Tue Oct 7, 2008 — by Robert Greenberger

Shyamalan Talks 'Unbreakable' Sequel

Director Thinks Time is Right

While promoting today’s DVD release of The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan spoke about a possibly sequel to his super-powered story, Unbreakable.

During a press conference, the stylish director admitted, "How bizarre. I want to write it right now, but I want to write it for the right reasons. I want a story to pop into 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 that answer to this."

Of course, given the tepid reception his last efforts have received, the temptation to revisit a previous success has grown.  Not that he ever admitted that as a motivation.  Instead, he said, "I'm a strange creature. When Unbreakable came out, I was like, 'God, man I'm so excited.' I thought [it] was like comic books. No one has 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."

The film was more a commercial than critical success so demand was always there for a follow-up story. "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.’ I felt really hurt, and I couldn't bring myself to write," he said.

He said filmmaking gave him an intimate connection with people. "It's literally like a relationship I have 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 just is 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."
 

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