Stephen Gaghan Rewriting Shyamalan’s One Thousand A.E.
As reviled as M. Night Shyamalan has become in the past few years, the prospect of a new film from the director will have most movie fans groaning. So far, that seems to be the reaction to his upcoming sci-fi film One Thousand A.E. starring Will and Jaden Smith. Since the majority of people’s issues with Shyamalan’s films stem from his writing, perhaps today’s news will offer a ray of hope for the upcoming project. Stephen Gaghan, known for writing films such as Traffic and Syriana, has come on board to “get the script in shooting shape.” The Oscar winner has reportedly just turned in his final revisions before the film starts shooting in February. Could this news mean that Shyamalan has finally learned to relinquish some control over his films and give other perspectives some consideration?
To trace back the origins of the project, Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli) wrote the original script, which was followed by a rewrite from Shyamalan. Now with Gaghan collaborating on the film, movie fans may not be subjected to a full-on dose of Shyamalan-isms this time out. Still, there’s always the issue of Jaden Smith to contend with…
Just as a refresher, here’s a quick plot description of the film:
One Thousand A.E. is a futuristic sci-fi drama that revolves around a father and son pair (Will and Jaden Smith) who crash-land on Earth a millennium after humankind has abandoned the planet. When the crash leaves the father badly injured, his son must venture out into the (now, unfamiliar and mysterious) world, in the hopes of finding help.
Does this news make you any more receptive to the latest M. Night Shyamalan flick?
Comments (8)
I’ll watch it.
Posted by Deven Science on November 12th, 2011If it comes on cable, and I have the flu, and cannot move, and the remote is missing, then I’ll watch it. Unless I have Nyquil, in which case I’ll nap.
Posted by Bill on November 12th, 2011I’m always interested in a new Shyamalan film.
I don’t get the hate. To me he’s always an interesting director, even when he doesn’t really succeed. Just for the record, I thought The Last Airbender was indeed flawed but also a feast for the eyes with some brilliant visual moments. Reading the reviews you’d think it’s the worst movie ever made. People are insane.
Posted by Lior on November 12th, 2011I agree with Lior. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village are excellent films. Beautifully shot stories, well told, with a lot of passion, ambition and integrity. Lady in the Water was an indulgence, but for all its flaws it’s beautifully made, often amusing and has an exciting final act. The Happening and The Last Airbender were failures. All directors fail at some point in their career, only Shyamalan’s failures seem to inspire such an enormous amount of smug amusement from the detractors.
Posted by The Red Knight on November 13th, 2011First off what’s wrong with jaden? I liked him in the Karate kid. And any one care to guess what the twist is gonna be? They where really in front of a green screen the whole time.
Posted by TheMan on November 13th, 2011The day the Earth stood still. That’s what’s wrong with Jaden Smith.
And Wasn’t Devil originally drafted by Shyamalan before someone else re-wrote it? That was a decent movie save for the last 15 minutes.
Sixth sense was excellent as well. Everything else after that was shit.
Posted by Anthony on November 13th, 2011Actually, pretty much all of Shaymalan’s movies have fresh and interesting ideas, and this is no different.
Sounds like its going to be like Alien Mine though, with a bit of Quiet Earth. But theres nothing wrong with that, I’d definitely watch it.
Posted by Kurei Scott on November 14th, 2011Wow, I am so horrified at the thought of an M. Night movie that it’s ridiculous. I had to force myself to read the article. If it was about anyone other then M. Night I would have read it without hesitation, but I’ve seen one too many of his movies.
This is one of those rare situations where I’m not even going to look at the trailer, I don’t care who writes the final script or who gets credit for what. This time, I’m going to sit back and let everyone else that’s brave enough to watch it, see it in theaters, then, after I hear that it’s not horrible, I MIGHT rent it.
Will Smith’s star power is almost completely cancelled out by M. Night’s reputation. I have never seen a writer/director so talented at taking potentially awesome or just okay movies and wrecking them with out-of-nowhere plot twists and turns.
Even if they took M. Night’s name off of the movie completely, I still doubt that I would consider going to see it without someone that I trust, TOTALLY, giving me the okay first.
Posted by Nelson on November 14th, 2011Leave a Reply