M. Night Shyamalan Says Old Is Like “Nothing Else” and He’s Still Working on the Ending

Throughout his career, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has embraced classic horror-movie tropes while also delivering fans ambitious and unique narratives, with the director recently sharing at the Tribeca Festival that his upcoming movie Old is like “nothing else” that a movie has explored. Shyamalan also noted that, despite the film landing in theaters in just over a month, he’s still working on its finale and how he could leave audiences with a devastating final sequence that will mirror the impact of some of his previous films, such as the final reveal of 2000’s Unbreakable. Old is currently slated to land exclusively in theaters on July 23rd.

“No one has ever seen anything like it in its tone and the way it’s just, I mean, it’s like nothing else,” Shyamalan shared at the event, per Dread Central. He also noted that the film is “inappropriate” and “subversive.”

The new film is described, “This summer, visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan unveils a chilling, mysterious new thriller about a family on a tropical holiday who discover that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly … reducing their entire lives into a single day.”

“I’m deciding on the minor note; how to end on a minor note,” Shyamalan detailed of the film’s final moments. “Unbreakable ends on a kind of a dip, right? He goes to the dark note, that minor note at the end. The guy you thought was the best friend is the villain … the minor note sticks to you forever.”

While the film is inspired by Frederik Peeters and Pierre Oscar Levy’s graphic novel Sandcastle, he pointed out that he also drew direct inspiration from his own life.

“My father’s very old right now. He has dementia. He comes and goes,” the filmmaker expressed. “And the kids are now directing and singing concerts and, you know, when did this happen? So I made a movie about that feeling.”

Old stars Gael García Bernal (Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), Rufus Sewell (Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle), Ken Leung (Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Jupiter Ascending), Abbey Lee (HBO’s Lovecraft Country), Aaron Pierre (Syfy’s Krypton), Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Embeth Davidtz (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Eliza Scanlen (Little Women), Emun Elliott (Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens), Kathleen Chalfant (Showtime’s The Affair), and Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit).

Old is currently slated to land exclusively in theaters on July 23rd.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!