Top 10 Fun Facts About M. Night Shyamalan 

M. Night Shyamalan celebrated his 50th birthday in August 2020. To celebrate, we here at PopHorror have compiled a list of some fun facts you might not already know about him. On August 6, 1970, Shyamalan was born in Puducherry, India, and then raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later, he would introduce the world to one of the most well known plot twists in film history … the ending of The Sixth Sense (1999—read our retro review here).

“The idea is to always go for the thing that’s risky. I want to be courageous and original. And original means you don’t know what color movie you just saw.”—M. Night Shyamalan

Top 10 Fun Facts About M. Night Shyamalan 

1) Some of his favorite films are The Godfather (1972), Jaws (1975—read our retro review here), The Exorcist (1973—read our retro review here), Being There (1979) and Rebecca (1940).

2) The filmmaker was offered the opportunity to direct The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), but turned it down. I feel like that could have made it a very different movie. Side note: the film stars James McAvoy, who would go on later to star in Shyamalan’s Unbreakable series.

3) Shyamalan also turned down the opportunity to direct movies from the Harry Potter franchise on three separate occasions. He was first offered Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) on a recommendation from friend Steven Spielberg—who had previously also been considered to direct—but turned it down due to post-production commitments on his own film, Unbreakable (2000). After the massive success Signs (2002), Shyamalan was once again offered Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and later Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), turning down the former to direct his own project, The Village (2004), and the latter to complete his since aborted adaptation of the Yann Martel novel, The Life of Pi. I would say someone is in very high demand.

4) Shyamalan directed two Oscar-nominated performances: Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette in The Sixth Sense (1999).

5) He and Dan Aykroyd are the only two men to direct themselves in performances that “won” them Razzie Awards for Worst Supporting Actor. Shyamalan got the award for Lady in the Water (2006).

6) Has a reputation for attaining A-list actors of his first choice to star in his films in roles specifically written for them. Shyamalan was able to cast Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense (1999), Samuel L. Jackson in Unbreakable (2000), Mel Gibson in Signs (2002), Joaquin Phoenix in The Village (2004), Paul Giamatti in Lady in the Water (2006), Mark Wahlberg in The Happening (2008), and James Mcavoy in Split (2016—read our review here).

7) He completed 45 homemade movies by age of 17.

8) His three supernatural thrillers, The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), and Signs (2002), grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide.

9) His inspiration for The Sixth Sense (1999) was based on an episode from Are You Afraid of the Dark?: The Tale of the Dream Girl (1994) directed by David Winning.

10) Makes cameo appearances in his own movies, just like Alfred Hitchcock, one of his favorite directors.

That’s it for this list, PopHorror fans! We hope enjoyed it. What’s your favorite movie by M.Night Shyamalan? Let us know in the comments below!