Superhero movies might dominate the box office, but they’re not everyone’s playground. You’d think M. Night Shyamalan, the man behind Unbreakable (2000), one of the most original superhero films ever made, would be a prime candidate to join the Marvel machine. Turns out, not so much.
During a retrospective Q&A with FLC senior programmer Tyler Wilson, Shyamalan flat-out admitted he wouldn’t even attempt it. “I just stink at thinking about things in a big way,” he confessed when asked about those CGI-heavy blockbusters. Then he doubled down: “I’m just not good at it. All those filmmakers that can do huge movies—I don’t know how to get my brain to do it. I’m always thinking of it in an incomplete way. How to tell a story in an incomplete [way] and you guys finish it.”
Instead of blowing up cities or crafting multiverse timelines, Shyamalan would rather spook you with something subtle. “Someone’s in their house and they look at their table and they see their picture of them and their wife is face down… they put it up, go grab something to eat, and when they come back the picture’s face down again. That’s scary.” He grinned, adding, “That’s where my mind goes… as opposed to epic scale things. I envy all those amazing filmmakers that can do that, but I get really excited about contained stuff.” Wilson replied with a laugh, “Well, Marvel could be so lucky to have you.”
Lucky or not, Marvel probably isn’t getting him. And honestly, that’s fine. Shyamalan’s career has proven that when he goes small and strange, the results are unforgettable. Unbreakable set the stage for what became the first true auteur superhero trilogy, rounded out by Split (2016) and Glass (2019). All three were written and directed by Shyamalan himself, grounded in realism while still embracing comic book DNA.
Compare that to his forays into big-budget spectacle. Remember The Last Airbender (2010)? Or After Earth (2013)? Yeah, neither film exactly thrilled audiences or critics. If anything, those missteps underline his point: he thrives in claustrophobic spaces, not galactic ones.
