Summary
- M. Night Shyamalan won't defend The Last Airbender and After Earth because they weren't his original ideas.
- Studios' focus on franchises led to Shyamalan directing non-original films, lacking his signature twists.
- Shyamalan's return to form with self-financed films like The Visit marks a resurgence in his career.
In a recent profile by The Atlantic, Shyamalan revealed his two critically panned films that he won't defend – The Last Airbender and After Earth. These films were from what he calls the "hired gun" phase of his career, i.e., working on other people's ideas instead of his own. "I’m so bad at that," Shyamalan says. "I’m so bad at it, and I felt so empty."
Why M. Night Shyamalan Won't Defend The Last Airbender & After Earth
They Weren't His Original Ideas
Early in his career, Shyamalan made a name for himself by writing and directing original material, such as The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. Even though his next three films – The Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening – were panned by critics, they were still Shyamalan's original ideas and the final product represented his artistic vision. However, coinciding with the failure of Lady in the Water in the late 2000s, studios started focusing increasingly on building franchises and leveraging well-known intellectual properties.
In an effort to remain relevant, Shyamalan directed The Last Airbender and After Earth, both of which weren't based on his original ideas. The former was a live-action adaptation of an animated Nickelodeon series and is widely considered one of the worst movies ever made. The latter was loosely based on an original story by Will Smith with a script co-written by Gary Whitta, and was panned by critics for its abundance of poor CGI and ploddingly paced plot. Since they weren't based on his original ideas, The Last Airbender and After Earth also lacked Shyamalan's signature plot twists.
M. Night Shyamalan's Films Ranked From Absolute Worst To Best
Our ranking of M. Night Shyamalan's best and worst films includes everything from his first debut drama to his most recent thriller, Old.
Following After Earth, Shyamalan stepped away from the studio system, taking out a loan against his own home to finance his found-footage film The Visit, which was a welcome return to form for the filmmaker. His critical and commercial resurgence continued with Split, a surprise sequel to Unbreakable, and completed the trilogy with Glass, followed by Old and Knock at the Cabin. Trap is his next movie and, with a promising premise conceived by Shyamalan himself, it should emphatically continue his recent resurgence powered by his own original ideas.
Source: The Atlantic
