Photo: John Baer/Universal
M. Night Shyamalan is known for his surprise twist endings — and it seems even the movie studios don’t see them coming!
The Sixth Sensedirector revealed that he didn’t let Universal Pictures in on his plan for the twist ending in 2016’sSplit, which ties the movie to the same universe as his earlier 2000 filmUnbreakable.
The studio was even more concerned since Willis' character andUnbreakablebelonged to another studio, Disney imprint Touchstone.
“They look at me, and they’re like, ‘What are you saying? That’s a Disney movie!’ And I go, ‘It’s all good. We have the permission to do it!’ " Shyamalan recalled. “Can you imagine? You are the chairman of the studio, and the guy shows you that it’s a sequel to a movie from another studio?”
Shyamalan is currently promoting his latest thrillerOld, which debuted on top of the weekend box office with $16.9 million. The movie has a close family tie for the director, with his 16-year-old daughter Ishani serving as a second-unit director.
The Oscar nominee and Ishanispoke toThe New York Timesin January about working together as a father-daughter duo.
“I knew she would be a filmmaker, but I never pushed her into it. We’d watch a movie and she would really connect with what we were watching. She was able to discern what was exceptional about what we had watched,” he recalled.
She added of living up to a famous last name, “There are certain expectations the last name brings. But I love that, because it’s something for me to knock down. Hopefully, I put my own artistic stamp on what I create. Of course there are benefits. I was lucky to be born into a life where I have the resources to make what I want to make, something that not all women of color have.”
Oldis now in theaters.
source: people.com
