Jaden Smith's Next 'Vehicle' Will Be An M. Night Shyamalan Sci-Fi Movie

M. Night Shyamalan has signed on to direct a sci-fi film called One Thousand A. E., which Will Smith's production company Overbrook will develop as a vehicle for Smith's son Jaden (The Karate Kid). Smart move, Shyamalan: If you want to get the public back on your side, Will Smith is probably the man to go to. As with every Shyamalan project, the details of this one are very top secret, but there is one intriguing bit of information that sounds potentially promising.

Shyamalan will not write this movie. He'll be directing a script from Gary Whitta who wrote The Book of Eli. Not that this fact guarantees anything. I'm positive Shyamalan isn't above making significant changes to a screenplay if he sees fit, and even if he films the thing word for word, there's always the possibility that he'll direct Smith to act like he just took a bunch of downers, which is my best explanation for Zooey Deschanel's performance in The Happening.

Also, it's possible I'd be even less optimistic had I actually seen The Last Airbender.

But even in some of his worst films, Shyamalan has a great visual sense (that shot in The Happening where the camera follows the gun from one person to the next as they kill themselves is a knock-out.) and with the right actors, he often teases out great, understated performances (see: Unbreakable). If the script's right, I think he could still make a very good movie. Thoughts?

[via Moviefone]