“Twin Peaks” meets “Twilight Zone”
Wayward Pines FOX’s newest TV miniseries directed by thriller expert M. Night Shyamalan, which takes place in a small secluded town called Wayward Pines in Idaho. The show starts off with secret service agent Ethan Burke lying in a forest near Wayward Pines. He was recently injured in a car accident while trying to complete a top secret mission. He is taken to the local hospital to recuperate. A very chipper nurse cares for him. However, as time moves forward, Burke notices a strange aura around the residents of Wayward Pines, and when he does; he escapes the hospital and finds himself finding refuge within the local bar. He then receives help from the bartender, Beverly (Juliette Lewis), who also notices that something within the town is abnormal. Together they try to uncover the town’s mysteries and dark secrets. The question is, will they survive to find out that secret?
This miniseries is something to look forward to. It has all the elements of a great thriller. It has mystery, suspense, twists, and interesting characters. M. Night Shyamalan does a great job of setting the ambiance and really letting the thrill of the show take over. These characters also shine on their own. Just like the town itself, every single character has a lot of mystery to them. After the first episode you are left with more questions than answers, which will make you come back for more. All in all, Wayward Pines is a great thriller.
Read what M. Night Shyamalan had to say about his latest project.
Q: Tell me about the inspiration behind this whole story.
A: They brought me the pilot and it’s based on a book. At that time I read the pilot and it was exquisitely written and had a very weird, very David Lynch feel which I was very, very excited about.
Q: Are you a Twin Peaks fan?
A: I am a Twin Peaks fan. I am a huge David Lynch fan. And so the movie that I directed and this show, they both have that weird, inappropriate humor. Some you should be scared but then you’re also laughing. People are saying things like “Do you like rum raisin?” right in the middle of a murder investigation. And I love that oddity so that was very appealing to me. And when I heard what the story was, what the actual reveal was, it all made sense. I am always an end backwards kind of filmmaker and I didn’t want to do a show where we would be like ‘yeah we’ll figure it out.’ We knew where we were going and this is the introduction to it so it was very tantalizing.
Q: And how was this different from your other types of projects?
A: Well, first of all, the format is so different. This is more character driven, which I love. I mean, it leans into my interests which are—I would only do the first act of a movie every single time if I was allowed—that’s my favorite act. But that’s the least favorite act for a studio and for marketers. You can’t market a first act, you can market the incident and you can market the third act. So, if I only wanted to do the first act movies, TV is a good place to deal with that kind of instance of character. You see it in the character.
Q: Who is your favorite character from this show?
A: Wow, there are so many and they switch for me over time but when you said that the two character that came to mind is Terrance’s character and Charlie’s character. Charlie is the boy. Well Charlie here, for example, the amazing thing about TV is as you’re doing the season, you can start moving the boat towards the things that are most important and so Charlie’s character became more and more important and so I started moving the boat towards his view of what was happening. So he became more important than he was initially intended to be.
Q: And what are you excited for viewers to see from this show?
A: There’s a lot of these kind of wonderful reveals, reveals, reveals, and that’s wonderful for people, but really, I think my favorite thing is that we tell you everything halfway through the season and then the second half of the season is dealing with the repercussions of your knowledge. And I like that as a format. I am going to tell you what genre you’re watching halfway through. You don’t even know what genre you’re watching until halfway through. That’s kind of cool. And it’s finite because there are no vamp episodes. Everything is specific.
Carla Gugino also stars in the show.
Q: How was it like working with M. Night?
A: It was awesome. I went and met him early on before we started shooting to talk about it and from the first conversation we were so on the same page and I loved every idea that he had for what he wanted to do with this. And the shooting process with him was extremely easeful. He watches like a hawk and he has really specific direction which I am always so appreciative of as an actor and we have just become really good friends through the process. It was like meeting a kindred spirit creatively.
Q: What attracted you to this role?
A: When it came my way, Matt was attached and Melissa Leo was and M. Night. And I was like, ‘what an interesting group of people.’ And an eclectic mix that hadn’t done things together before. And then when I read the material, I always love a great thriller and “The Shining” is one of my favorite films ever and that kind of isolation that kind of brings out the tension and suspense and intrigue and kind of what those kind of isolated events do to people and what they do to survive. And so all of those elements attracted me but also that this character that I play, you really get two completely different sides to this character that you’re ultimately revealed to in the show and so for me as an actor it was something that I hadn’t been able to do before.
Q: And what do you like about your character that viewers can expect to see later on?
A: This is a woman who has sacrificed a lot for what she believes in and she has given up a lot of what mattered to her in life in order to save certain people. And she has made a big sacrifice and when we find out, kind of, what is going on with her; it is very different than what appears on the surface. And I think that is the case with a lot of human beings so I really like that aspect.
Q: And what are you excited for viewers to see from this show?
A: I am excited that it keeps you extremely intrigued. It goes places that you don’t expect it to go. And I do love that you get some very significant answers of what’s happening midway through the show. And you then you as the audience then have to deal with how these people are actually going to deal with these ramifications as opposed to that cliché cliffhanger at the end.
Q: And how did you feel as an actor with that different way of direction with the answers being revealed in the middle?
A: I love anything—I think there are so many great shows being made on television now and I think a lot of rules are being broken. And I am a big fan and appreciator of that because I feel that audiences are smart, they watch a lot of shows, and you want to do things—not for gimmicky reasons, not for shock value reasons, but allow them into the secret early so they can try to figure out what they would do under those circumstances.
Q: What are you looking forward to for the premiere of this show?
A: I am just hoping people really enjoy it. I love different genres for many different reasons. I think this genre, with elements of sci-fi in it are really interesting. And yet it isn’t really like any other show. It has sort of tinges of “Twin Peak,” it has tinges of “Twilight Zone,” there’s even a dash of “The Walking Dead” in there. There’re some people who have talked about “Lost,” so I love that it takes influences from some really wonderful pieces but it really is its own personality. And it’s funny because this is coming out and then ten days later the film with Dwayne Johnson called “San Andreas” is coming out and they are two completely different pieces but I love them both for different reasons, so I think what I like about this is that what you can do with television now is that you can have the voice of an outré, of a clear vision from the start that actually gets to the screen in a way that you would do an independent film—that doesn’t happen anymore for big movies. So “San Andreas” is a good example of a movie that had that as well and is really amazing and I feel really grateful to be in both.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the diversity in your roles?
A: You know that it’s something that I have always strived since I’ve started. It’s been what has interested me is disappearing into different characters. I was never really interested in branding myself or being recognizable for one thing. It’s always interested me and I think the people who have interested me are the one—even though I love a star who you see be themselves, it’s a very comfortable—it’s a wonderful feeling to know that you are in safe hands. But I always loved being a transformational actor and admired transformational actors. So I guess it’s funny that I have those two projects coming out and I also have an HBO show with Jack Black, Tim Robins, and Roach produced called “The Brink,” and that’s a totally different role as well. And by the time I’m on my deathbed I will hope that I have gotten to play almost everyone.
Wayward Pines premieres on Fox on May 14, 2015.
Also check out the trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film The Visit out on September 11, 2015.
-Vinesh Vora
