Director M. Night Shyamalan still hasn't decided how his new movie, Old, will end. Set for release in July, Old follows a family on vacation that discovers the beach they're visiting mysteriously causes them to age rapidly. Based on marketing materials, such as the Old trailer, the film looks to be one of Shyamalan's trademark genre thrillers, serving up plenty of scares and intrigue as the characters try to discover what is happening to them.
Dating back to The Sixth Sense, one of Shyamalan's staples as a filmmaker (for better or worse) is the twist ending. His movies typically have some sort of reveal that recontextualizes what came before, such as Bruce Willis' Malcolm Crowe being a ghost or Split taking place in the same universe as Unbreakable. Because of Shyamalan's history, there's great interest in seeing how the Old story unfolds, including if there will be a big twist. As audiences await to see what the director has in store, Shyamalan continues to figure things out himself.
Speaking at a Tribeca Film Festival panel to promote Old (via Dread Central), Shyamalan discusses his process. He noted he's still unsure how the movie will end, recalling Unbreakable's conclusion. Check out his comments in the space below:
“I’m deciding on the minor note; how to end on a minor note. Unbreakable ends on a kind of a dip, right? He goes to the dark note, that minor note at the end. The guy you thought was the best friend is the villain….the minor note sticks to you forever.”
It's clear Shyamalan is putting a lot of thought into Old's ending and he wants to craft something that will resonate with audiences. The best films of Shyamalan's career arguably were elevated by their late game reveals, and the director wants Old to conjure up similar feelings. What's interesting is Old is based on the graphic novel Sandcastle, meaning there's a pre-published story to follow as a blueprint. If Shyamalan is still deciding on his film's conclusion, it's possible he's deviating from the source material a bit. It'll be fascinating to see how Old's story unfolds and where the movie ranks in Shyamalan's filmography. He experienced a resurgence in recent years, but 2019's Glass proved to be divisive.
Perhaps when Old opens and audiences get to experience it, Shyamalan will open up more about his process and other endings he considered. It sounds like there could be the possibility alternate endings are revealed as part of the home media release. Perhaps he shot multiple conclusions during Old's difficult principal photography and is weighing the pros and cons of each one before he locks final picture. Regardless, Old is shaping up to be one of the more unique offerings of the summer movie season. While Shyamalan hasn't always been a critical darling, his films are usually fascinating watches, so hopefully Old turns out to be one of his better efforts.
Source: Dread Central
