Director M. Night Shyamalan has announced the title of his latest suspense thriller, Old, revealing the first poster and that filming has started. The director, known for the twist endings in most of his movies, has had a mercurial career since hitting the big time with The Sixth Sense. Having established himself as a master of suspense with that movie, Shyamalan doubled down on the twists with Unbreakable, that pitted Samuel L. Jackson against Sixth Sense star Bruce Willis. Despite not succeeding at the box office, Unbreakable has come to be regarded as a classic in the years since, given its realistic suspenseful take on a superhero origin story.

His next few movies were unfortunately duds, with efforts like SignsThe HappeningThe Village and The Lady in the Water failing to connect with critics or audiences, and the less said about Shyamalan's disastrous adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the better. However, in recent years Shyamalan has experience a resurgence in fortune, particularly with Split, a secret sequel to Unbreakable that introduced James McAvoy's 'Beast' to the world, and starred Anya Taylor-Joy in an early role. The sequel to that, Glass, was another failure, though, so it's not all been plain sailing recently.

Related: Why The Last Airbender's Failure May Not Be Shyamalan's Fault

Now, Shyamalan has revealed that the title of his latest effort is Old, taking to Twitter to release the information alongside the first poster for the film. He also revealed that the movie has begun filming, holding a clapper board while wearing a mask in an exterior location. There were no plot details released by Shyamalan himself, but Collider reports that the movie is a loose adaptation of the French graphic novel Sandcastle, by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters. Shyamalan reportedly bought the rights to the story after receiving it as a gift, and used the story as a starting point for Old. You can see his tweet below:

The title of the movie refers to the central narrative in the graphic novel, in which a group of people on a beach discover a body, before realizing that they're all aging rapidly, over a matter of hours. The previously announced ensemble cast for Shyamalan's new movie includes Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff, Vicky Krieps, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Rufus Sewell, Embeth Davidtz and Emun Elliott and is led by Gael Garcia Bernal. Based on the plot, one can see why Shyamalan was drawn to it.

It covers his usual themes of the supernatural and mystery, while allowing him to keep one foot firmly rooted in reality. It's certainly an intriguing premise, and hopefully the 'good' Shyamlan directs this one, and not the one prone to overindulging in twists and narrative shocks merely for the sake of it. With such a strong cast drawn from the world of independent film, he certainly has the personnel to make this one, the first of two thrillers Shyamalan is making for Universal, a success. Old will be released on July 23, 2021.

Next: How M. Night Shyamalan Revolutionized The Twist Ending

Source: M. Night Shyamalan/Twitter/Collider