M. Night Shyamalan’s untitled mystery project has locked down a cast. Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff, and Vicky Krieps are all in talks to join Shyamalan’s new project. The untitled movie continues the director’s collaboration with Universal, which seems to be the only information available about the project, except for the fact that Shyamalan will write, produce, and direct. Since casting is underway, one would assume that production is getting ready to start. However, it is unclear when Universal, along with other studios, will be able to get back to work.
It is believed that Alex Wolff (Jumanji: The Next Level) will be one of the three main leads in the next M. Night Shyamalan movie. It’s unclear what roles Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, and Vicky Krieps are up for. It was announced last September that Shyamalan would write and direct two original thrillers for Universal, which would release on February 26th, 2021 and February 17th, 2023, respectively. While it has yet to be confirmed, the release dates will more than likely get pushed back.
Vicky Krieps previously had a role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, while Eliza Scanlen will be seen next in Babyteeth. She previously starred in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects. Thomasin McKenzie recently starred in Taika Waititi’s Academy Award winning Jojo Rabbit. As for Aaron Pierre he was in The Underground Railroad and Alex Wolff had a small role in last year’s Jumanji: The Next Level.
M. Night Shyamalan independently financed Glass, Split, and The Visit. All three movies combined had a production budget of $35 million and they went on to gross more than $600 million worldwide. This model obviously works really well for the writer/director, so he’ll be taking the same approach for his next two movies, which gives him 100% creative control at the same time. While Split didn’t strike a chord with viewers and critics, it was a pretty big success at the box office. Collectively, all of Shyamalan’s movies have grossed over $3.3 billion globally.
While M. Night Shyamalan’s next two projects are being kept under wraps, it looks like the first movie already has a strong cast. As is the case with most of Shyamalan’s movies, we’re probably not going to know much about the story until the movie finally hits theaters. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see when production on the untitled movie is able to begin. Certain countries like New Zealand are already starting to get back to work, so we could see some North American locations follow suit in the coming months, possibly allowing for an early 2021 production start for a lot of projects. Hollywood has pretty much been shut down since the middle of March and there really doesn’t appear to be an estimated time for everybody to get back to work. Variety was the first to report on M. Night Shyamalan’s untitled project and its cast.
