Olddirector has an idea for a sequel to his most recent twisted thriller…though he isn’t sure if he ever wants to actually make it. The divisive director discussed the idea of a sequel toOld, revealing that, while he does know what he would do with a return, he’s ready to move onto something new. At least, for now.
“You know me, I’m the opposite of franchise. The excitement is todo something original. However, I did think of another idea. I said to the guy at my work, ‘I just thought of another thing’ [but] we’re never going to do that. Let’s just move on to the other movies.”
Inspired by the French graphic novelSandcastleby, Pierre Oscar Levy and artist Frederik Peeters,Oldbegins with a family on a tropical vacation on a perfect beach day, or so they thought. The family, who are joined by several others, soon discover that the idyllic cove filled with rock pools and sandy shore, encircled by green, densely vegetated cliffs is not what it appears to be. No, this utopia hides a dark secret. First there is the dead body of a woman found floating in the crystal-clear water. Then there is the odd fact that all the children are aging rapidly. Sooneverybody is growing olderevery half hour, reducing their entire lives into a single day, and there doesn’t seem to be any way out of the cove…
Without giving away too manySPOILERS, the movie does end in a very different way to the source material that inspired it, and could quite easily lead to further exploration of the mysterious beach. Though, of course, this being M. Night Shyamalan,Old 2would not doubt bring further twists and turns to delight, frustrate and amuse audiences in equal measure.
So far, the only time thatM. Night Shyamalanhas returned to a world of his creation is with the 2016 psychological horror movieSplit, which, in a twist that did genuinely surprise everybody, turned out to be set in the same universe as 2000’sUnbreakable. This led to the finaleGlassin 2019, a cinematic effort which forced the filmmaker to resist becoming the director he once was, as opposed to the one he is now.
“Part of it is, ironically, not wanting to stay the same person that I was two years ago. I don’t need to keep celebrating that for commercial ends,” he explains. “Even when I went back to make Split and Glass, I definitely did not want to go back to my 29-year-old self and attempt to recreate that point of view. It’s disconcerting - I’m pretending to be something that I’m not. By the time it takes to finish a movie - it takes almost two years - I’m a completely different person. I’m ready totell a different type of story.”
As has become something of a trend with the movies of M. Night Shyamalan,Oldreceived mixed reviews from critics, with some believing he has returned to form, while others made comparisons toThe Happening. If you wish to judge for yourself, and wonder what a follow-up would entail,Oldis out now. This comes to us fromGames Radar.
