Per Deadline and The InSneider, Jake Gyllenhaal is set to star in the next project from M. Night Shyamalan, which is being billed as a supernatural romantic thriller. Additionally, Shyamalan is working with an unlikely collaborator: Nicholas Sparks, the man behind The Notebook. I can’t say I saw that coming either.
The untitled film is based on an original story co-created by Shyamalan and Sparks. Shyamalan will write a screenplay, and Sparks will write a novel. Both will be based on the same concept and set of characters but designed for their individual mediums. Interesting.
Trap, the director’s last movie, received some rather divisive reviews in true Shyamalan tradition. The film stars Josh Hartnett as a serial killer evading a police blockade while attending a concert with his daughter. Our own Tyler Nichols wasn’t a big fan, although he did find a few elements to enjoy. “Despite my negativity in this review, I didn’t outright hate Trap,” Nichols wrote. “The performances from both Hartnett and Pill are worth the price of admission. I could watch those two act in an empty room and be entertained. I’m just sick of Shyamalan creating these great concepts and being so incapable of sticking the landing. For every great moment in Trap, there’s an illogical one that feels like it was written by a teenager. Unless something changes, I think I may be done with Shyamalan in the theater.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.
Gyllenhaal had an eventful year. He starred in Prime Video’s Road House remake, which became one of the streaming service’s most-watched movies. Despite some mixed reviews, a sequel is already in development. Gyllenhaal also starred in Presumed Innocent, a legal thriller series for Apple TV+ based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Scott Turow. It follows a prosecutor who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of his colleague with whom he was having an affair. The series has been renewed for a second season but is expected to tackle a new story, and Gyllenhaal’s character is unlikely to appear.
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