"PREDICTABLE" — 2002

One hundred percent was inspired by M Night Shayamalan's work with this movie. I'd seen his "Unbreakable" and at first didn't like it, then thinking about it over the following days, fell in love with it. I can't quite remember what made me fall in love with it. Maybe that it was different than other movies. Maybe that it starred Bruce Willis, one of my favorite actors. Maybe the music. Maybe the themes? I'm not sure why I didn't like it at first. Probably because it challenged my expectations, or didn't really live up to the title "Unbreakable." I don't think I understood what I was watching, expecting a movie where Bruce Willis would run around and shoot people. Alas, I fell in love with it.

And it greatly informed a story I wrote. Trying to find some twist on the concept in the Shyamalan movie—a man has subdued supernatural powers—I landed on the idea that a boy could see how a person would look after they died. Not a bad idea. Clearly inspired by "Unbreakable" AND Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense." And of course, for extra bonus points, I added that he had telekinesis. In FAIRNESS to that addition, I was riffing on the fact that the Bruce Willis character in "Unbreakable," in addition to being invulnerable, could also see into people's lives and the bad things they've done simply by touching them.

So, I made this moive.

My friend Christian Condrick played the lead (I wanted to be able to operate the camera more). We shot in the spring of 2002. I was a little better at special effects. A *little. A little better at everything, including writing. Of which, inspired by Shyamalan, I added a cool twist in the end that the character's mentor also had the same ability and wanted to destroy Chris' character because he was jealous. Actually, now that I write that—well—I'm not sure. Who knows.

It's a decent movie. A decent short. It did well in that people watched it. A "return to form," as it were! I don't know how I'd make it today. It speaks to that problem of inspiration—and trying to get away from it. That is, you, as the artist, see something like "Unbreakable," and you're just, "Wow, I gotta' do something like that," and it colors your thoughts, and your thoughts lead you to your own idea. I'm a little weary of inspiration. Although, I still get it, and it still usually comes from other movies. I don't think any director, artist, is immune to that. Especially when they encounter genius in someone's work like Shyamalan's or Christopher Nolan's. Looking back on this film, my main takeaway is that I was trying to get away from my inspirations and make something of my own.

I didn't stray far.