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M. Night Shyamalan’s latest directorial effort, The Last Airbender, is still doing very well at the box office, despite hideous reviews. So I guess M. Night gets the last laugh, all the way to the bank. He’s still promoting the film in other countries, and it was during a panel discussion/press conference that M. Night might have insulted a Mexican journalist, and now everyone is yelling at him and calling him rude. I’m swaying more towards Pajiba’s take on things though – that M. Night got a dumb question and he tried to give an honest, albeit bitchy answer. Here’s the video:
Okay, the reporter starts the long-winded question by stating – as fact – that audiences have “lost faith” in M. Night’s work, then she asks, “Airbender feels like you want to captivate audiences again by becoming more commercial, am I right?” M. Night replies: “I think if I thought like you, I would kill myself. Everything you said is the opposite of how artists feel. The way that you just thought… literally, I would just kill myself. Your impression of my career is not my impression of my career, your impression, it’s something you read on Google or something…” And he goes on, blah.
Anyway, people are bashing him because they think he was telling the woman to kill herself? I think that’s it. But is that really what he was saying? Or was he just saying that he, as an “artist” couldn’t think that way, and if he did, he would kill himself. As Pajiba points out: “Celebrities and directors, they get asked some dumb f-cking questions, not only in audience Q&As, but from reporters, themselves. More times than not, the celebrity in question is gracious enough to reframe the stupid f-cking question in a way he or she can answer it without making the stupid questioner look even more stupid. M. Night, at the very least, answered it honestly, and while he boasts some arrogance in this clip, he’s not exactly prickly. I don’t know why we insist our celebrities be so goddamn deferential to dumbass questions.”
Header: M. Night on July 9, 2010. Credit: WENN.
Written by Kaiser
Posted in M. Night Shyamalan, Rude
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39 Responses to “M. Night Shyamalan to reporter: “If I thought like you, I would kill myself””
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The reporter said that audiences have lost faith in his work. He’s saying that if he lost faith in his own work, he would kill himself.I don’t see how that is rude, it’s just truthful.
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now there’s a thought. m. night’s a fraud.
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Badly phrased, but I see his point. And his next movie had better be a hit. I need a good thriller.
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Frankly, I don’t care how he answers reporters’ questions. I don’t like how he has a role in every movie he makes; nor do I care for his arrogance and exceptionally “healthy” ego.
Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are his best work. Beyond that, everything else he’s done is crap.
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nah, I say Sixth Sense and Signs are his best work. Unbreakable was painfully awful.
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Bellaluna lots of directors make cameo’s in their films. Its not like he casts himself as the lead or something. He just has a short part. Also #1 Rachel said how I think he meant the comment to be taken. He wasn’t being rude.
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The reporter’s question is insulting and stupid. He/She’s basically calling MNS a sell out. Whether or not MNS is, who the eff cares? I think MNS answer is pretty polite considering the question. I wouldn’t have been so polite if someone called me that.
Besides, the reporter’s just miffed that she/he looked stupid for asking something stupid. She/he should have framed the question better.
Eh, Sixth Sense is the only movie I liked from MNS. The others, not so impressed.
btw I don’t think he’s a sellout. I just think he’s like everyone else who gets bored of making a certain movie and wants to try something different. Hell, I’d get bored making the same movie over and over again myself.
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All of his movies post “The Sixth Sense” have been unwatchable to the point of ridiculousness. He is such a joke.
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Heck, I like when someone answers a bitchy question with an equally bitchy answer. So I give him props for his response.
As far as his movies, M. Night’s movies usually have a good start and then looses it’s mystery and luster half way through, and end up a big let down in the end. With the exception of Sixth Sense and Signs.
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Personally, I hate it when anyone says they’d “kill themselves” if X happened. Casual references to committing suicide make me cringe.
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This dude doesn’t claim his ethnicity…..he is commercial. Nothing wrong with embracing other nationalities but doing so for your own expense ($) and commercialism and intentionally white-washing clearly ethnic characters screams of some deluded hollyweird money hungry monger. This would have been a good avenue to bring other nationalities to the big screen; he would have still earned money, because a good story, solid characters and fan base go a long way.
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Team shamahamamyalan.
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I loved his honest answer. Don’t ask the question if you aren’t able to accept the answer. He was not rude.
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Whatever, the guy is a grade A hack.
He is starting to approach the ‘Great’ Uwe Boll in terms of film-making crapulence.
Also in the pix he kind of looks like an aging gay ‘rent-boy’
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Bellaluna: many directors make appearances in their films. I think MNS does it as an homage to Alfred Hitchcock.
I haven’t seen all of his films, but I’ve enjoyed some that others haven’t, like Unbreakable (“They call me Mr Glass!”) but I think you hafta be a comic book fan to really appreciate that one. I liked Lady in the Water, too. I guess I still have faith that he’ll recapture the success he had with the Sixth Sense and Signs.
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I took my five year old niece and ten year old step nephew to see it and they loved it- they now sport the t-shirts and toys.
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That was a fantastic answer to what is commonly known in journalism as a loaded premise. He could have said “I don’t accept the premise of the question.” But this was good too.
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I saw the Last Airbender, it was’nt that bad. He stuck to the story, and let’s face it , it’s hard to make the transition from a cartoon to film esp. with something as complex as element bending.
I thought Dev Patel was awesome, he sounded just like the original character from the cartoon.
My main complaint about the film was his casting. Prince Zuko should have not been Indian, and the other two main characters should not have been white.
This movie was most definitely intended for a younger audience, I think he pulled it off.
Signs for me was M. Night’s best film.
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I liked Unbreakable and loved Lady in the Water. Sixth Sense was kind of okay, but I had it figured out way early so it lost something for me. I like him and I like the way he thinks, except for that suicide thing of course. That was a moronic way to express himself. After all, if he thought like her then how would he know that he would want to commit suicide for thinking like her? Anyway, I like that he obvs got a little mad and wasn’t too ass-kissy to show it.
It goes back to this: ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. Team Shamalamadingdong
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It’s the same shit again – making a sensation out of nothing. That was a rude question and he got emotional answering it but there was nothing offensive in his answer.
The sixth sense was great, last airbender was awfull. I don’t know if I will ever watch anything from him again.
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The Last Airbender made me want to kill myself. Wasted 2 hours of my life.
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That was an unfair, rude question and it got an honest if also slightly rude answer.
That said, even though I think he’s oddly cute, I am not an M. Night fan. I think ALL of his films are unwatchable, including the oh-so-beloved “Sixth Sense.” I thought it was dreck.
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Oh, who cares. Why does he need to stroke the ego of some reporter? He is the “artist” and artists don’t need to be diplomats. He’s no genius, but how do you think some of the great performers/writers/artists of the past would have dealt with a question like that? Her question was insulting. I’m not saying it isn’t honest, or what she thinks, but if she’s going to be blunt to the guy’s face, he has a right to be blunt back. Plus, what he says makes sense. If he thought he sucked, and had no faith in himself, might as well not “be” writer-director-actor M. Night, Shmalawhatever.
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Shorter-pompous ass gets asked stupid question. Answers accordingly.
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Dont particularly care for M. Night Shamalan movies. I find them to be very anti-climactic, its like its really good until the climax, then its like he kind of gave up and just threw ideas out there until the end. When I saw that he was directing The Last Airbender, I babysat while my friends (who are devout airbender cartoon fans) went. They said it was awful.
As for the question- If someone said that to me I would have had a bitchy response too.
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Although I have heard he is a douche I think he really did mean that if he lost faith in his own work he would kill himself a little melodramatic but understandable.
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As an overrated director he’s not allowed to answer a legitimate question in a such rude way.
He may have box office success but his movies suck (except The Sixt Sense).
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I’ve lost faith in his work.
Fortunately I don’t have to kill myself over it.
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okay, the real question is: WHY are most movies now 2 + hours long!!!!????!!!!
seriously-no topic warrants that length. 90 min and a solid film=success….
all of these directors and producers these days are SO full of themselves! I have never seen a 2 hr movie worthy of my time-ever!
But I’ve frequently seen 90 or 105 min. films that will always be memorable for me personally.
It’s to the point where I dont go if it’s 2 hrs or more.
none are captivating enough.
caveat: i went to scorcerer’s apprentic w/my child the other day-didnt realize it was that long!!! a kids movie 2 hrs? And, while I found it dragging at a couple of points, it was surprisingly entertaining to watch-great summer family flick.
Film makers: Remember, LESS is MORE….
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@jc126: I agree completely. It almost invalidates anything else that anyone on either side says for me. Oh, Pajiba with the Swear Bears–it always looks so odd when you it’s referenced on another site that doesn’t employ the same kind of language, and I’ve said some weird crap down there– it just brings out the fun-lovin’ crazy in you.
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Stupid question. Great answer.
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That reporter…really, really doesn’t understand a creative mindset. Usually people who feel they are artists don’t try to move or touch others thru commercialism. Duh.
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I think it is frustrating for movie makers and writers to have the media compare their stories. Each story is unique and some are better than others, but each stands on its own. This lady doesn’t get it and he answered a sarcastic and bitchy question with an equally bitchy answer. You get what you give, lady. I like him. Sixth Sense and Signs are great movies and he’s had others that are good too. Overall, not too damned bad. I’d take it!
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I am not a fan of all of M nights work but I think he is right…good for him for speaking his mind that reporter was a bully…not him!!!
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i don’t see the problem with the question, can someone explain why it is stupid?
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@blaugaro: I don’t really think it’s so much that the question per se was stupid, but that the reporter seemed stupid asking it, as well as a bit bitchy;
calling it a dumb f’n question may a bit harsh, but it’s easy to see that the question is totally lacking in depth and originality, and that is why it was not well received,
also, the reporter failed in that it came off as condescending, and was not at all deserved by the artist…his response says it all:
“Your impression of my career is not my impression of my career, your impression, it’s something you read on Google or something…”
Brilliant. He out-bitched the bitch a$$ reporter. Booyow!
But i do think he should have said “something you read on CeleBitchy or something…”
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I work with reporters every day and honestly, I think his answer was funny. Of course if I was his press person, I probably would have been rolling my eyes and using the “cut” signal with my hands to end the press conference.
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I wouldn’t say he was among my top 5 directors, but Lady in the Water moved me in a deep way (no pun intended.) I would never count him out as a storyteller. I think it is very hard to put your art up for criticism, and I thought he defended himself nobly against a really mean question from a reporter who said, as fact, “your audiences have lost faith in your work.” Thems fighting words, lady!
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Sixth Sense and Signs were his best movies…although I will never watch Signs again (because of Mel).
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