*Major SPOILER ALERT ahead*
The success of Split has skyrocketed M. Night Shyamalan back into the mainstream. Thanks to the thriller doing better than expected at the box office. The feature delivered a strong performance from the lead James McAvoy and, with the ending of the film, all manner of possibilities have opened up.
For those who have seen the title, the crossover with Unbreakable was the major reveal to indicate that the 2000 movie starring Bruce Willis occurred in the same universe. Willis' character David Dunn made a cameo appearance at the end and with Split essentially becoming Unbreakable 2, the director has talked about bringing the two together for a third installment.
Crossover To Become Priority Number 1
As Shyamalan juggles a number of projects on his plate, does he see this crossover as his main task? Talking to Collider, the filmmaker had a positive answer.
“I think so. I think it’s the next thing," replied the director. "I have a pretty detailed outline of like beats, scenes. It’s very long, which is worrying me, but I don’t see how we can—probably by its nature it needs to be kind of epic. The storyline that I’ve thought through feels very intricate.”
Does he have even a rough outline to work with, and if so, where is it at?
“My thought bubble would be—again don’t hold me to this—but Elijah never got out of the institution. He was just a guy who believed this, but David doesn’t quite 100% believe it that way, he just thinks that he is particularly meant to do this and is kind of faded a little bit. Like this idea of comic books that Elijah was saying the comic book world is based on reality, that it’s real—there’s no other evidence for this. It’s this crazy guy who has this bone disorder who’s in an insane asylum. But then this comes up and he’s like, ‘Oh my God, he’s right.’”
Following the role of Mr. Glass in the hit original, Samuel L. Jackson had talks with Shyamalan about reprising the villain in the wheelchair.
“I said, ‘You know I might be doing this movie and I might combine these two movies, I don’t know if you’re interested in playing Mr. Glass (again),’ he’s like ‘I’m dying to play Mr. Glass! I keep telling you every time I see you!’”
Has To Be Unique and Stand Alone
Despite the two films not experiencing much in common with their characters, the two contrasts would make for intriguing viewing. But what type will it be - a sequel or something entirely different?
“All I can say is this: If Unbreakable was about a guy who is the only person who survives a train wreck, everyone dies and he doesn’t have a scratch on him. How is that possible? That’s a high concept, really cool story," explained Shyamalan. "And then this one is three girls get abducted by a person that has this disorder that he believes he’s many people, and all of the different personalities are saying there’s another personality coming to get them, it’s called The Beast. That in and of itself is a really cool thing. This third movie needs to have its own idea. The high concept of that final movie can’t be, ‘It’s the final Unbreakable.’ There has to be something about that that makes it its own movie… That’s when I’ll be happiest, is when it’s its own movie. In a way it could be watched by itself.”
"There was another version of the credit sequence which was comic book, which was graphic images of The Beast and then David Dunn and then Elijah and then them all mixing together. When I saw it done I was like, ‘This is a f***ing home run,’ and then when I put it on the movie it didn’t work… It’s one thing to say, ‘You saw an origin story,’ but to go into other characters…David Dunn is reacting to the news of The Horde. End of story. If you keep going it starts to undermine the movie you just saw.”
Source: Collider
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