A slew of ‘critical failures’ is the kind of thing that would give any filmmaker writers’ block, right? Not so for M Night – his latest, The Happening, is the easiest film he’s ever made, he tells Saroni Roy

After his dazzling debut feature The Sixth Sense, Indian-American filmmaker M Night Shyamalan has seen his fanbase slowly dwindle with a series of commercial and critical failures, the most recent being The Lady in the Water in 2006. His latest release is The Happening, starring Mark Wahlberg – yet another scary movie in which strange things happen to normal people. Will it succeed?

How do you deal with criticism of your recent films?
It’s about different perceptions. For instance, The Sixth Sense had mediocre to bad reviews. Slowly, the audience pushed it and it received critical attention. I have worked hard and learnt that I have to make a decision – whether I am going to conform and protect myself or not. I chose not to. So if The Happening makes a billion dollars, we will be happy for the producers but I am not going to be loved any more or any less. When Unbreakable or The Village came out, the same thing happened. My movies don’t get acclaim the day they come. I have to wait longer.

Do you make movies the way you want, or do you make them for an audience?
You can do both: you can make it meaningful on a personal level. Also, enchant the world with the writing. I do both. My wife keeps asking me to make films like others do. But I can’t. I wish I could make a popcorn version of Unbreakable.

How did The Happening take shape?
I have failed twice. So I sat back and thought, where am I going wrong here? I wrote The Sixth Sense and luckily got an opportunity to make it into a film. Unbreakable didn’t work initially, but it went on to become the number one film. Signs, with Mel Gibson, was my biggest writing experience. The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were torturous, too many drafts. Nevertheless, there was an emotionality and spirituality about them. After that I did The Village. I was intrigued by Wuthering Heights, and wanted to make it into a movie where people do something phenomenal. Then I made Lady in the Water, which was a story for my children. Right after Lady in the Water, I got this very scary idea that culminated in The Happening.

The film came pretty easily; it’s the easiest I’ve done. It’s a story about people who are trapped in an area where something strange happens. The emotional centre of the movie is – if you really love someone and you know you are going to die, what would the conversation be like? What would be the last line you say? Would you see each other in a different light?

Why do you insist on making a cameo appearance in each of your films?
It’s more important for me to be a part of the film in some way rather than to be an outsider from the independent world of filmmaking. I would love to play the lead role, but it’s physically impossible.

Why do children play such a huge part in your films?
I grew up watching Steven Spielberg and scary movies. I was around ten or 11 when Spielberg made all those amazing movies like ET, where a child has a belief and he makes adults believe in it. Even in Unbreakable or any of my films, a child always plays a significant character.

What’s next?
My next movie is called Avatar: The Last Airbender for Paramount. It’s a fantasy, inspired by a Japanese animated series, and has a lot of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.

The Happening is in cinemas now.