M. Night Shyamalan has embraced small-budget films
M. Night Shyamalan enjoys making contained films that have a smaller budget.
M. Night Shyamalan enjoys making movies with smaller budgets.
The 52-year-old director has made a number of single-location films in recent years and relishes the challenge of working on projects with less financial backing.
Shyamalan told The AV Club: "I came to this realisation when I was thinking about how to continue my career that I'm not really enjoying being in the system. I think they're beating what's really good in me out of me. I don't really care about money if it means that I have to give up something of myself to do it.
"I also realised that most of the movies that I love are very contained movies, so let me just pay for them myself and work with new people, and then I'll make it. And if they want to release it at that point, they can release it, you know? And that's the relationship that I'm going to have with the industry."
With the exception of the 'Unbreakable' trilogy, Shyamalan hasn't made sequels to any of his films and he revealed that he hates the "safety" that comes with revisiting a movie.
The 'Knock at the Cabin' filmmaker said: "I don't really get excited about (sequels). In fact, the thing that usually draws people to sequels is exactly what turns me off, which is the safety of it.
"And even if I was talking to myself, like the idea of 'Am I doing it because I'm going to make you money or' – God, that's so repulsive."
Shyamalan added: "For me, I want you guys to tear me to shreds. I want to risk it all – all the time. That's what's fun about being an artist and wanting to be a beginner every single time."
