- Notes provided by 20th Century Fox. -

Science will come up with some reason to put in the books, but in the end it'll be just a theory. We will fail to acknowledge that there are forces at work beyond our understanding." -- from THE HAPPENING
From director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs) comes a lightning-paced, heart-pounding paranoid thriller about a family on the run from an inexplicable and unstoppable event that threatens not only humankind . . . but the most basic human instinct of them all: survival.
It begins with no clear warning. It seems to come out of nowhere. In a matter of minutes, episodes of strange, chilling deaths that defy reason and boggle the mind in their shocking destructiveness, erupt in major American cities. What is causing this sudden, total breakdown of human behavior? Is it some kind of new terrorist attack, an experiment gone wrong, a diabolical toxic weapon, an out-of-control virus? Is it being transmitted by air, by water . . . how?
For Philadelphia high school science teacher Elliot Moore (Academy Award® nominee MARK WAHLBERG) what matters most is finding a way to escape the mysterious and deadly phenomenon. Though he and his wife Alma (ZOOEY DESCHANEL) are in the midst of a marital crisis, they hit the road, first by train, then by car, with Elliot's math teacher friend Julian (Emmy® Award winner JOHN LEGUIZAMO) and his 8 year-old daughter Jess (ASHLYN SANCHEZ), heading for the Pennsylvania farmlands where they hope they'll be out of reach of the grisly, ever-growing attacks. Yet it soon becomes clear that no one -- and nowhere -- is safe. This terrifying, invisible killer cannot be outrun. It is only when Elliot begins to discover the true nature of what is lurking out there -- and just what has unleashed this force that threatens the future of humanity -- that he discovers a sliver of hope that his fragile family might be able to escape what is happening.
Writer and director M. Night Shyamalan has become one of our pre-eminent spinners of contemporary movie fables with a succession of multi-layered hit films featuring his distinctive blend of suspense, drama, humor and heartfelt emotion. Since his debut with the groundbreaking ghost story The Sixth Sense, he has gone on to forge a series of gripping modern films that explore provocative human mysteries, attaining critical accolades and phenomenal box-office success along the way.
Now, with THE HAPPENING, Shyamalan goes back to his roots with a stripped-down, gut-wrenchingly intense thriller -- a tale of disaster, harrowing escape, and of nature in deadly conflict with humanity. At its core, the story is perhaps his most immediate and direct, as it follows just three people -- a man, a woman and a child -- on the road, running from a nameless, faceless catastrophe. But it is also a story that boldly puts forth a haunting vision of an epic apocalypse triggered not directly by man but by the natural world; that asks what happens when the primal human instinct for preservation goes awry; and that explores how love and tenderness might help keep us alive in the darkest and most threatening of times.
The idea for THE HAPPENING came to Shyamalan as he drove across the New Jersey countryside, watching a lush, green world whirr by through the windshield. "I was on my way to New York," he recalls, "it was a beautiful day and the trees were hanging over the highway, and I suddenly thought to myself, 'What if nature one day turned on us?' In that moment, the entire structure of the story for THE HAPPENING popped into my head instantly and the characters suddenly became perfectly clear. It was a great feeling because movies are always so much more accessible when the predominating thing is the structure."
Even from those earliest moments of inspiration, before a single word was on the page, Shyamalan also knew that he wanted a very specific style for this film. "I knew that I wanted to make a movie that would be electric, clean and dynamic," he says.
The initial draft of Shyamalan's screenplay was already quite intense, but when Twentieth Century Fox came on board, the studio suggested that Shyamalan might push the story even further, that he could approach it as an R-rated movie and take it to extremes of tension and terror where he'd not yet ventured. Shyamalan was surprised, but excited by the freedom this suggestion brought to let his imagination run even wilder. "When I thought about it, I thought this is really the way to make this story, because it is already a story all about taboos. I mean if you had tried to make THE EXORCIST as a PG-13 movie, it would be hard to imagine," he muses.
Sums up producer Barry Mendel: "The big idea of the film was always to push the Night genre and Fox just said to us, there are no boundaries, take the gloves off, go for it, and we did." Adds producer Sam Mercer: "THE HAPPENING takes many of the supernatural and emotional elements traditional to Night's movies to a new level. And this story begs a compelling bigger question -- have we gone too far as humans?"
Shyamalan envisioned creating a contemporary twist on the Cold War paranoia thrillers of the 1950s and 60s -- movies that entertained and raised the anxiety meter with a spine-tingling sense of imminent doom and yet, beneath their roiling surfaces, subtly questioned the sanity of modern society's direction. From the vengeful crows of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds to the atomic-created Godzilla and the aggressive, plant-like pods of Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, many of these classic tales of suspense played like horror movies, yet also left audiences reeling with the sense of a brave new world in which the earth might go on but the human species might not make it.
Shyamalan knew that, as with all these movies, the driving force of THE HAPPENING would be an all-pervasive sense of uncertainty and fear. But he went a step further to contemplate the most unthinkable kind of demise for humankind. "I think what's really scary in THE HAPPENING is that people start acting in the opposite way of how they are supposed to act. Unexplainable behavior is always very disturbing and there's a lot of taboo behavior in this story," he explains. "After all, what is the one thing that keeps a species going -- it's the instinct to stay away from harmful things, to protect ourselves and each other. But if you take away that instinct what happens? Things will turn upside down very, very quickly."
The writer/director turned the screws even tighter on the mystery of the story by staying away from any pat, detailed explanation of the causes of "the happening," merely hinting at an environmental blowback that has affected the human mind. "The film is a conscience check but in a sense, I think the audience will fill in the answers and we don't need the movie to say 100% percent what is going on," he comments. "There are characters who are talking about what actually is going on but they're dismissed and denied a lot by other people. Still, I believe our human responsibility for what is going on is very much in the movie, as well as the notion that this is a day of reckoning."
Shyamalan enjoyed the liberating effect of breaking away from something for which he has become renowned: the tricky, twist ending. He always saw THE HAPPENING as playing out in just 36 hours, rocketing from the first hints of disaster to a singular climax, without any detours, that would leave the audience still breathless. "The end-of-the-world genre was a nice feeling for me because if I write anything that feels like a chess match going on with the audience, the audience will expect that, even if I'm not playing the chess match," he laughs. "But sometimes a story is just a story. In the case of THE HAPPENING, it is really about a family trying to survive and learning to love one another and that's what most drew me to this. My goal was always to make a fast-paced movie where you come out paranoid about things happening in the world you never really considered before."
Although THE HAPPENING is in some ways a departure for Shyamalan, like his other films, the story's large-scale apocalypse also becomes a way of exploring, on a very intimate level, two characters in the midst of a personal crisis. At the heart of the tale is a couple -- science teacher Elliot and therapist Alma -- who even as the world is self-destructing around them, are struggling with themes of protecting and caring for one another in their domestic life.
"For me, story ideas are always catalysts for characters to have conversations about faith, about love, about human life, and to reveal themselves spiritually and emotionally," Shyamalan comments. "There is a lot in Elliot and Alma's relationship about the way that love works, about who we really are in relationships, about what it means to be the chaser in a relationship or the chased, and about what we say to each other when we think we're having our last conversation together. What interested me about Elliot is that he has a lot of faith in his wife that she'll come through."
Unexpectedly, as events play out, Elliot and Alma find themselves part of a newly formed nuclear family, one borne out of terrifying times yet imbued with a flickering sense of hope that provides just enough light in the darkness around them to go on. "I hope the new family that they create serves as a metaphor for humanity, for our ability to be positive and hopeful and move forward -- and, at the same time, I hope the movie leaves you with the sense that we may not get that chance if we don't start changing some things," concludes Shyamalan.
CAUGHT IN THE HAPPENING: THE CHARACTERS
When the first hints of "the happening" hit the television news, science teacher Elliot Moore is already unsettled by recent signs that nature is changing its rules -- especially the unaccountable (and real) mass disappearance of bees around the world -- something he struggles to get his students to talk about in class. His home life is no less unsettling, as it seems his relationship with his beloved wife Alma is disintegrating without Elliot fully understanding why. Once the spate of horrific deaths begins to spread, Elliot switches gears into a determined man on the run, forced to quickly explore who he really is, yet the threads of his past become woven into his solutions for how to survive.
To play Elliot, M. Night Shyamalan always had envisioned Mark Wahlberg, who began his career in music, then broke out with a series of unpredictable and unforgettable screen roles in such films as Three Kings, Boogie Nights and The Perfect Storm. He sealed his acting credentials by garnering Oscar® and Golden Globe® nominations for Best Supporting Actor in Martin Scorsese's The Departed and became a sought-after action hero after taking the lead roles in such hits as Invincible and Shooter. Yet Elliot was unlike any character Wahlberg, who hails from a rough background, had played before: a quiet, sensitive teacher pushed to the edge by inexplicable events in just a few short hours.
Still, Shyamalan was convinced the role was right for Wahlberg. "I know Mark and I've always seen him as this sort of guy," says the writer/director. "I don't know the tough guy from Boston who gets in scrap fights, I know a different guy. And when I've seen glimpses of Mark playing this sort of person, for example in Three Kings in the scene when he's calling his wife from Iraq, I just love him, and I've always wanted to do a whole movie with him like that."
He continues: "I also think Mark is one of the most likable people in Hollywood and that made him the perfect counterpoint to all this dark, taboo stuff going on around Elliot. If you had a darker lead in this movie it would be overwhelming -- but Mark brings a lightness to the dark."
It turns out that Wahlberg had been waiting for a chance to work with Shyamalan. "He had worked with my brother and with Joaquin Phoenix and I was always jealous of them both because of that," he confesses, "so when he said had thought of me specifically for this role, I was thrilled."
Shyamalan took Wahlberg to a big sushi dinner to talk to him in depth about the role. "I realized then that Night knew everything inside out about this story," Wahlberg recalls. "If I asked him any question, he had an answer, one he'd apparently already spent an entire afternoon thinking about."
Still, as seductive as Shyamalan's storytelling was, Wahlberg knew that bringing Elliot to life was going to be one of the toughest tasks of his ever-expanding career as an actor. "I like a challenge but this was by far the most challenging role I've played to date," he says. "Night seemed very convinced I could be this very innocent person, but I am definitely not as innocent as Elliot. I've had my brushes with the law and my scrapes with trouble, but I guess Night saw that my intentions are always good. Still, I had to do a lot studying and a lot of what I picked up about how to portray Elliot was from spending time with Night."
Producer Sam Mercer believes Wahlberg made for a perfect match with Shyamalan's style of storytelling. "There's always an Everyman quality to Night's movies and Mark has such a relatable personality," he says. "I think the audience will really identify with him and with what's happening in his life at the moment the disaster hits."
The deeper he got to know Elliot, the more moving Wahlberg found him. "He's a very positive, optimistic person," the actor comments. "He always thinks that things will work out whereas his wife Alma is the complete opposite. She takes things very seriously. But what's interesting is that through this horrific event, they both are forced to refocus on what life is all about, and they find themselves understanding each other better and reconnecting."
Wahlberg was especially gratified to go through this emotionally intense journey with Zooey Deschanel, with whom he immediately hit it off. "I just feel this very strong emotional connection to her," he says. "It always felt like we were right in the moment and we are able to say a lot without words. The relationship between Elliot and Alma really had to work, because for me, that's what makes the movie stand apart from other disaster or horror movies. And Zooey's so likable, that made everything easier. I think with another actress Alma could have been perceived as a villain but with Zooey, you see how much they actually really love each other. It's just that relationships are tough, you know. With Zooey, no matter what, the chemistry was always there."
Shyamalan had also been drawn to Deschanel's vibrant, endearing personality, which has been showcased in films ranging from Almost Famous to Elf to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
"Zooey's character is somewhat troubled in the movie, but I didn't want to have a brooding actress in there," he says. "I wanted someone the audience would instantly like, and also someone whom you like Mark even more for marrying. Zooey and Mark are both so vulnerable and charming together on screen that you really root for them to survive this."
Deschanel was very intrigued when Shyamalan explained the approach he wanted for the character. "We talked a lot about how to make sure she was very compassionate and relatable and about how the relationship between Alma and Elliot forms a counterpoint to the larger issues that are at stake for humanity," she recalls. "It was very exciting."
That excitement continued as she began to work on set with Mark Wahlberg. "Mark made it so easy for me as he is so generous as a person and as a actor," she says. "I think we were able to show that Alma and Elliot are like so many other couples out there -- in that they love each other but they just need to gain some perspective in order to remember why they're connected to each other. It's also really fascinating how their relationship relates to this bigger imminent disaster that's about people forgetting their connection to the planet."
The actress also was drawn to Alma's psychological sophistication. "I feel like Alma is a more grown-up role for me as an actor, and I think Alma is also growing up, so it's kind of nice that my work coincides with my real life in that way. I also really like that she's so smart and that she uses humor to diffuse situations. She has a lot of nervous energy, which was interesting to explore."
Working with Shyamalan helped keep Deschanel inspired to bring more colors to Alma. "He's such a rare director because he has a picture of the entire film in his head before you even start. He has such a strong vision, but he's also a really sensitive person who is willing to explore every line in the movie," she notes. "It was a treat to work with him as an actor because he's always joking around and it's a fun experience, but at the same time, it was a very intellectually stimulating experience."
Bringing both a comic and a touching edge to the story of THE HAPPENING is Emmy award-winning multi-talent John Leguizamo in the role of Julian, Elliot's exuberant best friend and fellow teacher who find himself facing his own heart-wrenching personal dilemma as he fights for his family's survival.
"For Julian, I wanted a heroic, poignant performance tinged with some comedic moments that would fit alongside Mark, and that's why I cast John Leguizamo," explains Shyamalan. "I think Julian is a very compelling character because he has to make this sort of terrible choice between trying to protect his daughter or his wife. And John did this terrific audition where it was clear he would be very complementary to Mark."
Leguizamo, who is as known for his comic one-man stage shows as he is for his many memorable film performances, wanted the role since he first read the screenplay. "I guess I really related to that sort of parental fear in apocalyptic times, especially because I was in New York on September 11," he says. "I think we all live with the fear that something terrible could happen at any moment, so I think a film like this helps us to sort of exorcize that fear. I just love the way Night creates these fanciful nightmares that help you release all that."
He also liked the idea of playing an ordinary man forced into extraordinary actions in the midst of a national crisis. Leguizamo says: "Julian's a high school teacher, a smart guy with a good marriage, but it's time like these when I think your real character as a man shows
-- when you answer the question of what kind of person are you really and how far would you go for those that you love?"
To prepare for the role, Leguizamo brushed up on his math skills and read some teacher blogs to get into the school spirit. But most of all, he spent time with Mark Wahlberg, building up a very real feeling of close friendship that came naturally to the duo.
Wahlberg loved their rapport together. "What I like is that there's no B.S. between these guys and their relationship is very open. Elliot doesn't ever feel like he has to hold back what he's thinking and feeling," he says. "And for me, having a guy like John, who is so funny and so smart, in the role really elevated the material. The chemistry was there between us and the friendship always felt true and organic."
Like the rest of the cast, none of whom had worked with Shyamalan before, Leguizamo was inspired by the atmosphere the director nurtured on the set. "He's pretty much the kindest, gentlest director I've ever encountered," says Leguizamo. "But he also watches the actors so that he always knows if you're being honest, if you're on your game or not. And no matter what's going on in his movies, they're always personal journeys about relationships. You always get several genres in one."
With Leguizamo bringing humor and grit to the role of Julian, Shyamalan knew he needed a young actress who could stand up to that with her own riveting child-like innocence as Julian's daughter, Jess. Always drawn to the creativity, imagination and mystery of childhood, Shyamalan has a long history of working with child actors in breakout roles and has his own distinctive ideas about how to cast children. "I think to find the right kind of special qualities at a young age, I'm really casting somebody to be themselves," he explains. "I'm not necessarily looking for a three-foot tall Daniel Day Lewis because I really don't want them to go too far away from themselves but, rather, to allow that natural childlike quality within them to be exposed."
The search for a little girl who could do that with Jess prompted a nationwide search for a child actress who had the kind of naturalistic spark Shyamalan was seeking. After scouring the country, the filmmakers ultimately found their Jess close to home, in young Los Angeles native Ashlyn Sanchez, who made her feature film debut as Michael Peńa's daughter in the Oscar-winning Crash but had never taken on a major feature role.
When the filmmakers saw Sanchez audition, they knew right away they had come across someone special. "As soon as Night saw her, he said, 'that's it,'" recalls co-producer Jose Rodriguez. "She had something indescribable, there was just magic happening behind her eyes, and we felt very lucky to find her . . . otherwise we might still be searching!"
"I needed an almost angelic force who would be able to kind of keep Elliot and Alma sane in trying to protect her," says Shyamalan, "and that was Ashlyn."
Adds Rodriguez: "What's wonderful about the role Ashlyn plays is that she becomes the reason that Elliot and Alma have to grow up and become more responsible, the reason why they have to do the right thing. She has such an important role, because she's the real metaphor for the future in the movie."
Also taking on a key role is THE HAPPENING is Betty Buckley, the Tony Award®-winning actress who made her feature film debut as the gym teacher in the horror classic Carrie -- who portrays Mrs. Jones, the eccentric and suspicious old farm woman who provides an eerie refuge for Elliot, Alma and Jess just when all hopes seems lost. Buckley was asked to audition for M. Night Shyamalan via DVD, but when she was unable to transfer the tape to a disk, she simply gave in and shipped off the entire video camera to the director.
"I wasn't going to miss this opportunity," she says. "I think Night is a poet and his interest in exploring spirituality and creating alternate universes on screen really intrigues me. I like that his films always have an intelligent social commentary to make. And I just love any good thriller; I guess I'm an adrenaline rush kind of person."
Shyamalan was amused to receive an entire video camera in the mail, but was impressed with what he saw on the camera and offered Buckley the role. She notes that although Mrs. Jones is a bitter, solitary person filled with quirks, she quite enjoyed playing her. "My role models have always been Kim Stanley, Geraldine Page and Gena Rowlands and I like that kind of authentic, realistic character work. I love that this role is not about trying to be glamorous or acceptable in some way but about being unafraid of your own humanity and really putting it out there for the camera."
Rounding out the cast as Jared and Josh, the two young men who join Elliot and Alma on their journey, are teenaged stars Spencer Breslin and Robert Bailey, Jr. Breslin and Bailey say that their generation is particularly compelled by apocalyptic themes. "I think the story is really exciting to us because there's always that fear in the back our minds -- like, what if this is the last day of earth? And what would it be like if suddenly you end up in a situation where all you're trying to do is survive? It connects because we all are wondering when something terrifying like this might really happen," says Bailey.
Adds Breslin: "What I thought was interesting about this story is that there have been a lot of movies in the past about scientific experiments gone wrong and nuclear fallout and man-made disasters but this movie asks what happens if nature strikes back at us. I thought that was a really original way to look at the end of the world."
MAKING THE HAPPENING HAPPEN: THE DESIGN OF THE FILM
As with each one of his films, M. Night Shyamalan had a strong vision of how he wanted THE HAPPENING to look and feel before he ever arrived on the set. Surrounded by a group of artists, many of whom he has collaborated with before -- including cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, costume designer Betsy Heimann and composer James Newton Howard -- as well as some new faces, including award-winning production designer Jeannine Oppewall, he established the film's basic creative ground rules: to turn fright and anxiety into their own strange beauty by keeping things simple.
"I wanted a very naturalistic thriller style, very clean, almost Old School, going back to before we had all these gadgets and computers, when it was all about direct, resonant storytelling," he says. "We talked about looking at how we would make the movie if we didn't have all these new tools and about how to really make it feel like a 2008 version of a 1950s paranoia movie."
While THE HAPPENING is about nature going drastically awry and turning against humanity, the production would come to rely heavily on nature's assistance. A week before filming began Shyamalan gathered his production team and told them: "This is going to be a different film journey for all of us; a road movie in a sense. Eighty-five percent of our locations are outside and the completion of the film will be up to Mother Nature's cooperation. We are at the mercy of the elements."
And so it was. The filmmaking team worked in sync with the weather and the landscapes, which influenced the entire design of the film. Notes multiple Oscar-nominated production designer Jeannine Oppewall, who went to school in Pennsylvania: "I think many of us had an unspoken understanding of the how the land and locations would help tell this story and how important it was going to be to create realistic sets for Elliot and Alma to move through as they journey from Philadelphia to the countryside. For me, this is the landscape of my youth and I relate to it very strongly, just as I believe Night does from having grown up here."
Filming began August 6, 2007, notably nine years to the day since the start of production on The Sixth Sense. Shot in sequence, the 44-day production took place at a blazing speed, always on the move, switching locations every few days as the production spread out from city to small towns, following the trajectory of Elliot and Alma as they hit the road, hoping to escape. The idea was to keep the sensation of people on the run prominent in the minds of everyone working on the film.
"Every location was a new adventure," says Jose Rodriguez. "This really was a road show and we never knew exactly what we'd be rolling up to when we came to yet another location. I think that created a great energy because everybody had to be constantly on their game. There was never time to get accustomed to a location, or slow down, which really helped to keep the actors and the crew in the middle of this intense journey every step of the way. They really felt it and I think the audience will feel it."
Among the film's few major interior locations was the iconic 30th Street train station in Philadelphia, a major commuter hub halfway between New York City and Washington, D.C., where Elliot, Alma, Julian and Jess start their journey to escape the city, along with hundreds of others. Amtrak granted the production rare access to the station's halls and lobbies so long as they were able to continue running their trains, and the filmmakers were thrilled to have the chance to roam the nation's second most active railway station and capture the marble grandeur of the station's 1930s art deco design. "It's just one of those building you walk into and go, 'Wow, this is an incredibly beautiful structure,'" comments Rodriguez.
At the train station, as in the rest of the film, extras were a vital part of the terrain. In fact extras were so important to Shyamalan's overall vision of the film, that he individually cast each and every person for the large crowd scenes. He wanted the film to be rife with the feeling that this calamity could affect anyone from any walk of life -- so he needed a wide range of people, from grandmothers to business executives to farmers, to fall prey to the terrifying syndrome. "With the extras, Night wanted it to feel as if at any moment the film could follow the story of anyone in the crowd, that they were all interesting people, and that all the different colors of humanity were equally threatened," says Mercer.
In the train scene, overwhelming tension begins to build as rumors spread through the cars like wildfire. Events climax when the train unexpectedly stops in the middle of nowhere, marooning its passengers. To shoot the scene, the production rented four train cars with the cooperation of the South Eastern Pennsylvania Railway authority.
Another primary interior was the G-Lodge restaurant in tiny Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles outside of Philadelphia, which stands in for the unlikely refuge of Filbert's Restaurant, where city folk and country folk merge together in hopes of escaping the invisible killer in their midst. "We were looking for this kind of crossroads gathering spot that felt very isolated, like the place that anchors a one-horse town, and we finally found this old roadhouse from the '20s or '30s in Phoenixville that had all the life we wanted," says Mercer.
Most of the film, however, takes place outside, in the wide-open vistas where nothing appears to be a threat, yet total mayhem can strike at any moment. Much of the second half of the film's exterior scenes were shot at Walker Farm in Unionville, Pennsylvania, where 1600 lush acres provided the tall grassy fields and rolling hills for the revelatory final act of THE HAPPENING.
Here the production faced the challenge of actually controlling some of the forces of nature, in particular the wind, which becomes a major symbolic entity in the film, epitomizing the unleashed furor of earth's natural elements. "The wind is really a character in the film and it needed to be experienced in that way," explains Sam Mercer. We had to control the wind at various levels, so that at times it would be subtle, and others extremely violent."
The wind was also central to what Shyamalan's intent to distill all the monstrous cosmic forces that might turn on humanity into a simple and elemental form. The initial part of the task fell to Steve Cremin's special effects crew, who searched for a way to depict the wind in a wide range of personas, from gentle, rocking breezes to remorseless gusts. Cremin ultimately came up with a design for large, mobile fans, some more than 20 feet in diameter that were powered by race car engines and could create far more malleable and dramatic results on camera than your typical wind machine. Later, visual effects supervisor Ed Hirsh would add digital touches to enhance the scenes even more and sound mixer Tod Maitland would collect unique recordings of wind whipping through trees, crackling through grass and howling through windows to cleverly enhance the audience's visceral sensation of being threatened by the very air.
"The realism of the wind the FX team created really helped the actors to feel like they were caught in the middle of unusual circumstances and helped inspire the actors' performances," says Rodriguez.
The final and most challenging set was that of Mrs. Jones' farm, where the eccentric senior citizen has lived for years in spartan isolation entirely off the grid. Jeannine Oppewall began with a 200 year-old farmhouse on the grounds of Ridley Creek State Park -- just 16 miles outside of downtown Philadelphia but an oasis of preserved woodlands and meadows ¬
- and transformed it into a world outside of time. Her team buried power lines, built porches, added aged shutters and erased all traces of modern life. They also planted an abundant fruit and vegetable garden that could sustain a single woman for years and brought in a bevy of rabbits and chickens. The inside of the house was lined with whimsical antiques all found in shops in the surrounding areas, ranging from a four-poster bed to the assortment of hurricane lamps that provide the home's only source of light.
The sound of THE HAPPENING was just as important to Shyamalan as the look of the film, and he worked closely with sound mixer Tod Maitland to make sure every creak and whistle would impact the audience. "M. Night Shyamalan is the rare filmmaker who is constantly aware of sound," says Maitland. "Even in his scripts, there is a great deal of sound detail and in this film, in particular natural sound really helps to create moments of tension and almost becomes another character."
Shyamalan was equally focused on the film's score for which he turned once again to his long-time collaborator James Newton Howard, whose scores -- including for Shyamalan's The Village and the recent Michael Clayton -- have been nominated for several Academy Awards®.
"With James, I always go through the same process of giving him the screenplay and then talking to him about the ideas and he writes the music initially to themes and ideas rather than to the finished film," Shyamalan says. "That process has been really organic for us, so that we're always coming from the same creative pool."
The writer/director continues: "For THE HAPPENING, we talked about a few different concepts for the music. One was having a kind of 'Bolero' feeling to it, where the music just keeps rising and rising and rising and then catches everyone like a wave over the entire movie. The other was to create a strange, dissonant feeling with percussion, sort of like in the original Planet of the Apes, the kind of sound that creates a feeling of panic and reflects all the reverse behavior that's going on. Ultimately, James wrote a beautiful score that really drives the movie. He also created the most haunting cello theme that represents the struggle of humanity."
After production, Shyamalan turned his focus towards working with editor Conrad Buff, who previously won the Academy Award for Titanic. Together, the two men worked to fulfill Shyamalan's original vision: to strip the film down to its bones, keeping it fast-paced and lean. "I kept saying to him, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers was 81 minutes, just 81 minutes!" he recalls. "That was our inspiration."
It seemed from the moment Shyamalan first conceived of the idea for THE HAPPENING while on the road, both high speed and inspiration were always part and parcel of the story.
"This was really the easiest movie I've ever made overall," says Shyamalan, "and I think it's because it had such a strong structure and themes right from the time the story first came into my head, and that structure and those themes dictated everything from the beginning to the end. The main questions after that were always where are we on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of terror and panic -- and we just kept turning it up."

ABOUT THE CAST
MARK WAHLBERG (Elliot Moore) was most recently seen in We Own The Night, in which he starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Robert Duvall and also served as producer. Wahlberg also recently appeared in director Martin Scorsese's The Departed for which he received Best Supporting Actor nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Hollywood Foreign Press. He also starred in Antoine Fuqua's thriller Shooter, the football biopic Invincible with Greg Kinnear, as well as John Singleton's Four Brothers.
Upcoming is the title role in Max Payne, based on the best-selling noir videogame. Twentieth Century Fox releases the film later this year.
Wahlberg has also enjoyed playing diverse characters for such visionary filmmakers as David O. Russell, Tim Burton, and Paul Thomas Anderson. His remarkable career began with Penny Marshall's Renaissance Man and The Basketball Diaries, followed by a star turn opposite Reese Witherspoon in Fear. His breakout performance in Boogie Nights established Wahlberg as one of Hollywood's most sought after talents. He later headlined Three Kings and The Perfect Storm with George Clooney, and The Italian Job with Charlize Theron.
In addition Wahlberg is the executive producer of HBO's Entourage for which he received three Golden Globe nominations, and most recently garnered seven Emmy nominations.
A committed philanthropist, he founded the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, which benefits inner-city youth, in 2001.
ZOOEY DESCHANEL (Alma Moore) is one of Hollywood's most sought after young actresses. Most recently audiences saw her in the critically acclaimed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford opposite Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. Other recent roles include Walt Disney Pictures' Bridge to Terabithia and as a surfing penguin in the animated movie Surf's Up for Sony Pictures with Shia LaBeouf and Jeff Bridges. On the small screen, she starred in the Sci-Fi Channel's 2007 mini-series Tin Man, a high-octane rethinking of The Wizard of Oz with Alan Cumming and Richard Dreyfuss; and in 2008 was seen starring as the free-spirited Kat on the acclaimed Showtime series Weeds.
Additionally, Zooey starred in the independent films The Go Getter opposite Lou Taylor Pucci, The Good Life with Bill Paxton, Harry Dean Stanton and Chris Klein, Winter Passing opposite Ed Harris and Will Ferrell, and Live Free or Die with Michael Rapaport as well as Paramount Picture's Failure to Launch with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker.
In 2005, Zooey displayed her charismatic screen presence in the box office hit The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with Sam Rockwell, Mos Def and John Malkovich. Prior to that she starred opposite Will Ferrell in Elf directed by Jon Favreau, for which she received critical acclaim for her engaging performance and remarkable singing voice.
Zooey made her feature film debut in 1999 in Lawrence Kasdan's ensemble drama Mumford. She then co-starred with Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. She has also starred in All the Real Girls, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination, Abandon for director Stephen Gaghan, Big Trouble for director Barry Sonnenfeld, The Good Girl with Jennifer Aniston and Eulogy alongside Debra Winger and Ray Romano.
Zooey, who was named for the male character in J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, spent much of her childhood on-location with her actress mother, Mary Jo, and her father Caleb, an Academy Award-nominated cinematographer. She credits her father with instilling in her a keen visual sense and great style.
JOHN LEGUIZAMO (Julian), a multi-faceted performer and Emmy Award winner, has established a career that defies categorization. With boundless energy and creativity, his work in film, theatre, television, and literature covers a variety of genres, as he constantly reinvents himself. Next up, Leguizamo will star in Righteous Kill, opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. He also stars as a failed boxer struggling to find an apartment on Christmas Eve in Where God Left His Shoes, directed by Salvatore Stabile. His many other upcoming films include The Ministers, The Babysitters, Paraiso Travel and Game.
His most recent credits include Love in the Time of Cholera, the screen adaptation of celebrated writer Gabriel García Márquez' novel, directed by Mike Newell and starring Javier Bardem; and the crime drama The Take. In 2005, Leguizamo earned rave reviews for his role as a popular TV reporter who's willing to sacrifice everything to get the story of a notorious serial killer in Sebastian Cordero's Crónicas, which screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and 2004 Toronto Film Festival and was honored as an Un Certain Regard selection at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. He also starred in Land of the Dead, the fourth installment of writer/director George Romero's Night of the Living Dead series; Ed Burns' The Groomsmen; the remake of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13; and voiced "Sid, The Sloth" in the hit movies Ice Age and Ice Age: The Meltdown.
Among his other performances are Baz Lurhmann's Moulin Rouge starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, which earned him an ALMA nomination for Best Supporting Actor; Spike Lee's Summer of Sam; the cult hit Spawn; Lurhmann's Romeo + Juliet; and Dr. Doolittle. For his turn as a sensitive drag queen in To Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, Leguizamo garnered a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actor. He also appeared in Executive Decision opposite Kurt Russell, Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way, Collateral Damage with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Casualties of War starring Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox.
Leguizamo was last seen on the small screen in The Kill Point, an 8-hour mini-series event for Spike TV. He also starred in and made his directorial debut with HBO's Undefeated. Additionally, the ever-versatile Leguizamo appeared as a guest star in twelve episodes of NBC's cornerstone drama ER during the 2005/2006 season. His television credits also include the ABC mini-series Arabian Nights where he played both The Ring Genie and The Lamp Genie in the literary classic. In January 1995, Leguizamo set a precedent by creating and starring in the first Latin comedy/variety show, the Emmy award-winning, House of Buggin for FOX.
A highly talented stage performer, Leguizamo created an off-Broadway sensation as the writer and performer of his one-man show, Mambo Mouth in which he portrayed seven different characters. He received Obie®, Outer Critics Circle and Vanguardia awards for his performance. The play's HBO special led to his first television comedy special, Comedy Central's The Talent Pool, for which he received a CableACE Award. Leguizamo's second one-man show, Spic-O-Rama, had an extended sold-out run in Chicago at the Goodman and Briar Street theaters before opening in New York. The play received numerous accolades including the Dramatists' Guild Hull-Warriner Award for Best American Play and the Lucille Lortel Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Broadway Performance. Leguizamo received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent, as well as a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance. Spic-O-Rama also aired on HBO, receiving four CableACE Awards.
Freak, Leguizamo's third one-man show, ended a successful run on Broadway in 1998. Billed as a Semi-Demi-Quasi-Pseudo Autobiography, Leguizamo won the Drama Desk and the Outer Critic's Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance. A special presentation of Freak, directed by Spike Lee, aired on HBO and earned Leguizamo the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program as well as a nomination for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. When Leguizamo's returned to Broadway in 2001 with his Sexaholix...a Love Story, he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for "Outstanding Solo Performance" and the show received a Tony nomination for Best Special Theatrical Performance. Sexaholix aired as an HBO Special in Spring 2002 and also toured the country. Additional stage credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and La Puta Vida at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Parting Gestures at INTAR.
Also an accomplished author, Leguizamo penned his autobiography Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends. Harper Collins released the fast-paced, hilarious and poignant memoir in October 2006.
Raised in New York City, Leguizamo studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Wynn Handman at New York University. He was the recipient of the 2002 ALMA Award for Entertainer of the Year.
BETTY BUCKLEY (Mrs. Jones) won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella, the Glamour Cat, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats. She received her second Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical for her performance as Hesione in Triumph of Love, and an Olivier Award nomination for her interpretation of Norma Desmond in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, which she repeated to more rave reviews on Broadway.
Her other Broadway credits include 1776, Pippin, Song and Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Carrie. Off-Broadway credits include Lincoln Center's Elegies, the original NYSF production of Edwin Drood, The Eros Trilogy, and Juno Swans. Regional credits include Gypsy, Three Penny Opera, Camino Real, and Buffalo Gal. She starred in the London production of Promises, Promises.
Her film appearances include her debut in Brian De Palma's screen version of Stephen King's Carrie, Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies, Roman Polanski's Frantic, Woody Allen's Another Woman and Lawrence Kasden's Wyatt Earp. On television, Buckley guest starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Without a Trace. She has also starred in the HBO series Oz and appeared in the Fox series The Jury, Monk for the USA network, and as Abby Bradford in the hit series Eight is Enough.
Buckley has completed 10 CD's, among them the Grammy® nominated Stars and the Moon, Betty Buckley Live at the Donmar, and most recently The Doorway. For over 30 years Buckley has been a teacher of scene study and song interpretation, giving workshops in Manhattan and various universities and conservatories. She has been a faculty member in the theatre department of the University of Texas at Arlington and currently teaches bi-annually at the Terry Schreiber Acting School in New York City.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN (Director, Writer, Producer) directs his eighth feature film with The Happening, following Praying with Anger, Wide Awake, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and Lady In The Water.
The astronomical success of his chilling psychological thriller The Sixth Sense catapulted Shyamalan into the stratosphere of being one of the most sought after young filmmakers in Hollywood. The Sixth Sense has become one of the highest grossing films of all time and continues to break records in home entertainment. The film received a total of six Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture, and two for Shyamalan for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, the film was awarded three People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture, Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture and Best Actor for the film's star, Bruce Willis. Shyamalan re-teamed with Willis for Unbreakable, which also starred Samuel L. Jackson.
Following Unbreakable, Shyamalan also had tremendous worldwide success with the supernatural thriller Signs starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. He followed with The Village, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver, and Lady In The Water starring Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Shyamalan began making films at the age of 10 in his hometown of Philadelphia. At 16, he had completed his 45th short film. At age 17, he stood before his parents, both doctors, surrounded by pictures of the other twelve doctors in the family, and informed them that although he had graduated cum laude and received academic scholarships to several prestigious medical programs, he had instead decided to attend the New York University Tisch School of the Arts to study filmmaking. During his final year at NYU, he wrote an emotional screenplay made up of personal moments entitled Praying With Anger about a young exchange student from the U.S. who goes back to India and finds himself a stranger in his own homeland. In 1992, with the funding to make his first low-budget feature, Shyamalan shot the story on location in India and served as the film's writer, director, producer and star. The film was selected to be screened by the New York Foundation of the Arts' prestigious First Look Series, and in July 1993, was named Debut Film of the Year by the American Film Institute of Los Angeles.
The following year, Shyamalan wrote another spiritual screenplay Labor of Love which he sold to 20th Century Fox. In June 1995, he was asked by Columbia Pictures to write the fantasy screen adaptation of Stuart Little based on E.B. White's beloved children's classic of the same name.
His second feature film, Wide Awake, starred Rosie O'Donnell, Denis Leary, Dana Delaney and Robert Loggia and was released in 1997. Shot entirely on location in Philadelphia, the film tells the story of the close relationship between a boy in Catholic school and his grandfather.
Shyamalan formed his own production company, Blinding Edge Pictures, which is based in a suburb outside of Philadelphia where he also currently resides with his wife and two daughters.
SAM MERCER (Producer) makes his sixth collaboration with M. Night Shyamalan, having previously worked together on The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and Lady In The Water.
Other recent producing credits for Mercer include Susan Bier's Things We Lost In The Fire; Sam Mendes' Jarhead and Stephen Sommers' Van Helsing.
Mercer planted his roots in the film business as a freelance location and unit production manager on such films as The Witches of Eastwick, Peggy Sue Got Married, Stripes, Swing Shift, and The Escape Artist. He also served as the associate producer/unit manager for KCET-TV in Los Angeles where he received a Daytime Emmy for the live presentation of the San Francisco Opera's production, La Gioconda. He then joined The Walt Disney Company as a production executive supervising such films as Good Morning, Vietnam, Three Fugitives, and Dead Poets Society. Within a few years Mercer was upped to vice president of motion picture production for Hollywood Pictures, and responsible for such releases as Quiz Show, The Joy Luck Club, Born Yesterday, Swing Kids, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, and Arachnophobia.
Mercer's first venture into independent producing was the box office Congo, directed by Frank Marshall that he produced alongside Kathleen Kennedy. Other credits include Peter Hyams' The Relic, which he produced with Gale Anne Hurd. He was also the executive producer of Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars.
Mercer is a graduate of The Groton School and Occidental College. He currently resides in Venice, California.
BARRY MENDEL (Producer) teamed with M. Night Shyamalan previously on The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. His other film credits include Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Serenity and Munich. He recently executive produced the film version of Cornelia Funke's best-selling novel, Inkheart, directed by Iain Softley and starring Brendan Fraser and Paul Bettany.
RONNIE SCREWVALA (Executive Producer) is the Founder and CEO of the UTV Group. A well known media entrepreneur, Ronnie has emerged as a "thought leader" in the Indian media industry. Under his able leadership, UTV has excelled in the fields of film production, new media, television and animation and attracted global studios, including Fox, Walt Disney and Sony, to partner with the Group in equity and business relationships. In 1992, when Satellite TV made its debut in Asia, Ronnie pioneered entertainment content creation for the small screen. As a movie producer, Ronnie has adopted a modern, corporate and "studio approach" to the business of moviemaking.
Born and educated in Mumbai, his additional Hollywood credits as an executive producer include The Namesake directed by Mira Nair and I Think I Love My Wife directed by Chris Rock.
ZARINA SCREWVALA (Executive Producer) has more than a decade and a half of experience both in creative content as well as in execution. She has been responsible for the start-up and creation of some of UTV's major divisions and has produced over 3,500 hours of award-winning television programming in multiple languages. Zarina has always had a passion for children's programming and has been instrumental in introducing and conceptualizing landmark shows for children. In her role as Chief Operating Officer of Hungama TV, she took a start-up local Indian kids channel to the No.1 position among all kids channels, in a market dominated by well-entrenched multinational players.
A multi-award-winning director of corporate documentaries, her initial training was as a theatre actor, where she performed in several leading productions. A graduate with Honors in Economics from the Mumbai University, Zarina was one of the three founding members of UTV. She previously served as co-producer of The Namesake directed by Mira Nair and I Think I Love My Wife directed by Chris Rock.
ROGER BIRNBAUM (Executive Producer) founded the production, finance and distribution company Spyglass Entertainment with partner Gary Barber, where they share the title of co-chairman and CEO. The company develops and finances all of its projects independently.
Spyglass Entertainment's box office successes range from The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis, which earned $661 million in worldwide box-office, to the smash hit Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey, which earned $485 million. Also included in the Spyglass library are Oscar-nominated favorites such as Seabiscuit, with Tobey Maguire, and The Insider, with Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. In total, Spyglass has amassed 26 Oscar nominations, including three wins. Other company successes include The Count of Monte Cristo with Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce, Keeping the Faith with Ben Stiller and Edward Norton, the dual hits Shanghai Noon and its sequel Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, The Recruit with Al Pacino and Colin Farrell, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy starring Sam Rockwell and Mos Def, and the smash family film The Pacifier with Vin Diesel.
Spyglass also co-financed and executive-produced The Legend of Zorro, the sequel to The Mask of Zorro, with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Antonio Banderas and director Martin Campbell, and Memoirs of a Geisha, the adaptation of the best-selling novel directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago). Both films were released internationally by Spyglass and have grossed over $150 million dollars each in worldwide box office to date. Memoirs of a Geisha drew numerous kudos and awards, culminating in three Academy Awards.
In 2006, Birnbaum co-financed and produced the action adventure Eight Below, based on the true survival story about a group of sled dogs in Antarctica. The film had strong legs at the box office, with earnings of over $120 million worldwide. Spyglass also produced and financed the crime thriller The Lookout, helmed by acclaimed writer turned first-time director Scott Frank. In the summer of 2007, Spyglass saw the releases of Evan Almighty, the comedy follow-up to Bruce Almighty, and the live-action feature with Walt Disney Pictures Underdog, based upon the beloved cartoon series.
In 2008, Spyglass is co-financing a bountiful roster of films, which started with the hugely successful 27 Dresses, with Katherine Heigl, which Birnbaum produced, followed by The Ruins, a horror/thriller in association with DreamWorks. Forthcoming are Ghost Town, a romantic comedy with Ricky Gervais, Wanted, an action-packed thriller based upon Mark Miller's graphic novel series starring Oscar-winners Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman with James McAvoy (Atonement), and Flash of Genius, a drama based on a true story. Spyglass is in production on Four Christmases, starring Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn (The Wedding Crashers). New Line has slated this holiday comedy release for the end of this year.
Prior to founding Spyglass Entertainment, Birnbaum co-founded Caravan Pictures, where he was responsible for such box office hits as Rush Hour, Six Days Seven Nights, Inspector Gadget, Grosse Pointe Blank, The Three Musketeers, Angels in the Outfield and While You Were Sleeping.
Before joining Caravan, Birnbaum held the title of president of worldwide production and executive vice president of Twentieth Century Fox, where he developed such films as Home Alone, Sleeping with the Enemy, Edward Scissorhands, Hot Shots!, My Cousin Vinny, The Last of the Mohicans, Die Hard 2 and Mrs. Doubtfire, among others. Prior to that, Birnbaum was president of production for United Artists, where he developed the Oscar-winning film Rain Man.
Earlier in his career, he produced The Sure Thing directed by Rob Reiner, and Young Sherlock Holmes, which were presented in association with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. For television, he executive-produced the telefilms Scandal Sheet, Happily Ever After, When Your Lover Leaves and the award-winning All the Kids Do It.
Born in Teaneck, New Jersey and educated at the University of Denver, Birnbaum built a successful career as vice president of A&M Records and Arista Records before entering the film business to produce motion pictures.
He is currently co-artistic director of the AFI conservatory, and serves on the advisory board for UCSB at the Center for Film, Television and New Media. He is also a mentor to the USC Peter Stark Producing Program, as well as the UCLA Graduate Film program.
GARY BARBER (Executive Producer), with his partner Roger Birnbaum, founded the production, finance and distribution company Spyglass Entertainment, where he serves as co¬chairman and CEO.
Spyglass Entertainment's savvy production choices from the beginning led to the phenomenal box office success of The Sixth Sense, starring Bruce Willis, which went on to gross over $661 million and garnered six Academy Award nominations. Further successes include The Count of Monte Cristo with Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce, Keeping the Faith with Ben Stiller and Edward Norton, Shanghai Noon with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, and its sequel Shanghai Knights, as well as the dynamic teaming of AI Pacino and Colin Farrell in The Recruit.
Barber executive produced and co-financed two milestone movies: Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston, which grossed over $485 million in worldwide box office and is considered one of the blockbuster comedies of all time, and Seabiscuit, the tale of a legendary racehorse, starring Tobey Maguire, Chris Cooper and Jeff Bridges, which received seven Oscar nominations with its moving story of triumph over adversity.
Barber went on to produce The Pacifier and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Pacifier, a family comedy starring Vin Diesel, earned approximately $200 million in worldwide box office, while The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, an adaptation of the Douglas Adams bestseller, crossed the $100 million mark globally.
Spyglass also co-financed and Barber executive-produced The Legend of Zorro, the sequel to the 1998 smash hit, with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Antonio Banderas and director Martin Campbell, and Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the best-selling novel, helmed by Rob Marshall (Chicago) and starring Ziyi Zhang and Ken Watanabe. Memoirs of a Geisha earned Spyglass three Oscar wins out of six nominations, bringing the company's total to 26 nominations.
Walt Disney Pictures' successful Eight Below was co-financed by Spyglass and executive produced by Barber. In 2007, Spyglass produced and financed the releases of The Invisible and The Lookout through Miramax Films and Touchstone Pictures respectively. Last summer saw the releases of Evan Almighty, the comedy follow-up to Bruce Almighty, and Walt Disney Pictures' live-action feature of the beloved classic cartoon series star Underdog.
The year 2008 is revving up to be a prolific one for Spyglass, starting with the January release of the hugely popular 27 Dresses, which Barber produced and Spyglass co-financed, followed by The Ruins, a horror/thriller in association with DreamWorks. Next in theaters will be Ghost Town, a romantic comedy with Ricky Gervais, the new Mike Myers comedy The Love Guru and Wanted, an adrenaline-pumping action thriller based upon Mark Miller's explosive graphic novel series starring Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy (Atonement). In fall/winter, Spyglass will release Flash of Genius, a drama based on a true story spanning three decades. Spyglass is currently in production on Four Christmases starring Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn (The Wedding Crashers).
A seasoned veteran of the business, Barber has been directly responsible for operating companies in feature film production and distribution, foreign theatrical, video and TV distribution, exhibition and pre-recorded music and music publishing. He was responsible for building these companies from the ground up.
Barber is the former vice chairman and chief operating officer of Morgan Creek Productions. During his eight and a half years at the company, he was in charge of all day-to¬day operations for each of Morgan Creek's business entities, including feature film production, foreign distribution, music, exhibition and interactive.
Barber has produced or executive produced over 60 feature films and TV shows, including the 1994 hit that rocketed Jim Carrey to stardom, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and its highly successful sequel Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, as well as the 1991 blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner.
TAK FUJIMOTO, ASC (Director of Photography) previously collaborated with director M. Night Shyamalan on The Sixth Sense and Signs. His first credits began with producer Roger Corman. During this period, he began a long association with director Jonathan Demme. Their work together includes Melvin and Howard, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Something Wild, Married to the Mob, Beloved, and The Manchurian Candidate. He most recently shot the espionage thriller Breach for director Billy Ray, the acclaimed HBO mini-series John Adams and the forthcoming The Great Buck Howard.
Other film credits include Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Devil in a Blue Dress, A Thousand Acres, and That Thing You Do.
JEANNINE OPPEWALL (Production Designer) was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. She received an M.A. in literature from Bryn Mawr College before moving to Los Angeles and finding work in the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. At the time she was working there, Charles Eames was one of the world's most famous living designers, known principally for his line of furniture for Herman Miller. But the Office also made over 100 short personal, educational, industrial films, many very inventive for their time. It also produced large traveling exhibitions for different clients. So Jeannine learned design at the feet of the master, so to speak.
After leaving the Eames Office, where she worked for about 8 years, she made radio documentaries for KPFK Radio, did some freelance writing, and eventually found a place in the art department of the film business, working for production designer Paul Sylbert.
The first film that Jeannine designed was Tender Mercies. She has received Academy Award nominations for L.A. Confidential, Pleasantville, Seabiscuit and most recently, The Good Shepherd -- her fourth Academy Award nomination. Other films for which she is known are Catch Me if You Can, The Bridges of Madison County and The Music Box.
Oppewall is currently on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, where is she co-chairing the Museum Committee.
CONRAD BUFF, A.C.E. (Editor) won an Oscar for his editing work on the blockbuster Titanic. Other film credits include Shooter, Antwone Fisher, Training Day, Arlington Road, True Lies, Terminator 2: The Judgement Day, The Abyss and Jagged Edge, among others. In addition to his Academy Award for Best Film Editing on Titanic, Buff won the prestigious Eddie Award, an accolade from the American Cinema Editors, and was also nominated for a BAFTA.
Prior to film editing, Conrad worked in the visual effects editing arena on such films as 2010, Ghost Busters, Poltergeist, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars: Episode V--The Empire Strikes Back, and Battlestar Galactica.
JOSE L. RODRIGUEZ (Co-Producer) has collaborated with M. Night Shyamalan since Blinding Edge Pictures began more than ten years ago. Blinding Edge Pictures first project from conception was The Sixth Sense, and has since produced Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water under their banner.
After attending Washington, D.C.'s Catholic University as a drama major, Rodriguez acted in theatre, commercials, as well as film, in Washington, D.C. and New York. He decided to shorten his commute between these two cities and split the difference, relocating himself to Philadelphia. While at a karate class in South Eastern, Pennsylvania Rodriguez first met M. Night Shyamalan. On their lunch breaks they shared stories of their passion for film and the arts, and eventually started working together at Blinding Edge Pictures.
Born in Germany, Rodriguez is from a military family and lived all over the world during his childhood years. Besides his love for soccer, for the last decade Rodriguez has been a coach for the Special Olympics.
DEVEN KHOTE (Co-Producer) produced the film Jodhaa Akbar, for UTV Motion Pictures. Also for UTV, he co-produced Life in a Metro and Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal.
JAMES NEWTON HOWARD (Composer) re-teams with writer-director-producer M. Night Shyamalan after scoring Lady In The Water, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village which garnered an Oscar nomination. He is one of the most versatile and in-demand composers currently working in films. To date, Howard has received seven Oscar nominations, including five for Best Original Score for M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, The Fugitive, The Prince of Tides, My Best Friend's Wedding and most recently for Michael Clayton; and two for Best Original Song, including "Look What Love Has Done" from Junior and "For The First Time" from One Fine Day.
He has also received three Grammy nominations, for Signs, music from the animated Disney film Dinosaur and the song from One Fine Day. His theme for Dying Young also brought a Grammy nod to performer Kenny G. In addition, he won an Emmy for the theme to the Andre Braugher series Gideon's Crossing and two additional Emmy nominations, for the themes to the long-running series ER and the Ving Rhames series Men. Howard has also been nominated three times for Golden Globe Awards: for his massive orchestral score for the blockbuster King Kong, and for the songs of Junior and One Fine Day.
Howard's recent films include I Am Legend starring Will Smith, the acclaimed Michael Clayton starring George Clooney and The Water Horse: The Legend of the Deep, as well as Chris Nolan's Batman Begins, which he composed with Hans Zimmer, Peter Jackson's epic remake of King Kong and Ed Zwick's intense tale of the African diamond trade, Blood Diamond.
Howard, who has been honored with ASCAP's prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, now has nearly 100 films to his credit. In addition to all of Shyamalan's films, among them are five films for director Lawrence Kasdan, Grand Canyon, Wyatt Earp, French Kiss, Mumford, and Dreamcatcher; four Julia Roberts comedies, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, My Best Friend's Wedding, and America's Sweethearts; and three animated films for Walt Disney Studios, Dinosaur, Treasure Planet, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. His other wide-ranging credits include Collateral, Outbreak, Falling Down, Primal Fear, Glengarry Glen Ross, Waterworld, The Devil's Advocate, Space Jam, Dave, and Flatliners among others.
Howard's success reflects the experiences of a rich musical past. Inspired by his grandmother, a classical violinist who played in the Pittsburgh Symphony in the '30s and '40s, he began his studies on the piano at age four. After studying at Santa Barbara Musical Academy of the West and at USC School of Music as a piano major, he completed his formal education with orchestration study under legendary arranger Marty Paich. He spent two years doing session work for performers like Carly Simon, Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, Leo Sayer, Harry Nilsson and Melissa Manchester. He also recorded two solo albums. In 1975, he joined pop superstar Elton John's band on the road and in the studio, leaving the band in 1976 to do more record production. He would rejoin the band in 1980 for another tour and again in 1986 to conduct the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for John's "Live in Australia" tour, which later became a platinum-selling album.
Having become one of the most sought-after musicians in the industry, he racked up a string of collaborations in the studio with some of pop's biggest names, including Barbra Streisand, Earth Wind and Fire, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Toto, Glen Frey, Olivia Newton-John, Randy Newman, Rickie Lee Jones, Cher and Chaka Khan. When he was offered his first film, Head Office, in 1985, he never looked back. As a change of pace, however, Howard reunited with Elton John for a multi-city tour the summer of 2004 that included sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and the Radio City Music Hall.
BETSY HEIMANN (Costume Designer) previously collaborated with M. Night Shyamalan on Lady in the Water. The Chicago native has worked on some of the most acclaimed films of the past decade, including Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky. Heimann also designed the wardrobe for Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, as well as the television series Karen Sisco, produced by Danny De Vito and starring Carla Gugino.
Other film credits include director Brett Ratner's films Rush Hour 3, Red Dragon, and The Family Man, Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, starring John Malkovich, and Uma Thurman's costumes in Be Cool.
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