The 'Sixth Sense' helmer credits his children for inspiring him to create a supernatural horror movie 'Old' which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Alex Wolff among others.

• Jul 25, 2021

AceShowbiz - Director M. Night Shyamalan has his daughters to thank for the Father's Day gift which inspired his new movie "Old".

The "Sixth Sense" filmmaker came up with the premise of the supernatural horror film, about a group of holidaymakers who find themselves rapidly ageing on a secluded beach, after reading and falling in love with a French graphic novel he had once been given by his girls.

The title in question was "Sandcastle" by Pierre-Oscar Levy and Frederick Peeters.

"Interestingly enough, it was a Father's Day gift that my three daughters gave me," he recalled on America's "Today" show.

"They found it in this little comic book store in Philadelphia, this graphic novel by a French author, and it was very obscure and impossible to find, and I loved this premise..."

Shyamalan continued, "It's very moving, it's what we all think about - how fast time is moving, you blink and our kids are so old and they're different human beings, and our parents have become frail, so these were the things that were on my mind (reading) this amazing graphic novel... I loved it."

And the director was able to turn the project into a real family affair as he hired two of his daughters to work with him on the film.

"They've grown up in this house of arts and now they're these adults and incredible filmmakers...," he smiled.

"Ishani... is a filmmaker... She second directed the movie so she was at one end of the beach, and I was at the other. It was just an amazing experience," he gushed, adding, "My daughter Saleka, who is this amazing musician..., she wrote this song that's really important to the movie and really important to the characters, so it was an amazing experience to see them do all this stuff and lean on them."