How Split director M. Night Shyamalan and other mystery-film makers stop plot twists leaking out in social media age
Keeping the big reveal a surprise for audiences yet to watch a film is a challenge in the age of instant information; The Sixth Sense director says he’s swapped super-seclusion for faith in filmgoers to keep the secrets
Just imagine if social media had been around in 1999 for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense: Everybody breaking down its twists, opening-day memes with Bruce Willis as a ghost, the inevitable hashtag #ISeeDeadPeople.
Back then, it was easy for filmmakers to make a movie with secrets and surprises galore. In 2017, it’s tough making it to opening night with all its twists intact, though that hasn’t deterred Shyamalan, whose new thriller Split arrived in cinemas this week.
“I feel the way to make box office for me is to make the most unique movie of the year,” says Shyamalan, who became a Hollywood wunderkind in the early 2000s with his cinematic surprises. “I need you to feel like if you don’t see Split, there’s no way you can guess what the feeling of seeing Split is. And that creates an urgency to go.”
So far, so good for keeping the reveals – including one that will wow old-school fans – under wraps for Split, which centres on three teenage girls kidnapped by a man (played by James McAvoy) with 23 personalities. Shyamalan owes that to “this incredible conspiracy of kindness” from crowds who’ve seen it early at Austin’s Fantastic Fest in October and other screenings since. But it’s just one of several recent movies that has figured out how to keep its story or very existence on the down low.
“It’s so hard these days to contain any sense of secrecy, especially in something that is so collaborative like film work,” says Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “You’re talking about production assistants or just set visitors who have their phones on them and can take pictures. How many people are you going to have to gag to make sure the secrets stay?”
