Текст песни Talk about English

Vincent, in your job do you have to interview directors/actors?

Vincent: (Replies)

Callum: It must be difficult sometimes when people involved in a movie have to
promote it, try to sell it when it's not been very well accepted by the critics or
reviewers.

Jackie: A recent film where this happened was the Lady in the Water by M. Night
Shyamalan.

Callum: In 1999 the film The Sixth Sense brought the name of M. Night Shyamalan to
the attention of the international cinema audience. He was hailed as the new
Spielberg and became known for films which have magical and supernatural
elements as well as surprising twists.

M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, Lady in the Water, is described a modern
day fairy tale. It began as a bedtime story he used to tell his children and he's
adapted it to become a movie.

Jackie: However the process of turning the story into a film wasn't an easy one. A film
written down is called a screenplay or script and usually every script gets re-
written a number of times – things are changed, corrections are made, problems
fixed and so on. Each different version of the script is known as a draft. How
many drafts did it take M. Night before he was finished and what does he think
of the completed script?

M. Night Shyamalan
It took a lot of drafts, it took 13 drafts, which is obviously a sign that I was in the wrong
direction at first. But by the time we got to thirteen drafts we had one of those very special
kind of things that could exist all by itself without even shooting a movie, it could exist and
you could put it in front of somebody and they would read it and become enchanted by it, it
had it's own language, you know.

Callum: It took 13 drafts before the final script was finished but he was very happy with
the end result. He said that people would be enchanted by the script alone, they
would find it magical, interesting and enjoyable. Enchanted. And what does he
think of the finished movie?

M. Night Shyamalan
I love the movie, I love the movie. The cast and crew love the movie, the studio loves the
movie and there's a great deal of audience that loves the movie, standing ovations and stuff
like that.

Callum: He is very pleased with the movie, he loves it. But that’s not all. He says that

Jackie: In the film someone or some 'thing' appears in the swimming pool of an
apartment complex. This character is not a human character but is a fantasy
character from a fantasy land who has to return to her own world. We've heard
that the author of story and director of the film, M. Night Shyamalan thinks it's
an enchanting story but what do the critics think?

Callum: Mark Kermode is a reviewer who never hides his true feelings about the
movies he sees. This is what he thought about the Lady in the Water.

Mark Kermode
Absolutely idiotic script that nobody in their right mind would turn into a movie. It's awful, a
whole career going down in flames in the sheer awfulness of it all. It is absolute self-indulgent
waffle.

Callum: Oh dear. Not one of Mark's favourite films. The script that M Night Shyamalan
describes as 'enchanting', Mark describes as 'idiotic'. He actually likes his other
films but this one he thinks is so bad it is like a plane crash for M. Night's

Mark Kermode
Absolutely idiotic script that nobody in their right mind would turn into a movie. It's awful, a
whole career going down in flames in the sheer awfulness of it all. It is absolute self-indulgent
waffle.

Callum: Well if you've seen this film I wonder what you think – is it enchanting or
idiotic! Jackie, Vincent, have either of you seen this film?

Jackie / Vincent reply

Callum: How much notice of reviewers and critics do you take in choosing what you go
and see, do you think the critics can make or break a film?

All discuss

Callum: To get another view on this I spoke to another one of our listeners, Susanna
from Italy

SUSANNA PHONE CALL
Reads reviews and critics but doesn't change her mind
Likes English actors
Favourite film Out of Africa
Films are important for the mind and emotions – help escape from stress of life.

Callum: It was interesting what Susanna was saying there ……