M. Night’s next at Fox

I’m a huge admirer of M. Night Shyamalan but it was getting really tough to defend the guy after LADY IN THE WATER (despite the fact that I still think it’s a pretty damn good flick). I was worried when word broke that Shyamalan had squired his next script around town and found no bidders. Was this it for M. Night? M. Night sez hell no! He took notes from his many meetings, went back to Philly, rewrote the script, gave it a new title (switched from THE GREEN EFFECT to THE HAPPENING) and went back to Hollywood. The result? A bidding war ensued and Fox wound up with the project and has set as one of their big 2008 summer blockbusters. The film is an apocalyptic story that follows the events that take place when nature revolts and starts killing off humans (or more tellingly, making humans kill each other in rather violent ways). Shyamalan said he is looking to cast an A-list star in the male lead and will begin filming this August. He’s been given a budget of $57 million, somewhat surprising considering Shyamalan is guaranteeing an R-rating (in fact that’s one of the things he focused on in his rewrite). In 2008 don’t call it a comeback, cause M. Night’s been here for years!