ServingJuryDuty

M. Night Shyamalan said he is considering working on a sequel to his hit Unbreakable, a superhero tale about a man (Bruce Willis) who finds that he is impervious to harm and is called to become a savior.

“I’m a strange creature,” the writer/director said in a conference call with reporters last week. “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.”

Though the film was eventually a hit, the initial reaction was mixed. “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.

Because of that, Shyamalan’s excitement about a sequel to the movie was muted. “I felt really hurt, and I couldn’t bring myself to write,” he said. “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.”

As a result, Shyamalan said that the sequel idea now haunts him. “How bizarre,” he said. “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.”

Excellent article. Sadly, written more than a year ago. I really hope MNS follows through with this. Unbreakable was his best movie and he’s a great director. He just needs to lose the pressure of the big box office and the stereotype of the “twist” guy.