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M. Night Shyamalan will be debuting his first TV project next year, executive producing and directing the pilot for FOX’s new Wayward Pines. Wayward Pines is one of several new FOX projects intended as a limited run series (we used to just call them miniseries), with a beginning, middle and end delivered over the course of several episodes, rather than multiple seasons.
Based on the book of the same name, Wayward Pines will star Matt Dillon as a secret service agent who comes to as small town to investigate the disappearance of two federal agents. Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) also stars.
I spoke to Shyamalan about what brought him to Wayward Pines, casting Dillon and comparisons to Twin Peaks.
IGN TV: What was it about Wayward Pines that drew you in as your first TV project?
M. Night Shyamalan: You know, it was very organic. There was no agenda. There’s always been a conversation about whether to do TV or when to do it, all that stuff. I’ve just kind of been opening my mind to it and talking to people and meeting everyone. [Chairman of Fox Broadcasting] Peter Rice and I go way back, and I got to meet [Chairman of Entertainment] Kevin Reilly. They sent me the pilot [script], and I loved it. I said, “Okay, I need to know where this is going.” I don’t want to tell you too much, because it’s very trippy. You don’t know what’s going on. When I asked where it’s going and I learned all about where it’s going to go, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the backstory was so thought provoking and fascinating. Right up my alley, in every way -- the things I was thinking about, the themes of the backstory. So I was really excited about it.
Then I met everybody involved. It was all just very organic. “What are we talking about? How do we want to do this? How does TV work, really?” Literally, I was like, “How does this work?” So the more we talked, every conversation made it clearer and easier to do. We could do something provocative. Really, FOX has given me every indication that they want me to do something different. That’s what I said, I literally asked, “Honestly, tell me what the constraints are, if any.” They said, “You don’t have any constraints. Whatever you feel.” So my quote was “If I want to shoot the main character through the back of his head while he’s doing this speech, are you alright with that?” And they’re like, “Yeah!” So it was exciting because it makes it feel like you get a chance -- I want it to be like if you change the channels and get on that that in 20 seconds you’d know it’s something different, and you stay to find out what’s going on.
IGN: How did Matt Dillon get involved?
Shyamalan: We just kind of thought about who would be great for the main character, and I wanted a real film actor, somebody that I loved and respected and I’d been watching. Somebody who could do the masculine and maybe a little bit of humor if I wanted it, here and there -- if he had that muscle, he would be great, and it turns out Matt does have that muscle. But he’s such a likable guy on screen. Even when he plays dark characters, he’s relatable to me. Ideally, I did want the character to have some darkness to him, but you still root for him. I wanted him complex.
IGN: Twin Peaks is sort of a touchstone for people for weird mystery stories. Do you have to push that aside when you’re doing your own weird mystery story for TV?
Shyamalan: Yeah, you know, definitely that’s iconic. Stepford Wives is another kind of touchstone for me in terms of odd tone, like, “What’s going on? Why’s everyone acting so weird?” That vibe, if that’s what you’re feeling, we’re in a good place. I hear it in my head, the tone. I just have to get the actors and the camera to do what I’m hearing in my head. Hopefully I can get something like that. It always comes out messed up, but my head… I can never get it right! [Laughs] But as long as I can hear it, I’m not copying anybody. I don’t like copying anything, so the specificity will be the way you’ll know that it’s different. I think you won’t feel that. You’ll just know that something weird’s going on, and that will hopefully keep you coming back, going, “I think I know,” then you go, “Oh! I didn’t think it was that!”
Wayward Pines premieres in 2014 on FOX.
