M. Night Shyamalan’s New Movie Old Inspired by Creepy Graphic Novel About Aging

Michael Roffman
·3 min read

The post M. Night Shyamalan’s New Movie Old Inspired by Creepy Graphic Novel About Aging appeared first on Consequence of Sound.

M. Night Shyamalan has another creepy story up his sleeve — an entire graphic novel, in fact. Over the weekend, the veteran filmmaker confirmed on Twitter that he’s in production on his follow-up to 2019’s Glass, writing: “Feels like a miracle that I am standing here shooting the first shot of my new film. It’s called Old.”

Save for some early artwork, which you can view below, Shyamalan is keeping mum on the details as he’s wont to do. However, Collider reports that Old is inspired by Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters’ 2010 terrifying graphic novel Sandcastle. The gist of the story involves 13 people who rapidly age on a remote beach.

Here’s the full synopsis via Booklist:

By a tidal pool near a small beach on France’s Mediterranean coast, a North African–looking man glimpses a young woman stripping to swim. Later, but still early in the morning, three families intent on sunbathing and picnicking encounter the man, then find the girl’s corpse in the pool. One paterfamilias, a racist, xenophobic physician, angrily accuses the North African of murder and calls the cops. While awaiting the police, the doctor’s mother dies. The young children of two of the families start growing, the little ones right out of their swimsuits and the preteens into puberty. The adults are changing, too. Attempts to leave the area prove futile, and further calls don’t go through. At the rate they’re aging, they’ll all be dead by tomorrow morning. Peeters’ accomplished European realist comics style and Lévy’s utterly natural dialogue suit to a tee this maximally eerie, unsettlingly plein air exercise that Kafkaesquely defies all explanation.

Shyamalan reportedly received the graphic novel as a gift for Father’s Day, and scooped up the rights shortly after. Nevertheless, this is a choice story for the filmmaker, who tends to thrive when things stay relatively contained and minimal. At the very least, it’s more intriguing than another sequel to one of his older films. Sheesh.

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If all goes according to plan, we’ll be seeing Old hit theaters on July 23rd, 2021. Once again, Shyamalan has assembled an epic cast that includes: Gael García Bernal, Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff, Vicky Krieps, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Rufus Sewell, Embeth Davidtz, and Emun Elliott.

Editor’s Note: Stay safe by picking up one of our custom face masks. A portion of the proceeds will benefit MusiCares’ COVID-19 Artist Relief fund supporting independent musicians.

M. Night Shyamalan’s New Movie Old Inspired by Creepy Graphic Novel About Aging
Michael Roffman

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