American Cinematographer - December 2000 - 50

xtrasensory Perception
With Unbreakable,
director M. Night

Shyamalan sets out to
prove that he has
persistence of vision.
Interview by
Unit

Stephen Pizzello

Photography by Frank Masi, SMPSP

anointed

making blockbuster
theory, he told inter¬
viewer Michael D'Antonio, "explains
why one film that seems great doesn't

Born in India and raised in the

does. Some writers

affluent

once,

out

of nowhere

become

Iast year, when The Sixth Sense
the

to

biggest box-office thriller of
grossing $650 million
worldwide, director M. Night
Shyamalan was thrust headlong into
the industry spotlight. Like many
previous filmmakers who had been
all time,

18 December 2000

Philadelphia suburb of

secret to

movies. His

connect

with the audience, but

that doesn't

one

great can. Critics
might not like it, but the audience
seem

or

directors do it

but by accident. The one guy

Conshohocken, he made his first

who

short film

tell, is Spielberg, and he may be the

8mm

came

ered the

"young geniuses," the 29year-old Shyamalan suddenly found
himself shouldering the weight of
great expectations.
Fortunately, Shyamalan, now
at the ripe old age of 30, was wellprepared for cinematic success.

at

age

camera.

12 using his father's
He wrote his first

really knows it,

as

far

as

I

can

only one."
Pressed

reveal this

script at 15, and later attended film
school at New York University.
Intelligent, savvy and remarkably
well-versed in both film theory and
practice, Shyamalan exudes ambition

magic
Shyamalan demurred,
noting that his undisclosed theory
would be put to the test with

and boundless confidence; he

similarities

had the

even

chutzpah to tell Esquire
magazine that he thinks he's discov¬

to

formula,

Unbreakable, which does bear certain
to

The Sixth Sense: it's

a

paranormal tale centering around a
troubled family it stars Bruce Willis,

PToicuotuhsresfn.

courtesy

Phot s



American Cinematographer - December 2000

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