Callum: This is Talk about English, live from London. I'm Callum Robertson and with me is Jackie Dalton and our guest today Vincent Dowd, BBC World Service Arts Reporter. Today we're talking about films.
Vincent, in your job do you have to interview directors/actors?
Vincent: (Replies)
Discuss – Interviewing experiences, difficult interviewees and interviewing someone about a film when the film is not very good.
Callum: It must be difficult sometimes when people involved in a movie have to promote it, try to sell it when it's not been very well accepted by the critics or reviewers.
Jackie: A recent film where this happened was the Lady in the Water by M. Night Shyamalan.
Callum: In 1999 the film The Sixth Sense brought the name of M. Night Shyamalan to the attention of the international cinema audience. He was hailed as the new Spielberg and became known for films which have magical and supernatural elements as well as surprising twists.
M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, Lady in the Water, is described a modern day fairy tale. It began as a bedtime story he used to tell his children and he's adapted it to become a movie.
Jackie: However the process of turning the story into a film wasn't an easy one. A film written down is called a screenplay or script and usually every script gets re- written a number of times – things are changed, corrections are made, problems fixed and so on. Each different version of the script is known as a draft. How many drafts did it take M. Night before he was finished and what does he think of the completed script?
M. Night Shyamalan It took a lot of drafts, it took 13 drafts, which is obviously a sign that I was in the wrong direction at first. But by the time we got to thirteen drafts we had one of those very special kind of things that could exist all by itself without even shooting a movie, it could exist and you could put it in front of somebody and they would read it and become enchanted by it, it had it's own language, you know.
Callum: It took 13 drafts before the final script was finished but he was very happy with the end result. He said that people would be enchanted by the script alone, they would find it magical, interesting and enjoyable. Enchanted. And what does he think of the finished movie?
M. Night Shyamalan I love the movie, I love the movie. The cast and crew love the movie, the studio loves the movie and there's a great deal of audience that loves the movie, standing ovations and stuff like that.
Callum: He is very pleased with the movie, he loves it. But that’s not all. He says that the cast and crew love the movie. The cast and crew is a useful expression for the people who act in and are involved in the making of the movie, the cast and crew. He also said that the studio – the company that gave him the money to make the film – loves it and that audiences have loved it, giving it a 'standing
ovation'. A standing ovation is when the audience stand up at the end and cheer and clap.
Jackie: In the film someone or some 'thing' appears in the swimming pool of an apartment complex. This character is not a human character but is a fantasy character from a fantasy land who has to return to her own world. We've heard that the author of story and director of the film, M. Night Shyamalan thinks it's an enchanting story but what do the critics think?
Callum: Mark Kermode is a reviewer who never hides his true feelings about the movies he sees. This is what he thought about the Lady in the Water.
Mark Kermode Absolutely idiotic script that nobody in their right mind would turn into a movie. It's awful, a whole career going down in flames in the sheer awfulness of it all. It is absolute self-indulgent waffle.
Callum: Oh dear. Not one of Mark's favourite films. The script that M Night Shyamalan describes as 'enchanting', Mark describes as 'idiotic'. He actually likes his other films but this one he thinks is so bad it is like a plane crash for M. Night's career. He describes it as being self-indulgent waffle. Waffle is a noun and a verb for when people talk or write a lot but without giving any important. By using the adjective self-indulgent Mark shows that he believes the writer allows himself to do exactly what he wants even if that is not necessarily the best thing. Listen again to Mark Kermode's comments.
Mark Kermode Absolutely idiotic script that nobody in their right mind would turn into a movie. It's awful, a whole career going down in flames in the sheer awfulness of it all. It is absolute self-indulgent waffle.
Callum: Well if you've seen this film I wonder what you think – is it enchanting or idiotic! Jackie, Vincent, have either of you seen this film?
Jackie / Vincent reply
Callum: How much notice of reviewers and critics do you take in choosing what you go and see, do you think the critics can make or break a film?
All discuss
Callum: To get another view on this I spoke to another one of our listeners, Susanna from Italy
SUSANNA PHONE CALL Reads reviews and critics but doesn't change her mind Likes English actors Favourite film Out of Africa Films are important for the mind and emotions – help escape from stress of life.
Callum: That was Susana from Italy. If you would like to talk to us in future programmes about any of the topics we discuss then send us an email to: