Released against a backdrop of expensive superhero movies and sequels,After Earthis a bit of an anomaly.
Then again,After Earthisnt exactly an introspective drama, either.
Is that what attracted you to it?
Hopefully, thats how you know Im involved in the movie, because its such an intimate story.
I feel very comfortable with quiet storytelling and quiet moments.
My tendencies, visually, and my tastes, tend to go towards minimalism.
So anytime I have the opportunity to strip everything away, I love it.
That was my most fun time directing, when it gets really simple.
Its a motif in your films, where you focus on faces, and contrast reactions.
Is that what interests you most in filmmaking?
I think that anything that has something left incomplete is what interests me.
Just a little thing incomplete.
I think, when you complete too much, it loses its conversation with the audience.
I like to have just a little bit open, and not said.
Theyre a famous set of films, and theyre in black and white.
When a characters that small in the frame, you have to fill in what hes feeling.
I like that kind of storytelling.
Its like a back-and-forth conversation.
David Cronenberg once said that cinema, to him, is as simple as two people talking to him.
For me, there are two types of storytelling, I think.
So that makes you a little bit uncomfortable, because you cant just be passive.
Im always trying to find where that balance is, because it can become too much of a burden.
It can become too byzantine, and thats not entertainment.
Do you think in too much filmmaking, especially summer films, has gone too far the other way?
That it bombards you, and its sometimes hard to hold onto the story or the characters?
[Laughs] If were generalising, for sure.
Thats what a summer movie is.
Its Come, were going to dazzle you with images and speed and cuts and all that stuff.
Amazing visuals, sights and sounds.
All of its going to cause you to be stimulated.
You expect something different in the summer than the fall, lets say, right?
Where movies are getting quieter and quieter.
Ironically, my movies are always released in the summer!
[Laughs]
Counter-programming!
And by the way, its true.
Youve dabbled in comic book movies yourself withUnbreakable.
Yeah, for sure.
Is that something youd perhaps return to?
I actually really love it.
And I enjoy the comic book genre a lot, as it’s possible for you to imagine.
I particularly enjoy the darker takes.
I do want to go back there, as you say.
What about theNight Chroniclestrilogy?
We had Devil a few years ago.
Is that still happening?
Yeah, it is.
So hopefully, this coming year, Ill get that up and going.
The third one, Ive typed out the summary.
You once said, Im going to stop making movies if they end the cinema experience.
Ha ha, yes!
But youve also said that youd also love to make small, personal visions.
So how do you feel at the moment?
Which way are you currently leaning?
And now, because of worldwide box-office, which is so dramatic…
It used to be the US, and the small part was the foreign [box-office].
Now, its not that way at all.
US is just one country in the whole worlds cinema-going experience.
Which is fantastic for me.
First of all, because the tastes of the world are now important.
So for this moment in time, it feels like cinema is it.
Strangers going into a room.
500 strangers coming together to watch a story, is really a healthy moment.
So what can you tell me about what youre directing next?
Im doing two things.
One is a TV show [calledWayward Pines].
Im doing a pilot for Fox.
Its kind of aTwin Peak-sy show; its really weird, you dont know whats happening.
Its about a guy who wakes up in a town, and he doesnt understand whats going on.
Its very odd and eerie.
So Im shooting the pilot, and then Im overseeing the writing for the show.
And then after that, Im going to do a very small movie.
Can you tell me anymore about that?
[Apologetically] I cant!
Its on my computer.
Can I have a look at your gear?
[Laughs]
M Night Shyamalan, thank you very much.
After Earthis out in UK cinemas on the 7th June.
