Taglines: Five strangers trapped. One of them is not what they seem.
Five strangers in Philadelphia begin their day with the most commonplace of routines. They walk into an office tower and enter an elevator. As they convene into this single place, they are forced to share a confined space with strangers. Nobody acknowledges anybody else. They’ll only be together for a few moments. But what appears to be a random occurrence is anything but coincidental when the car becomes stuck. Fate has come calling. Today these strangers will have their secrets revealed, and face a reckoning for their transgressions.
Slowly, methodically, their situation turns from one of mere annoyance to sheer helplessness and abject terror. Terrible things begin to happen to each of them, one by one, and suspicion shifts as to who among the five is making it all happen… until they learn the unspeakable truth: one of them is the Devil himself. As those on the outside try in vain to free them, the remaining passengers realize that the only way to survive is to confront the very wickedness that has led them to today.
Over the years, blockbuster filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has written down many ideas for stories he imagined to one day turn into movies. As the pages of his notebooks filled, he knew that he couldn’t transform all these treatments into screenplays and direct the feature-length films by himself. He says: “You can put your love into all of them and know that you can’t direct them all yourself. I decided to take some of these ideas and make them as a series of films by up-and-coming filmmakers and actors.”
About the Production
“Everybody believes in him a little bit. Even guys like you who pretend they don’t.” — Ramirez
Over the years, blockbuster filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has written down many ideas for stories he imagined to one day turn into movies. As the pages of his notebooks filled, he knew that he couldn’t transform all these treatments into screenplays and direct the feature-length films by himself. He says: “You can put your love into all of them and know that you can’t direct them all yourself. I decided to take some of these ideas and make them as a series of films by up-and-coming filmmakers and actors.”
Shyamalan partnered with longtime producer Sam Mercer and Media Rights Capital (MRC) to produce The Night Chronicles, a series of films based on his original ideas. In its agreement, MRC agreed to produce several of Shyamalan’s original ideas, and Devil is the first of three films to be made under the banner. Shyamalan explains: “Devil was the straight up, right-down-the-middle super-scary movie. It was the one that was most on my mind at the time when we decided to create The Night Chronicles.”
When asked the inspiration in having fellow artists bring to life his ideas, Shyamalan laughs: “It could be a benevolent thing, but it’s really not. I want to be inspired and pushed and connected to the audience, and it’s nice to have younger people who are connected to the heartbeat of what is being felt today. It’s great to be in the game, taking risks and having people constantly challenging me; it’s a way to stay excited.”
Shyamalan’s concept for the film was to explore what would happen if the Devil manipulated and trapped a group of people into the same location and punished them for their wrongdoings. Shyamalan wanted to explore how the Devil hides among us and brings people with a common thread of wickedness into a situation… and how he systematically tests them before revealing himself.
The filmmaker used the setting of a common office elevator as the location where the cursed five would meet. He explains his rationale: “Normally when you’re in an elevator, you don’t look at anybody and then the door opens and you leave. But if you get stuck in that confined space, you have to look at everybody and ask, ‘Who am I in here with?’ Then when the first bad thing happens, all those faces become threatening.”
Fellow producer Sam Mercer was drawn to collaborate on Devil because he felt it explores “a story that is familiar to the audience, one with the everyman factor. We all could walk into that elevator, and we could be trapped with six people in it for six hours and have a very emotional experience.
“One of the worst nightmares is being trapped somewhere,” he continues. “Think about what you don’t want to be trapped in, and that’s in an elevator stuck between the 21st and 22nd floors. When the lights go out, the Muzak won’t shut off and there’s chaos— and then people start dying—that’s terrifying. That’s what this film is all about: preying upon your fears.” Shyamalan shares that his interest in creating this series is based on a prolific role model of his own.
“Agatha Christie is someone whose stories I aspire to emulate,” he says. “I want the audience to see many stories from me that say something about a time in my life or something I believe in. The Night Chronicles has given me that chance.”
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
Devil (2010)
Directed by: Drew Dowdle, John Erick Dowdle
Starring: Chris Messina, Bojana Novakovic, Geoffrey Arend, Caroline Dhavernas, Jacob Vargas, Zoie Palmer, Matt Craven, Logan Marshall-Green, Zoie Palmer, Vincent Laresca, Joshua Peace, Joe Cobden
Screenplay by: Brian Nelson, M. Night Shyamalan
Production Design by: Martin Whist
Cinematography by: Tak Fujimoto
Film Editing by: Elliot Greenberg
Costume Design by: Erin Benach
Art Direction by: Nigel Churcher, Patrick M. Sullivan
Music by: Fernando Velázquez
MPAA Rating: PG-13 or violence and disturbing images, thematic material and some language including sexual references.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: September 17, 2010
