With Wayward Pines drawing decent reviews on TV and some buzz about his latest film, The Visit, M. Night Shyamalan is hoping for a career upswing after the likes of The Last Airbender and After Earth. He’s got a new, untitled movie set up with Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions, and he has Joaquin Phoenix negotiating for a lead role.
The pair, of course, are old collaborators, with Phoenix having appeared in both Signs and The Village. This new one is being kept a closely guarded secret, but it will, as is often the case with the director, shoot in Philadelphia (he likes to stay close to home with most of his movies). And, like The Visit – budgeted at Blumhouse’s standard $5 million, which Shyamalan put up himself – it’ll be another less expensive effort. Especially compared to the last time Phoenix worked with him.
Shyamalan will start the cameras rolling this November and we can expect the film next year. The Visit, which sees two kids finding something very wrong when they go to see their grandparents, is due here on September 11. As for Phoenix, his latest, Woody Allen comedy drama Irrational Man, arrives the same day.