M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN

Movies will end up being this esoteric art form, where only singular people will put films out in a small group of theaters.

My normal cycle for movies is eighteen months and each part is separate.

I'm a big believer in our connection to nature.

Movie making is not like other art forms, like painting, or writing a novel, because that can be digested or interpreted... It takes two years to make each one of these, and it's always judged on money.

If ever I was feeling down I would go and write something. It's a form of escape.

If I had a big brother who was a year older than me or something, I probably wouldn't have ended up being a filmmaker.

I like to write in a shroud of secrecy because I have to keep finding ways to scare myself.

Anime is intended to have ambiguous features. That's part of the art form.

The first two movies I directed failed, when I was 21 and 23, and that was the greatest thing that could have happened.

There are a lot of things I can take, and a few that I can't. What I can't take is when my older brother, who's everything that I want to be, starts losing faith in things. I saw that look in your eyes last night. I don't ever want to see that look in your eyes again.

The combination of the CGI, 3-D, and sound effects, it's just impossible to separate them. It gives you a more immersive experience, and I prefer that.

I have worked hard and learnt that I have to make a decision - whether I am going to conform and protect myself or not. I chose not to.

Are you in my dream too?

For instance, 'The Sixth Sense' had mediocre to bad reviews. Slowly, the audience pushed it and it received critical attention.

I don't want to pretend I'm any cooler or smarter than I am.

The thing that's protected me creatively is that the movies have made profits.

I don't like to chase an audience. You can smell when someone is chasing an audience and it's not good.

My secret to all casting, and specifically kids, is cast good human beings.

Over the course of history, the people who are not scared go into the woods and are mauled by a bear, are not going to survive.

If I'm hesitant at all about an idea, then that's not the right idea.

'The Last Airbender' is genetically engineered for me. I love martial arts. I study it. The movie's based on a lot of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy. I was raised Hindu.

'The Exorcist' is the scariest movie ever made. It just felt dead-on real, like you were watching the existence of the devil.

When I was a kid, I had two great guilty pleasures. One was horror movies and the other was martial arts movies.

Is it possible that there are no coincidences?

When you say 'fear of the unknown', that is the definition of fear; fear is the unknown, fear is what you do not know, and it's genetically within us so that we feel safe. We feel scared of the woods because we're not familiar with it, and that keeps you safe.