"Just as ‘The Sixth Sense’ was not just a horror film, this is not just a thriller," insists Shyamalan. "It is definitely hugely suspenseful with some elements of science fiction that stylistically make it a dark and creepy film … but it tells a story about very real characters who are experiencing very real problems and emotions just like the rest of us. It’s about how does one communicate with your wife and keep the relationship together? How do you be a father? How do you be what everyone expects you to be? Have you seen your potential? Are you listening to that voice that is telling you what you should be doing in life? -- all of these subjects which could make a drama on their own, just happen to be wrapped together in one very exciting package."
"’Unbreakable’ is the story about David Dunn, a character who is uncomfortable in his own life. He hasn’t found what it is he is meant to do in the world and is drifting," explains Mendel. "He feels like something is missing and that something is not quite right. He is uncomfortable as a husband and father and is not happy in his job as a football stadium security guard. You get the sense that he knows he should be doing something more, that he is meant for greater things, but for whatever reason is not pursuing them … and because he is not sure of what he has been put on this earth to do, everything in his world is crumpling."
"When you first meet David Dunn he is totally off balance. He is an average man in all respects who is truly lost," adds Shyamalan. "When he steps onto that train he has no idea where he is going in his life and has hit rock bottom. When he crashes, both literally and figuratively, he can then start to hear again this thing that has called him before in his life that he ignored … and this time, he follows it to find out what it means.
"When he meets Elijah, he is at an incredibly vulnerable place and is grasping to find answers as to why he survived," continues Shyamalan. "Elijah points him in the right direction by asking him questions about his past and analyzes what he has done with his life to that point and the choices he has made until he has this theory and says, ‘I think I know who you are in this whole greater pattern’… I guess Elijah’s really like a prophet."
The concept for "Unbreakable" stemmed from questions about his own destiny that Shyamalan began asking himself at the age of seventeen. Raised in a family of twelve doctors, including both his mother and father, Shyamalan graduated Cum laude and, having received scholarships to several prestigious medical programs seemed destined for a life in medicine. But it was his passion for filmmaking, which began when he made his first short film with his father’s home video camera at the age of 10, that would serve as the catalyst for his decision to become a filmmaker. "When I wasn’t making films, I used to wake up in the morning with a little bit of sadness and I didn’t want to feel that my whole life," says Shyamalan. "So there was a point where I just listened carefully and figured out what I wanted to do. And now, even though that feeling of sadness still comes and goes every once in a while, I feel an incredible sense of peace because I feel like I am doing what I am supposed to do. And that is what this movie is really about -- discovering your destiny and asking yourself questions like ‘what am I supposed to be doing with my life?’’ -- and how the pieces of your life somehow seem to fall into place and make sense when you find the answer.
Movie Database
In Theaters
