M Night Shyamalan, Jake Gyllenhaal and Nicholas Sparks are making a movie

M Night Shyamalan
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Jake Gyllenhaal is reportedly going to star in a supernatural romantic thriller, a collaboration between M Night Shyamalan and novelist Nicholas Sparks.


Hereā€™s a slightly unusual bit of news for you (only slightly, mind). Months after the release of his latest opus, Trap, M Night Shyamalan is about to make another thriller, this time starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Nothing too unusual about that, you might think. But in a cross-media twist, the project will involve Shyamalan writing the screenplay and Nicholas Sparks ā€“ independently, we might add ā€“ writing the novel.

According to Deadline, which has the exclusive, the project is a ā€˜supernatural romantic thrillerā€™, and both Shyamalan and Sparks will base their respective works on the same ā€˜original love storyā€™.

Both Shyamalan and Sparks are, of course, highly successful in their respective fields. Shyamalanā€™s signature film arguably remains The Sixth Sense, released in 1999, but heā€™s also enjoyed success with such films as Unbreakable, The Visit and Split, while his 2024 ā€˜serial killer at a concertā€™ thriller received mix reviews, Josh Hartnett evidently had a rare old time playing the seemingly charming Cooper, a loving father and hobbyist murderer.

Read more: Trap review | A deliciously goofy killer thriller

Sparks, meanwhile, has seen a string of his swooning romance novels turned into movies, including The Best Of Me, The Notebook, A Walk To Remember and This Town Ainā€™t Big Enough For The Both Of Us. (Wrong Sparks, you clot ā€“ Ed.)

At this stage, thereā€™s no word as to what Shyamalan and Sparksā€™ story will be about, or what role Jake Gyllenhaal ā€“ who tends to be drawn to troubled, brooding characters ā€“ will play. Shyamalanā€™s storytelling tends to lean more towards the murkier side of the human experience, so weā€™ll have to see how that meshes with the swooning melodrama that has seen Sparks sell about 115 million books worldwide.

More on this Shyamalan, Gyllenhaal and Sparks power project as it comes in. Meanwhile, weā€™ll leave you with the song that Shyamalan absolutely, definitely ought to have playing over his movieā€™s opening credits. (Youā€™re fired ā€“ Ed.)

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