Jul 25, 2006 01:24 PM
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To read the various media accounts of the contents of The Man Who Heard Voices, the biography of M. Night Shyamalan's Christ-like struggle to realize his vision for Lady in the Water in face of opposition from vision-stifling, low carb soup-serving Philistines like erstwhile Buena Vista studio head Nina Jacobson, the tome is an utterly inexhaustible supply of anecdotes illustrating the tragically misunderstood director's insecurity. In a column about "the outbreak of Shyamaladenfreude" following Lady's disappointing™ opening at the box office this weekend, the LAT's Patrick Goldstein spotlights some more illustrations of the insecureteur's congenital neediness:
However, "The Man Who Heard Voices" depicts an artist who is controlling one minute, racked with insecurity the other. After an early script read-through, Warner's production chief Jeff Robinov tells Night, "Good job." Obviously meant as quiet encouragement, it sends the filmmaker into a tailspin of doubt."Maybe he really doesn't like it — maybe that's why he kicked up the project to Alan Horn," Night broods before going to sleep, according to the book. "Maybe there wasn't magic in the room — the one guy not hired by me says, 'Good job.' ... Maybe Nina was right." [...]
If anything is clear from the book, it's that Night, like so many artists, has a desperate need for approval. Although he remains obsessed with [Nina] Jacobson's lack of approval long after heading off to Warners, he has an equal longing for Horn's approval long after the studio chief has given him $70 million to make the movie. In one rambling monologue, Night tells Horn: "I was always going to be a child to Disney and you treated me like a man, but more than that, I just wanted them to show respect for me as an artist, as you did when you called me in Paris that time ... we were on a rowboat in the Seine and I had just lost a bracelet in the water, and then you called ... is this making any sense?"Apparently accustomed to this sort of talk — a good studio chief often assumes the air of a soothing therapist — Horn responds: "Yes, of course."
Given Lady's poor showing, we hope that Horn had the sense not to coddle the overly sensitive, reeling director by reflexively greenlighting an idea he had based on their pivotal conversation during that time of self-doubt, The Visionary Man-Child Who Lost A Bracelet In The Water Right Before The Only Man In Hollywood Who Gets Him Called And Made Him Feel Better About Everything, You Know?
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