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CNN Live Today

Interview With 'Signs' Director M. Night Shyamalan

Aired August 09, 2002 - 11:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The crop circle thriller "Signs" is scaring up dollar signs in at the box office. The movie raked in $60 million for its open weekend, easily defeating second place pseudo-spy Austin Powers. The Movie was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, a young filmmaker who is heralded by "Newsweek" magazine as the next Spielberg. M. Night Shyamalan joins us this morning. We have tracked him down in his hometown of Philadelphia.
Good morning.

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN, DIRECTOR: Hey, good morning, guys.

KAGAN: Knight, you can run, but you can't hide. We will find you in Philly, if that's where you're hanging out.

SHYAMALAN: You found me.

KAGAN: You got to tell me, when you saw this cover of "Newsweek" magazine, a great picture of you, and then the next Spielberg, what was your reaction?

SHYAMALAN: They faxed me the article in the morning.

KAGAN: With the cover?

SHYAMALAN: Yes, the cover first, and so it was really black. I couldn't even see the photo, and the only thing I could see was the next Spielberg, and I was like, oh, no.

KAGAN: Taking some razzing from your friends on that one.

SHYAMALAN: No, they all got copies. They sold out all the book stores.

KAGAN: I bet, a spectacular accomplishment, as well as your movies so far. This latest one, "Signs," how did you become fascinated with the whole crop circle phenomenon?

SHYAMALAN: It's just one of those kind of eerie things that happened in the world that I keep a file of, and I go...

KAGAN: You have an eerie file with weird stuff.

SHYAMALAN: My own X-files. Just all this stuff, like Stonehenge or Loch Ness monster, those kind of files. And I always wanted to make a movie about, you know, a place that's been kind of marked by something, and we have to figure out what the meaning is, and when I came up with the war of the worlds idea, it fit together nicely.

KAGAN: That's how you get "Signs." But what you see through the movies are these common themes. There's the unknown, I'm thinking of "Sixth Sense," family ties, and this idea you have to draw near and be close to the ones you love and who can protect you. I see these themes pop up in your movies.

SHYAMALAN: It is not conscious. I guess it just kind of involves into the same things are important for me over and over.

KAGAN: Of course, Family is important in your movies. As I mentioned, we were in your hometown. I thought it was nice that "Newsweek" interviewed your mom for the article, who we should say is an obstetrician, and she gave a quote that I thought was interesting.

SHYAMALAN: Oh, my God.

KAGAN: I hope mom is watching. We are quoting her here, "He should make nice movies. This latest thing, sex and that sort of thing, I'm not for it. Something nice, which leaves a landmark on the people who see it, and maybe a little spirituality. That would be the greatest thing." No pressure or anything, Night.

SHYAMALAN: Oh, man.

KAGAN: Do you talk with your mom and your family about what you are working on and your writing and do they have influence over you?

SHYAMALAN: No, they don't even know what I'm doing until I show them.

KAGAN: Oh, come on, I think it sound like a mom who is a little bit more involved than that.

SHYAMALAN: No, really. Really, all the boys are going to make fun of me now. What's up?

KAGAN: I'm trying to score you some points with your mom, who just might be watching this morning, if she's not out there delivering babies.

SHYAMALAN: I can't believe she said that.

KAGAN: I don't like sex and all that stuff.

KAGAN: Be a nice boy, Night. That's what she is saying. One thing that's also interesting about your movie and having such great success this summer, is that it's original. How about that? It's not "Signs" 12, or you know, another sequel or prequel or something like that. How hard is it these days to get a movie like that through Hollywood?

SHYAMALAN: I think that I'm not even sure where my place is in Hollywood until this weekend went it opened. We were all kind of nervous. How do we fit in now making original movies in this landscape where everybody is making sequels, things based on things you know, like a book or a TV show or a cartoon character, like Scooby Doo, or a comic book character there. And there is a sense of people wanting familiarity before they will commit their money to come see it. And they will come in droves to see something familiar, whether it is good or not, they will come in droves because they are familiar with it. Where does an original idea stand in all that? The way the audience came this whole week and the way it has started, it's just been an amazing thing for us, because we were really holding our breath.

KAGAN: Hopefully that will encourage studios to open their pocketbooks up a little bit more, because it is such great entertainment. People look at you and say, the guy is 31 years old, he's made all these blockbusters, he's a writer, he's a director, but I think one nice thing about your story, it has not been a straight line of success, and it was particularly interesting to read about the "Sixth Sense," where it was this phenomenal movie and very interesting, but the first time around, the first draft, was kind of a mess, wasn't it? You had kind of go back and rejigger it.

SHYAMALAN: Yes, no, it took 10 drafts. That thing was awful, and it started terrible. It was very derivative. I was copying things. And then only in probably like the fifth draft did it really start clicking to me.

KAGAN: What was the key, night? What made you go, aha, that's it, that's how I have to tell the story?

SHYAMALAN: Two things probably. The kid, when I started writing the role of Cole, and it starting feeling like a compassionate child, that's the first time it came to life and started to seem something like me, something specific, and then of course when I thought of the ending, which was about the fifth draft...

KAGAN: Don't give it away, because there are still actually some people, believe it or not, who might not have seen it.

SHYAMALAN: Seven people in a cave.

No, then I went back and had this real excitement about everything, like we were going towards a point. So it was just having confidence. When you sit down to write, I think you need to have confidence that you are not chasing people's shadows and things.

KAGAN: You have to tell me how a nice boy born in India and raised in Philadelphia, who starts with the Manoge (ph) ends up being M. Night Shyamalan. Where does the name "Night" come from?

SHYAMALAN: Night is from -- it's an American Indian name. When I was a teenager, I was getting my citizenship, and my parents didn't give me a middle name, and I wanted to have a middle name, and I guess "Bob" wasn't really appropriate.

KAGAN: You don't strike me as a Bob.

SHYAMALAN: And, you know, another Indian name really didn't really didn't seem right to me. I had grown up in America, and so I was feeling a little lost about where I was. And at the time, I was studying American Indian culture, and I feel very close to that culture, the spirituality of it, the nature, the gentleness and the simpleness of it. And so that name I read, and I just thought, wow, I really connect to that, and now, as an adult, I feel like, gosh, it must have been one of those kind of things, that...

KAGAN: It just fits.

SHYAMALAN: Yes, it fits, who I am as a person. It was meant to be, I think.

KAGAN: Before we let you go, just look into that eerie, weird file that you keep. What's next? What's the next thing that you are going to put out for us.

SHYAMALAN: I don't know, but it won't have any sex in it apparently.

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Just be a nice boy. That's what your mom was saying.

SHYAMALAN: It will be a nice movie, yes.

KAGAN: Absolutely.

Well, whatever it is, it'll be a huge success, and please stop by and give us a sneak peak before it comes out.

SHYAMALAN: I sure will, thanks a lot.

KAGAN: M. Night Shyamalan, writer and director of "Signs."

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