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This would be very interesting. I would love to see this come to fruition:

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/718/718799p1.html

July 14, 2006 - While doing press tours for his upcoming film, Lady in the Water, which releases on July 21st, director M. Night Shyamalan has been spreading the word that he may be interested in directing one of the final two Potter films.

The director told Comingsoon.net that he had been approached in the past and is interested in directing future installments under the right circumstances.

"You know, that Harry Potter dance has gone on a long time," he told Comingsoon. "The problem is that it is a living breathing thing now, all by itself. When it comes over to my camp, it needs to be kind of handed over, adoption papers and everything. That's a tricky move."


"I haven't met with J.K. [Rowling]," he continued. "The first one was offered to me, but that conflicted with Unbreakable, which was unfortunate. I would definitely [be interested], but I think probably before that I would adapt a book. I've gotten close a few times to adapting books."

The PotterCast web site recently conducted an interview with Shyamalan about the prospect. The interview will run in full form on Sunday, but the site offered a few preview quotes from Shyamalan.

"I would be the greatest protector of an author's stuff," he said. "Especially things that I respect, that I know there's inherently magic in it. I would be very wary of screwing it up, so I would be very careful... There's no way that it would be missed by lack of effort or lack of care or lack of attention. I would be giving it every single iota...I would cherish it."

"The themes that run through it...the empowering of children, a positive outlook...you name it, it falls in line with my beliefs," he said. "I enjoy the humor in it. When I read the first Harry Potter and was thinking about making it, I had a whole different vibe in my head of it. [There would be] a lot at stake emotionally. The teaching of magic would be desperately needed, there would be a lot riding on it."

Again, that full interview will be available on PotterCast.com this Sunday.

IGN will keep you posted if more news of Shyamalan's involvement in the franchise comes forth.

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I love his style, and think that he could really do a great job with Harry Potter.

I would love to see him do HBP. That is exactly the right one of the 7 for him to do. I can't wait to see if he's official!

Well I like Harry Potter and Like the work of Night I kind of see this as mixing oil and water.

I don't know. I really don't. The fact is, he's lost the plot. Sixth Sense was good - it does suffer after the first viewing, Unbreakable was outstanding, absolutely outstanding. But his other films? Meh. Filled with nonsense just to reveal the illogical "twist" at the end. Rubbish.

I'm not that convinced of his skill as a director either, but I haven't really studied his films from that angle. I know, unlike some films, I've never particularly noticed any stand-out shots or scenes.

Personally, I think Harry Potter would be better off without him.

I don't think he should do Harry Potter. He is really good directing with suspense and stuff, but characterization which is a core of Harry Potter.. he never really achieves that well. I wish Hithcock was still alive, I think it would be perfect if he directed one of the movies. And M Night is known for those huge plot holes he leaves *The Village anyone?* He might cut something crucial to the books.

Well as someone who really likes the books and has yet to be hugely impressed by one of the movies, this excites me somewhat.

In terms of "filmography" M. Night Shyamalan has a much better one the the 3 directors who worked on the first 4 films(won't comment on David Yates as I don't know anything about him really), and considering I'm reading the 6th book now, I think it's up that guy's alley.

I perfer he doesn't get invovled in the Potter franchise, I don't care much for his way of film making.

Funny - are any of the next H.P. movies about mysterious ghosts, aliens, or terrors? I doubt he'd be a good choice.

I think he could be a good choice, but he would need a lot of help not to screw it up. So far, he's gone 2-4 with his movies (Sixth Sense and Signs were good; Unbreakable was terrible and The Village lost me when the 'plot twist' was revealed), and am waiting to see how he'll do with his next film, Lady in the Water.

Argh!
JM

Shyamalan has potential for directing a Potter film. He's come out with a couple of great films, Signs and The Sixth Sense. The only other one of his that I have seen is the Village, and while that had some potential I think he really screwed it up. The "twist" was obvious from the beginning in my opinion. However, most of his films seem to have this tone which I can't figure out how to describe, and I'm not sure if it fits Harry Potter or not. However, I think he has done some amazing directing in his past and will have the potential to bring something spectacular to the Potter series.

I'm not sure how I feel about this possibility... has Shyamalan become to narrow in scope for this different a project? I'm not sure. Many of you may not have seen his first film, <i>Wide Awake</i>, but it's drastically different from his other movies (billed as a comedy but really more of a dramedy) and an amazing movie. So he is capable of variety, but then that was before his string of eeriness. I've liked some of his movies and disliked others but if he's going to adapt <i>Potter</i>, he needs to be willing to move away from the <i>Signs</i> style (and that's not a diss, as I loved <i>Signs</i>). His quotes at the end of the article are encouraging, but I can't help but have my misgivings over the idea.

-Aaron

Just Myself wrote:I think he could be a good choice, but he would need a lot of help not to screw it up.

That's what I meant. He's a talented director (though I thought Signs was really stupid). But I think he would find himself often coming up with nothing on a film like this.

Lazario wrote:Funny - are any of the next H.P. movies about terrors? I doubt he'd be a good choice.

Well, aren't all the Harry Potter books about "terrors"?

While he's talented at making "horror" movies, I'm sure he has more to his life than telling freaky stories. There's nothing wrong with a director trying something "new". As Aaron said, his first film is extremely different than any of his others, so I think he could make it work.

The fact they originally approached him for the first one makes me think that they have a lot of faith in him for it. And he also seems the one to keep it true to the first movies.

Timon/Pumbaa fan wrote:While he's talented at making "horror" movies...

Heh. That's exactly how I'd describe his films as well. To my knowledge he was never asked to participate in the Masters of Horror series they made (or are still making) for Showtime. So I'd have to say he just makes supernatural thrillers, not horror movies.

Big mistake... like getting any other non-British director to do these movies. The only decent HP movie so far has been the one with a British director; this should've been done from the start. Rowling made such a big deal out of wanting an all-British cast, but doesn't mind when an American hack like Chris Columbus is hired? Jeez...

I love M. Night Shyamalan, and own all the movies - but I think Harry Potter is a terrible fit for him. He's too off-the-wall in his style...I just don't see him able to carry the flow of the current HP series.

I guess what will be will be - I am curious as to what the final product would look like, though.

I would go for it. I believe it does a director good to try projects outside their comfort zone to test their abilities. He is incredible in creating a movie's atmosphere and keeping the audience in suspence but these predictable "twisting" endings are getting tiresome. Otherwise you end up like Woody Allen remaking "Annie Hall" for the rest of your career.

As Hitchcock once said "Plagiarism of oneself is style" Of course he was joking about himself.