I'm not a very big fan of M. Night Shyamalan. Sure, I liked The Sixth Sense, but I've felt that all of his subsequent films haven't been up to par, being rather heavy-handed while trying to hit us with the requisite twist ending that has somehow become his "schtick." Plus, his penchant for putting himself in each film makes him seem more desparate to cling to Hitchcock's ghost than Brian DePalma.
So it's no surprise to me when I saw this article in the L.A. Times about a new book coming out titled The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale. Hmmm... not too subtle there, are we?
Not only do all of his films have to have the twist ending, it seems that they all must be surrounded by controversey now as well, with the buzz properly timed to coincide with the film's release, as is the case with this book, written by Sports Illustrated writer Michael Bamberger with Shyamalan's blessing and extensive participation, which hits stores on July 20. That just so happens to be the day before the theatrical premiere of Shyamalan's new movie, "Lady in the Water," which is the film that led him to part ways with Disney. I find this paragraph in the article particularly telling:
At a disastrous dinner in Philadelphia last year, [Disney production President Nina] Jacobson delivered a frank critique of the "Lady in the Water" script. When she told him that she and her boss, studio Chairman Dick Cook, didn't "get" the idea, Shyamalan was heartbroken. Things got only worse when she lambasted his inclusion of a mauling of a film critic in the story line and told Shyamalan his decision to cast himself as a visionary writer out to change the world bordered on self-serving.
So a woman tells him something in private and he can't take the honest criticism, and so he fires back publicly in a tell-all book? Tsk. What's with you men, anyway?
