Shyamalan and Willis reunite for "Labor of Love"

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/ber...malan-bruce-willis-re-team-for-labor-of-love/

Berlin: ‘Sixth Sense’s M. Night Shyamalan, Bruce Willis Re-Team For ‘Labor Of Love’
By MIKE FLEMING JR

EXCLUSIVE: M. Night Shyamalan is in talks to re-team with Bruce Willis in Labor Of Love, based on one of the very first scripts Shyamalan sold in his career. The project will be financed by Emmett/Furla/Oasis, which is coming off the twice Oscar-nominated hit Lone Survivor and is prepping the Martin Scorsese-directed Silence. The plan is to start production mid-September in Philadelphia. IM Global’s Stuart Ford is making a deal to sell the picture in Berlin. Randall Emmett and George Furla are producing with Blinding Edge’s Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan.

Shyamalan and Willis made The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, which are my two favorite films by the director. This project goes back even further, as it was one of the very first screenplays that Shyamalan sold. This one went to Fox in 1993, but it didn’t get made back then because Shyamalan was fighting to get into the director’s chair and the studio wasn’t biting. The script came into play several years ago when Denzel Washington was eyeing it.

It’s a lot closer to Shyamalan’s first script Praying With Anger than the supernatural stuff he did later. In Labor Of Love, Willis will play a Philadelphia book store owner who loses the love of his life in a tragic accident. Never big on words, he becomes haunted by the notion that he never properly told his wife how much he loved her. Since she once asked if he would walk across the country for her, he decides to show her posthumously just how much he did love her. That trek starts from Philadelphia to Pacifica, CA, which was her favorite place. Fox controls the script, but I’m told this is being worked out and should be all sorted by next month when it becomes a hot title in Berlin.

Shyamalan and Emmett/Furla/Oasis are repped by WME, and Willis by CAA.

Something from earlier in his career that doesn't sound completely terrible? Huh.... but with him, we'll see.

 

[Mr.M]

Kind of shocking that M. Night is still getting work. Enough is enough. He needs to find a new profession. Who am I to talk though, been laid off enough times, another one forthcoming.

 

[jacobed]

For some reason I can't help but to always root for m might

 

[LordofhouseEl]

For some reason I can't help but to always root for m might

His am underdog now that's probably why, what he needs to do is go away for a few years and come back with something that blows peoples minds. Somewhere deep in the chasm that is Shyamalans mind lies the guy who gave the world sixth sense and unbreakable.

 

[Octoberist]

Labor of Nasty.

 

[Lily Adler]

This sound really good, but then I saw the director and now... I. Don't. Know...

You'd think after 'After Earth' and 'The Last Airbender' he would go into seclusion for a few years.

 

[Octoberist]

Dude he hasn't made a legit good movie in a decade. Before The Last Airbender.

M.Night is like a drug-addicted friend who promises to be clean. And then goes back. Repeat.

 

[Incarnadine]

Well, if it's from earlier in his career at least there's hope. His early stuff was great, but went down the toilet fast.

6TH Sense - Brilliant
Unbreakable- Damn near as good, with a couple of minor flaws
Signs- Major flaws, but incredible at building suspense. Still quite good.

Everything that followed literally gets worse with each successive movie.

 

[Teelie]

And in a shocking twist near the end we find out it was in fact Bruce Willis' character who died and his wife lived. He's a ghost going coast to coast.

 

[StarLord]

And in a shocking twist near the end we find out it was in fact Bruce Willis' character who died and his wife lived. He's a ghost going coast to coast.

Earth Ghost Coast to Coast.

 

[Senator Pleasury]

Oh, this just can't fail.

 

[dark_b]

he is a good director IMO. After Earth was not good but it in no way was bad.

 

[Octoberist]

I think he can make 20 more bad movies and he can still have the most loyal of fans

He is talented but has wasted it with his misguidedness and ego. It's hard to say if he's a 'good' director anymore. After 5 duds? "He's got one more in him!" Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[Bruce Banner]

But could a present day Shyamalan make not let Willis give a performance like most as of late?

 

[dude stannis]

Good luck on getting Bruce Willis to display any form of upward mobility.

I will say this, he directed the hell out of After Earth, so maybe without Jaden Smith he might finally have a winner.