Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, have admitted that they'll be closely involved with the M. Night Shyamalan live-action films that will be coming in 2009, 10 and 11. They say nothing else about the films at all, just that they'll be busy with them for a few years.
That should silence some angry Airbender fans.
The creators of the Avatar series are backing M Night Shyamalan's feature film adaptations of their show all the way.
Me too.
The Green... Effect?
Contrary to previous reports, Variety are reporting that M. Night Shyamalan's latest spec script has been given the title The Green Effect, not The Green Planet. Don't get too used to it, though... it's about to change.
Having done the rounds of the studios and come up short, Shyamalan is heading back to do another draft which, reportedly, will include a retitling. He's taken onboard a raft of notes from the execs who nixed him, and according to Variety, he's going to be factoring these into Mark 2.
I'm not sure if I like this or not. Of course, allegations of indulgence dogged Lady in the Water, and they were, to a fairly large degree, founded, even while so much about the film showed great skill and intelligence - but taking notes from studio execs? Well... if the notes were vague "fix this, fix that" stuff then we're probably in line for a strong end result, but if they were specific "he should say this, then they should go and do that" stuff, maybe not so.
Only one friend of film ick has read anything from the original version of the script, and they weren't exactly in awe of what they read; having said that, their criticisms might be called wishy-washy, and as I said to them at the time, maybe a little biased. Not liking the script is one thing, but calling it a 'disaster' on the basis of an (admittedly fair-sized) excerpt... well, what's that old saying?
Ah yes: 90% of script writing is structure. And I believe that. And I believe that, yes, Shyamalan is very strong on structure, particularly the kind of structure you aren't going to fully appreciate if you don't read every scene.
I want to read The Green Planet/Effect because I want to judge for myself.
One last point from Variety's piece: if Shyamalan's next draft is picked up, he hopes to make the film before he gets on with his Avatar: The Last Airbender trilogy.
According to Latino Review, M. Night Shyamalan has been touting a new spec script about town and it is called The Green Planet. They make some fuss over the fact that one go-around later, the script is still unsold, insinuating this marks a serious decline in Shyamalan's career.
Of course, all it marks is the cool attitudes of the studios who don't want to be seen jumping onto bed with him right now. The Lady in the Water certainly had a troubled and controversial history, but memories of this will fade. A few more months and somebody else will be the figure it's fashinonable to deride and show the cold shoulder to.
There's a couple of odd - perhaps ignorant - things in the Latino Review piece. Firstly, they don't mention Shyamalan's upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender movie(s), which we pretty much know to be his next project; secondly, there's no mention of Warner Bros. apparent deal with him for one more movie of his own chosing, either.
Announce a studio to buy The Green Planet any day now and the news to be on Variety before we know it. In the meantime, let me speculate wildly that this script is for, in fact, an intended remake of the Jwoon-Hwan Jang's Save the Green Planet - a film that I'm quite sure Shyamalan would love.
M. Night Shyamalan is off to a fantastical pseudo-asian world of elemental conjuring and mystical beasts - and I don't mean he's signed a deal with Sony.
Set up at Paramount, Shyamalan's next project looks set to be a live action adaptation of a cartoon action adventure series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I didn't spot this twist coming, I have to admit. He's going to producer, write and direct the film, with two potential sequels lined up if the first is a sufficiently sized hit. His source material is, I'm told, something quite special - so now, I suppose, I'm going to have to check it out as soon as possible.
Of course, James Cameron's new movie is to be called Avatar too, and already Paramount and Fox - the films' respective studios - are amping up the fighting talk. Quoted in Variety, Paramount claim to have registed Avatar: The Last Airbender for Shyamalan, while Fox say, quite clearly, "We own the movie title Avatar. There won't be another film called Avatar coming from anyplace."
Shyamalan lost his title battle last time, having to opt for The Village while Lucky McKee was given use of it's original moniker, The Woods.
We might not be sure what they're called yet, but I think we're looking at two of 2009's better studio movies here. Excellent.
