M. Night Shyamalan reveals the artwork for his upcoming film Old and a photo from the set

Director M. Night Shyamalan served up another surprise for his fans on Saturday by revealing the title and poster artwork for his upcoming movie Old on social media.

The 50-year-old thriller filmmaker also announced that he had started shooting the secretive movie with a photo of himself on set.

So far, little is known about the project, though Gael Garcia Bernal, Eliza Scanlen and Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps are among the actors announced to star in it.

Back to work: Director M. Night Shyamalan, 50, revealed the artwork and title of his upcoming thriller Old on Saturday

Shyamalan sounded overjoyed to finally be working on his next big project.

‘Feels like a miracle that I am standing here shooting the first shot of my new film. It’s called Old,’ he wrote on his social media accounts.

The occasional actor’s photo showed him on top of a hill in a gray shirt and sporting shaggy hair as his crew set up a shot behind him.

He held up the slate board, which confirmed the movie’s name and helps to maintain continuity when it’s time to edit the footage. 

Shyamalan and all is crew appeared to be wearing masks, and the actors likely had to quarantine in advance in accordance with new safety procedures. 

New project: Shyamalan shared a photo from the set for the first day of filming. 'Feels like a miracle that I am standing here shooting the first shot of my new film. It's called Old,' he wrote

New project: Shyamalan shared a photo from the set for the first day of filming. ‘Feels like a miracle that I am standing here shooting the first shot of my new film. It’s called Old,’ he wrote

Creepy! The stylish artwork featured an hour glass, but with falling bodies instead of sand. 'It's only a matter of time,' reads the tagline

Creepy! The stylish artwork featured an hour glass, but with falling bodies instead of sand. ‘It’s only a matter of time,’ reads the tagline

It was previously reported that his new film would be another thriller, and the chilling poster design confirms as much.

The stylish and white artwork features an extreme closeup of what at first appears to be an hourglass with sand pooling at the bottom.

But a closer look reveals that the sand is compromised of human bodies plummeting in contorted positions.

‘It’s only a matter of time,’ reads the tagline, while the movie is described as ‘A new trip from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan.’

The initial casting announcement for the movie featured an all-star slate of actors including Gael Garcia Bernal, Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff, Vicky Krieps, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Ken Leung.

Deadline reported last month that Rufus Sewell, Embeth Davidtz and Emun Elliott were also joining the already stacked cast.

Star studded: Gael Garcia Bernal, Eliza Scanlen and Phantom Thread's Vicky Krieps are among the stacked cast. It's inspired by the French graphic novel Sandcastle, according to Collider; shown in November 2019

Star studded: Gael Garcia Bernal, Eliza Scanlen and Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps are among the stacked cast. It’s inspired by the French graphic novel Sandcastle, according to Collider; shown in November 2019

As is typical with a Shyamalan production, little is known about the plot, and it’s unclear if this movie will be connected to his earlier works, such as his trilogy of Unbreakable (2000), Split (2016) and Glass (2019).

Despite a lack of official details, the movie is based on the French graphic novel Sandcastle, written by Pierre Oscar Levy and with artwork by Frederik Peeters, according to Collider

The outlet reported that Shyamalan received a copy of the comic book as a Father’s Day gift, and he was so taken by it that he purchased the rights to use as a starting point for his film.

The film allegedly begins with the discovery of a dead body on a beach, which leads to disturbing realizations that something is amiss with the beach. 

Preparation: Shyamalan hinted at the graphic novel's beach location with a photo of himself scouting locations at a beach on September 17

Preparation: Shyamalan hinted at the graphic novel’s beach location with a photo of himself scouting locations at a beach on September 17

Shyamalan has previously posted a photo of himself that featured Sandcastle in the background, and he posted an Instagram selfie on September 17 that showed him at a tropical beach resort.

‘Me tech scouting my new feature film. We are a little over a week away from shooting. Feel lucky to be telling stories again,’ he captioned it.

Following a string of poorly received thrillers and sci-fi films in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Shyamalan returned to relevance with the horror film The Visit, which earned $98.5 million against a paltry $5 million budget.

He followed it up with the critically acclaimed box office hit Split, which starred James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy.

The film was part of the same universe as his earlier thriller Unbreakable, and that films stars Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson joined McAvoy and Taylor-Joy in last year’s Glass, the conclusion to the trilogy. 

Back on top: The director roared back to relevance with his blockbuster thriller Split (2017), which only cost $5 million but earned $278.5 million; James McAvoy pictured in Split

Back on top: The director roared back to relevance with his blockbuster thriller Split (2017), which only cost $5 million but earned $278.5 million; James McAvoy pictured in Split

Leave a Comment