Mar 7, 2007 02:31 PM
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Hollywood, 12:48 PM
Tue Mar 16
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A funny thing happened to notoriously sensitive Lady in the Water director M. Night Shayamalan after a round of studio meetings about his new spec script, The Happening, ended without the blockbuster sale he expected: Rather than storm out of the disappointing sessions soaked in tears and wracked with doubt, pledging to cooperate with a tell-all book about how the executives wouldn't know Art if it blew them underneath their desks during a conference call, he instead took their notes, rewrote the screenplay, and ultimately reached a deal with Fox to make the movie. Huzzah! Shayamalan's incredible transformation from Difficult Personality to Humble Cog In The Collaborative Process Of Filmmaking is officially complete! Reports Variety on how the project came together:
When he visited Hollywood to seal his "Avatar" deal, Shyamalan and his new CAA reps met with execs atop almost every studio. Each read an early draft of "The Happening," which at the time was titled "The Green Effect." The buzz around Hollywood was that no studio loved the draft enough to make a deal.Shyamalan said he wasn't at all bothered by that. Though he didn't return to Philadelphia with a deal, he got strong notes and observations from several top studio execs like Rothman that helped him hone his vision.
Shyamalan, who by then reunited with Mendel, then rewrote the film.By the time he was done six weeks later, several studios offered to green light it, Shyamalan said. He landed at Fox partly because of Rothman's enthusiasm, and also, he said, because the studio has demonstrated acumen in marketing similar apocalyptic fare like "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow." [...]
The failure of "Lady in the Water," and a making-of book that detailed Disney's rejection of the project, gave the impression that Shyamalan was not changeable. His decision to broaden his studio relationships was a step toward dispelling that.
"That is a misconception, and people who work with me know that I'm collaborative," Shyamalan said. "If you can give me a good idea that can help me to make a better movie, then there is no ego issue in taking that advice. Ultimately, this was a very positive process, and one that will ultimately help in making this movie the best it can be."
The misunderstood Shayamalan realized he'd found the right creative partner in Tom Rothman when the Fox chief made the symbolically powerful gesture of personally welcoming the four-person team of assistants the director had dispatched to process the rewritten script into his office on a tiny throne, then setting aside the screenplay to make time to individually serve each courier a delicious supper of homemade, hearty soup, an act of kindness that made the auteur feel that there's at least one person in Hollywood who really "gets" him.
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