In 2002 and after having monopolized all the attention with Sixth Sense (1998) and Unbreakable (2000), M.Night Shyamalan presented signs (Signs), his third film.
This story brings us to former Episcopal priest Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), who lives with his two children: Morgan (Rory Culkin) and little Bo (Abigail Breslin), and his brother, former baseball player Merrill Hess (joaquin phoenix). Graham lives tormented by the abrupt death of Colleen, his wife. While wrestling with ghosts from the past, Graham and his family find themselves in the middle of an unexpected event. It so happens that a series of circles appeared in the Hess cornfield, like signs. As the plot progresses, the Hess family will discover that they, as well as the entire world, are at the mercy of an alien invasion.
signs addresses three key themes: religion, family and science fiction. This mixture allows the director to work with suspense and terror in the same way that Alfred Hitchcock he knew how to do it years ago with his works. The fact of not seeing the aliens, the disturbing messages from Colleen, the sounds of the baby monitor, the silences and not forgetting the soundtrack composed by James Newton Howard, generated so much tension in the public that at the smallest detail, they could explode. because of the fear.
The critics and the public were fascinated with the creation of Shyamalan, this was reflected in the box office. The film was presented in theaters in the United States and various parts of the world on August 2, 2002 and grossed nearly $410 million dollars. Since its budget was only $72 million, the film was a resounding success. A second box office boom would come when Señales was adapted for home formats like DVD and also for the good old VHS.
To celebrate this great movie, we bring you five details that you may not have known:
the first chosen
Like any film, there is always a first option for the cast, which for “X” reason sometimes cannot continue, so the names that were next on the list are used.
In one of the last drafts of the story I had Graham Hess as an elderly man, that’s why the mega star had been thought of Paul Newman. At the time of the filming of Signs (year 2001) Paul was 76 years old, so he was perfect for the role. The Hollywood heartthrob read the script and said “thank you very much but no“Given the refusal, the director had no choice but to modify the script, reducing Graham’s age and also looking for his second best option, Mel Gibson.
Something similar happened for the role of Merrin. In the year 2000 Shyamalan was fascinated by the film You Can Count on Me, especially with the duo that had formed between Mark Ruffalo and Rory Culkin. The actors closed the deal and before filming began, the situation changed.
In 2001, after finishing his commitments with The Last Castle, Mark received the news that a cyst had appeared in his auditory system. He almost immediately underwent surgery and although the removal was successful, Ruffalo suffered facial paralysis for more than a year and even lost hearing in his left ear. Not having the Merrin he was looking for, the director contacted the other name of weight that appeared on his list: joaquin phoenix.
M. Night, script specialist
It is known that the scripts rarely reach the end intact, along the way they receive different treatments to adapt the story to the requests of the director, the studio and so on. M.Night He is no stranger to this, especially since he, in addition to directing, writes his own films.
By 2001 the director had the story ready, but before reaching that, he wrote five different versions of the script in a span of six months. Shyamalan is detailed in everything he does and it seems that five drafts were not enough to convince him.
real signs
For his films, Shyamalan takes situations from real life, in this case he used a case as old as it is unsolved, the appearance of drawings in the harvest fields, the so-called agrograms.
The appearance of these circles in the fields is said to date back to at least the 17th century. These facts were maintained until modernity, having their greatest peak between the 70s and 80s. All these formations have been closely linked to the sighting of UFOs. In the 90s, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claimed to be responsible for these works. They tested his words with different techniques and while it seemed believable, there was no way to explain how the circles appeared so quickly and at such far distances.
For Signals, the director put together the agrograms for most of the scenes. The production had 40 acres of land, which was part of the University of Delaware campus, to create the signs. The team took care to reproduce all the circles carefully and the result was fantastic.
Hello, I also act!
One of the main characters in the story is Ray Reddy, the veterinarian who falls asleep at the wheel and causes the death of Colleen, Graham’s wife. This role was played by M. Night. One of the winks that this artist’s films always have is that in one way or another he always appears in the story, in the best Stan Lee style throughout the MCU.
In Signs, Ray’s presence is important, not only because of what happened with Colleen, but also because he is the only one who manages to capture and lock up one of the elusive aliens.
Who had no idea Ray was Shyamalan was Mel Gibson. The Mad Max actor knew the interaction and the weight of Ray that he had on his character. At the time of shooting the first scene together, Mel was waiting for Ray and when in doubt, asked the director when the actor would arrive, there he found out that M.Night He was also a cast mate.
The main part of the story
M.Night Shyamalan I knew that the presence of the extraterrestrials was one of the strong ingredients of his story, which is why they are rarely seen in the film. Even in the final scene when Merrin (phoenix) brandishes his bat to finish off the aliens, the shots do not allow us to see the creature in detail. If the director showed them at the beginning, the film would have been another of the many stories of alien invasion that Hollywood has.
Knowing this, the director put together several possible scenarios for the invading creatures, one of which suggested that they were invisible. This idea would have been crude and even compared with Predator. From this idea, the situation was refined until we reached what we saw on the screen, humanoid aliens, with characteristics similar to those described by people who claim to have seen these beings and with the ability to camouflage themselves in the environment, much better than being invisible.
To end the celebration, we invite you to do a rewatch of signs. The film is available for Latin America since Star PlusWhile for Spain Y USA It can be found at Disney Plus.
Subscribe to our newsletter to receive all the news and participate in exclusive contests from here.
We want to thank the writer of this article for this remarkable content
Signs: 20 years after one of the best films by M. Night Shyamalan