Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan (better known by his first initial and/or his chosen middle name "Night") has fled the magic kingdom.
Walt Disney has lost one of its brightest directors, M Night Shyamalan, to Warner Bros. Shyamalan was also one of its biggest moneymakers. His four films in a row for Disney have grossed?over $2 3 billion worldwidein theatrical receipts and video sales.
Creative differences over Shyamalan's new project, Lady In The Water, led to the parting, Hollywood's trade papers reported.
The uber-talented Philadelphian is a unique force in Hollywood; even his...um...critic-deemed flops (ahem, "The Village") earn almost a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide. Speaking of that paranthetically mentioned flick, no major stars lent pixie dust to that production. As the linked article notes, it was our boy Manoj who drew moviegoers in, and that's something that deserves props.
Shyamalan has steadily built a reputation for making films on medium size budgets of $50-$75 million by offering the stars part of the film's gross. There was speculation last year that Fox had offered him to direct the Booker Prize winning novel Life Of Pi the studio had acquired about three years ago.
Perhaps he'll cast someone vaguely Asian-looking to play pool-named protagonist Piscene Molitor Patel. One fervently hopes. After all, that comment thread is FUN.
I'll close by enclosing the following priceless tidbit; apparently Rediff knows something about Pennsylvania that we don't.
Shyamalan's first film, a coming of age cross-cultural story, was shot in India. His subsequent films have been made in his home state of Philadelphia. The new movie would also be shot there. But if he takes up Life Of Pi, which has some of its crucial sequences set in India, he might have to visit the country of his birth and shoot there after nearly 14 years.
Hey, that's fine with me. Philly's the only part of PA I go to... ;)
