With Old now playing in theaters, I recently spoke to writer-director M. Night Shyamalan about making his latest film. During the interview, Shyamalan talked about why he wanted to make Old over other possible projects, the challenges of shooting on film during a worldwide pandemic, how there are only two labs left that develop film, why spending the extra money to shoot on film was important to him, if he envisions certain actors in a role when he’s writing a script, and more.
However, while everything we talked about was interesting and informative, it was towards the end of the conversation where I confirmed something I’d only heard rumors about. Over the past few years, I’d heard Shyamalan funded his own movies. If you know anything about the movie business, you know no one funds their own movies. It’s practically unheard of due to all the things that can go wrong and how expensive it is. But to my surprise, Shyamalan not only confirmed he paid for his recent films, he also revealed he pays for his hit Apple TV series Servant. In addition, he went on to explain his reasons for funding his films:
“I paid for Visit, Split, Glass and Old. All four of those. And I pay for Servant as well. The reason that I do it is to do it at the smallest number where I can be free and I can do something provocative and different and unusual and I’m not putting my partners at risk. I’m taking the risk. In most scenarios, because we’re doing it at such a small price, we’re going to be okay no matter what. So we can make the most interesting art. I don’t have to think about some equation of safety. I don’t have to think about that. I believe the flip happens where the audience can feel that it’s different. That there is no safety valves on it. There is no safety guard rails on it. They can feel that there is no supervision and it’s this kind of free-spirited thing. I believe audiences can feel that and that’s why they’ve been coming to these movies.”
No matter what you think about Shyamalan’s films, you’ve got to give him credit for taking the risk to finance his own work when any studio in town would foot the bill. Of course, since he pays for his own movies, he owns them, which means if they are profitable, he stands to make a lot of money.
If you haven’t seen the trailers, Old is about a family on a tropical holiday that discover the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly. The film was inspired by the French graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters. Old stars Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Alex Wolff, Rufus Sewell, Thomasin McKenzie, Ken Leung, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abbey Lee, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, Eliza Scanlen, Emun Elliott, and Kathleen Chalfant.
Check out what Shyamalan had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
M. Night Shyamalan:
- Does he envision certain actors in a role when he’s writing a script?
- Why did he want to make Old over another script/project?
- Why he wanted to shoot Old on film.
- How it is considerably more expensive to shoot on film and there are only two labs that develop the footage.
- Why he funds his own movies.
- How does it work with Universal and if they give him notes?
