The greenlighting process was just another example of how easily the pieces of "Unbreakable" seemed to fit together.
"I gave the script to Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson on a Friday, they called me on Saturday and I took it to Disney on Monday with both actors confirmed to star and available to shoot on the dates we needed them, and fortunately the Studio agreed immediately," says Shyamalan.
With the goal of the targeted November release date, the pre-production phase started immediately as Shyamalan began to assemble his team. He asked many of the same people from "The Sixth Sense" to work with him again on the film including executive producers Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum. "Gary and Roger were like godfathers on ‘The Sixth Sense,’" explains Shyamalan. "I wanted to have them there for the same kind of thing on this one … to kind of watch over us just in case we slip and fall. Just knowing they were there was a really great feeling."
Production designer Larry Fulton and costume designer Joanna Johnston also returned to work with Shyamalan, as did many of the other key staff and crew members. With European cinematographer Eduardo Serra and editor Dylan Tichenor secured as two important additions to the team, Shyamalan felt confident that he had the best collaboration of people to make his vision come true. "It was a very definitive combination of talents that were brought together to make ‘Unbreakable,’" says Shyamalan. "So much had gone right on ‘The Sixth Sense’ that I knew I was getting close to my style of filmmaking. And now, everyone who has come together to make this film represents an evolution that is even closer to how I want to be making films for a while because I think that I have the right group of people around me now."
"I think Night knows that there is a tremendous benefit in working with the people you work with all the time," adds Mercer. "There is a comfortable familiarity and a kind of family atmosphere on his sets which is great … not only because it is a nice working environment, but it also allows you to know all of the strengths and weaknesses of everyone and you can dial into that which is incredibly beneficial."
Understanding a person’s strengths did in fact prove incredibly beneficial to Shyamalan throughout the process of making "Unbreakable." "Because I had such a clear vision for the film, I could literally see the story unfolding in my mind as I was writing which enabled me to develop characters that would specifically play to the strengths of each of the actors I envisioned for the role," explains Shyamalan. "It is really incredible to have had the opportunity to do that because I think it enhanced all of their performances in ways that far exceeded even my own vision and expectations.
"One of the things I wanted to do, and why we are here," continues Shyamalan "is that I wanted to continue the relationship I had with Bruce Willis on ‘The Sixth Sense’. I felt like we had just got to a great place, but knew there was another level of depth and another level of three dimensionality of the characters that he can play that I really wanted to see.
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