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| Birth Name(s) : Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
Bhavna Vaswani (1993-) |
| Profession:
Actor |
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Full M. Night Shyamalan Biography
Manoj Nelliattu Shyamalan (born August 6, 1970), known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, /'ʃæ.mæ.lɔːn/, is an Academy Award nominated screenwriter and director, who also performs smaller roles in his own movies.
Shyamalan made his first film, the semiautobiographical drama Praying with Anger, while still an NYU student, using money borrowed from family and friends. It was screened at the Toronto Film Festival on September 12, 1992, and played commercially at one theater for one week. When the film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival, Shyamalan was introduced by David Overbey who predicted that the world would see more of Shyamalan in the years to come. Praying with Anger has also been shown on Canadian television. Filmed in Chennai, it is his only film to be shot outside of Pennsylvania.
The film is similar to later Shyamalan films with a theme of crises of belief, a supernatural sub-plot, and a twist ending that sums up the ideas presented in the film. It is the only Shyamalan-directed film to date in which the director does not make a cameo appearance. Although Wide Awake was made in 1995, it was not released until 1998 where it grossed a total of only $288,000 against a production budget of $7 million.
The Sixth Sense was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor for Osment, Best Supporting Actress for Toni Collette, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay.
Opening in August 2002, Signs is a science fiction drama of a rural Pennsylvania pastor (Mel Gibson) who has lost his faith after his wife's death and regains it with his family as they witness the worldwide events of an alien invasion. Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin also star. Budgeted at $72 million, Signs grossed $227 million domestically and $408 million worldwide. It was the highest-grossing film as well as the highest opening-weekend gross ($60 million) of Gibson's career as an actor.
The film received a generally positive reception. Most notably of which was Roger Ebert's four-star review, stating, "M. Night Shyamalan's Signs is the work of a born filmmaker, able to summon apprehension out of thin air. When it is over, we think not how little has been decided, but how much has been experienced".
Shyamalan said in an interview with Science Fiction Weekly that his choice of Gibson was based in part by the actor's emotional role in the film Lethal Weapon: "I was on my parents' sofa watching the video of Lethal Weapon, and then this guy did stuff emotionally that had no business being in an action movie. ... I completely believed the humanity of a man who was so torn by the loss of his wife that he wasn't afraid of dying, which made him a lethal weapon. ... hen I wrote the movie about a guy who loses faith because his wife has passed away, I felt like that was the guy. And I also like taking an action guy and not letting him be The Guy."
According to an interview with the co-creators in SFX Magazine, Shyamalan came across Avatar when his daughter asked him for a "Waterbender necklace" one Christmas. Intrigued, Shyamalan researched and watched the series with his family. He said, "Watching Avatar has become a family event in my house ... so we are looking forward to how the story develops in season three," said M. Night Shyamalan. "Once I saw the amazing world that Mike and Bryan created, I knew it would make a great feature film."
After the release of The Village in 2004, Shyamalan had been planning a film adaptation of Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi with 20th Century Fox, but later backed out so that he could make Lady in the Water. "I love that book. I mean, it's basically a kid born in the same city as me — it almost felt predestined," Shyamalan said. "But I was hesitant because the book has kind of a twist ending. And I was concerned that as soon as you put my name on it, everybody would have a different experience. Whereas if someone else did it, it would be much more satisfying, I think. Expectations, you've got to be aware of them. I'm wishing them all great luck. I hope they make a beautiful movie".
After an AP reporter confronted Sci Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer at a press conference, Hammer admitted the hoax, saying it was part of a guerrilla marketing campaign to generate pre-release publicity for The Village. Despite his office's disclosure-agreement requirement and approvals of each marketing step, Shyamalan told the AP, "I was, of course, involved in the production of the special but had nothing to do with the marketing of it. If the Sci Fi Channel erred in their marketing strategy, it was totally out of enthusiasm." Other critics have since deemed viewers to be victim of a somewhat 'cheap' promotional trick which went too far.
In the second episode of Code Monkeys, a young Shyamalan (using his first name, 'Manoj') bought Dave's ticket to the premier of E.T. for $30 and performed humiliating tasks such as performing 200 sit-ups and soiling himself. Dave called Manoj 'M' and gave him the idea for The Sixth Sense. |
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