cameron is directing Avatar not Shyamalan. Shyamalan is directing an adaption of the Avatar TV show called "The Last Airbender"

angg

there is only one Avatar and that is Avatar: the last airbender.

jasonb26

i think he was referring to the shitty quality of the films. and we all can agree that sometimes, unfortunately, shitty films make tons of money. i just wish m night would realize that even though his films do make money - they are gradually getting worse and worse.

Ashitaka

I assumed people would be able to differentiate between the two Avatars, considering that the Avatar I spoke of is contextually attached to Shyamalan. Also the films that made profits were released before the recession hit the Hollywood industry. It seems that nowadays, Hollywood and other studios aren't taking any chances in this economy and are sticking to their idea of "sure-fire hits" (i.e. comic book films, remakes from the 70s/80s/90s, and more sequels). So what I'm getting at is why would studios "roll the dice" with Shyamalan during this period of recession when his films performed only moderately in the fertile economy of 3-5 years ago. Hollywood and studios are following statistics at the moment, data that shows empirical evidence of box office success over a number of years; looking at Shyamalan's graph over the last few years, I just find it odd that his somewhat poor showing grants him more directoral positions in this desolate, low-spending era.

Shyamalamamama

TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEST

BrendonConnelly

I do fear the twist may be in the logline there. Though it probably isn't. The twist is far more likely that a Jesus-figure or an angel is in there too, I'm guessing.

Drew Hall

You're close. Here is the twist.
The Devil is in the elevator but so is god. But what the other people don't know is, that they all have special parts that can protect a woman in the middle of god and the devil. Then at the end the elevator stops, and they walk outside, and there are plants inside the building and it kills them all, because of a chemical the plants release.

thorofthunder

Such blasphemy!

Shyamalamamama

Killer plants? Don't be silly, he would never make something so ridiculous.

mchops

what? lol a plant?

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