M. Night Shyamalan has built a career around surprise. From The Sixth Sense to Unbreakable and Signs, the filmmaker has repeatedly challenged audiences with stories that refuse to follow familiar Hollywood rules. Yet when it comes to his own cinematic influences, his taste is surprisingly clear—and wonderfully uncomplicated.
For Shyamalan, there is an important difference between the best movie and his favorite movie. One represents technical mastery, tonal precision and filmmaking perfection. The other is the movie that makes him feel something.
That distinction leads him to two very different Hollywood landmarks: Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece The Godfather and Steven Spielberg’s 1981 adventure classic Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The Godfather is Shyamalan’s definition of perfection
When asked by the American Film Institute to identify his favorite movie, Shyamalan first questioned the wording. If the question were instead about the greatest film ever made, his answer would be immediate: The Godfather.
For Shyamalan, Coppola’s crime saga represents almost impossible cinematic control. He admires the film’s tone above everything else, arguing that a director’s achievement can be judged by how consistently they maintain the emotional identity of a movie.
And in The Godfather, he sees virtually no weak spots.
Shyamalan has described the film as perfect from beginning to end, particularly praising the way Coppola controls its atmosphere without allowing the story to lose its grip. It is, in his eyes, the rare film that knows exactly what it wants to be—and never loses sight of it.
Then there’s the movie that makes him smile
But perfection isn't necessarily the same thing as affection.
That is where Raiders of the Lost Ark enters the picture. Released in 1981 and starring Harrison Ford as the whip-cracking archaeologist Indiana Jones, Spielberg’s adventure movie represents something more personal for Shyamalan.
A favorite, he suggests, carries a little bit of guilt, nostalgia and personality. It is not necessarily the movie a filmmaker would put forward as the pinnacle of the medium. It is the one that brings back the feeling of being a movie lover.
For Shyamalan, Raiders clearly occupies that space. It is thrilling, funny, inventive and unapologetically entertaining—the kind of movie that can make an audience forget the machinery behind filmmaking and simply enjoy the ride.
Actor William Hurt, director M. Night Shyamalan, actress Bryce Dallas Howard and actor Adrien Brody attend a pre-screening dinner for the world premiere of "The Village" on July 26, 2004 at Prospect Park, in New York City.Getty Images
Raiders helped Shyamalan find his own voice
Perhaps the most revealing part of Shyamalan’s admiration for Spielberg’s classic is what it taught him about his own career.
Before The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan had experienced major disappointments with his early films. He began questioning what he was doing wrong despite pouring enormous effort and affection into his work.
Then he looked at the movie posters covering his wall.
Among them were films such as The Exorcist and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Instead of chasing the idea of becoming a conventional “art filmmaker,” Shyamalan realized he could make the kinds of movies he had genuinely loved growing up.
That realization became the foundation for The Sixth Sense.
The result was more than a career breakthrough. It was a creative revelation: Shyamalan didn't need to imitate the filmmakers behind The Godfather. He needed to make movies that inspired the same sense of wonder he had felt watching Spielberg.
And that may explain his two choices perfectly. The Godfather represents the mountain of cinematic achievement. Raiders of the Lost Ark represents the reason someone falls in love with movies in the first place.
Instagram
