When a series of unusual events begins to draw the attention of the world’s population, high school teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and their family go on the run. Their attempt to avoid becoming victims of these bizarre occurrences develops into a desperate fight for survival as an apocalyptic crisis threatens humanity.

Question: A question for the director, as well as anyone else in the cast who has an opinion.

WAHLBERG: You can direct all questions to the director.

Question: How closely does this storyline reflect your own worldview?

WAHLBERG: You can direct all questions to the director.

SHYAMALAN: You know, they’re all a little bit like therapy, all these movies, and if something is bothering me, or family things, you know, I’m always working them in a kind of like a journal way, but it does definitely represent the things that are on my mind. I think everybody in our generation is starting to worry about these types of things right now. It’s an election year and everything, it’s thinking about the future. What’s interesting with a slew of end-of-the-world movies is an anxiety that’s in the air, and it mimics kind of in the ‘50s, the same kind of anxieties about our future: “where are we headed?”, “are we going in the right direction?”, “is it too late to change course?”, all in the back of my head. I never thought I was actually all that serious a person, but when I sit down to write, I guess more adult things come out.

Question: Night, I’m wondering from you. This is your first film with the “R” rating. How freeing was that? What did you get to do in this film that you were not able to do in the other films because of the “PG13”?

SHYAMALAN: What was interesting is that I’ve gotten “R” on two other movies—on “The Sixth Sense” and “The Village”—initially. I got an “R” rating for the intensity of certain scenes, and then you just pull back a sound effect. We were right on the line, and then I could always just pull back a sound effect and resubmit it and they go, “oh, that’s much better.” All I did was take out some sound effects and it’s always an impact, because what you emotionally feel is different than what I actually showed. For this one, the screenplay that I wrote, there was just no way to do it any other way. One of the movies that I was thinking about was “Pan’s Labyrinth”. I was thinking about that a lot when I made the decision, because you don’t want to make it as an agenda. You want to make an organic decision: “what does the material want to do?” When I thought about “Pan’s Labyrinth”, which has visceral moments of violence juxtaposed against the softer things that are going on against the canvas, it gave it authority and some teeth. A “PG13” version of “Pan’s Labyrinth”, for me, wouldn’t have had that kind of impact. It wouldn’t have stayed with me the way that movie has stayed with me. So it felt like the right balance of things. It was exciting, and it was disturbingly easy to shoot all those scenes. I had such a fun time.

Question: The idea of plants having consciousness is sort of a non-Western worldview. Did you consider that coming from some of your other influences, and can you talk about how maybe your non-Western experience has influenced you? Would you guys talk about the spiritual side of the film? I think there is a spiritual element here.

SHYAMALAN: Definitely. The first thing is, it’s interesting because the Native American culture, that’s all it’s about. My middle name, Night, is an American Indian name, and that is what I felt so attached to when I was a kid to the American Indian culture is their relationship to nature: worshipping the sky, the earth, the rock, the bear over there. That relationship felt correct then, as a kid, and it feels correct now as an adult. It’s interesting how in all our religions, so little is really said about how we should feel towards nature. It’s an interesting thing to get the hierarchy back in line with the way it is. We’re just one of many living creatures on the planet.

Question: And do you guys have any thoughts about the spiritual aspects of the film?

WAHLBERG: I think Night cast me because of my strong faith, but then we’d do a take and he’d be like, “That was great, what were you thinking about?” and I was like, “Jesus!”, and he’s like, “Oh, we gotta do it again.”

SHYAMALAN: Literally, literally!

WAHLBERG: I don’t understand that at all. I said, “it’s not going to change, it’s going to be Jesus every time!” I think he cast me because of my faith. If somebody asked me why Elliot survived, I’d say because he had so much faith and hope.

DESCHANEL: I think it can be interpreted as a philosophical message as much as a spiritual message, and that faith can be spiritual or it can also be a philosophy, so I think the movie raises questions and anytime you’re raising questions, you’re inspiring people to think about things. I think that’s really good because I definitely came out of seeing the film feeling like I wanted to question my own beliefs.

LEGUIZAMO: I haven’t seen the movie, I didn’t see the flick, but from reading the script—probably because I’m a Pagan, and people who have no faith weren’t allowed to see it.

WAHLBERG: No, because it will convert you, baby. You will be touched by the hand of God.

LEGUIZAMO: I’ll be touched by something, but….what I loved about the script and great writing, is that is has a message, some heart and something to say about the world and the state of human beings in the human condition. That’s what I loved about the screenplay; there was that message that was missing in so many big Hollywood flicks that don’t have a point of view, don’t have some visceral thing to say to make us feel something. I loved that about the movie. I loved that it had a point of view.

Question: Following up that question: You cast your protagonist as a science teacher, and you also had a scientist toward the end, the talking head on TV, describing the limits of rational thought. So, how does that tie into the whole spiritual message?

SHYAMALAN: I was reading the Einstein biography when I was writing the screenplay, it’s fantastic. Beautiful, beautiful book. One of the things I was struck by—now, you may read the book and not even see this in there—he had rejected religion and was kind of atheistic, and then did his wondrous things in his twenties and got really into it, and then in the gaps in science, he started seeing a hand—in his point of view, the hand of God. His life struggle was finding an overall formula, an overall thing that could define the design of things. Then he became very religious again. The ultimate man of science became a man of faith, and in a way when I was writing Elliot, it affected Elliot because he’s just a high school science teacher and he has plenty of gaps in his knowledge of science. I said, “you’re just a regular science teacher, you’re not going to be the hero that figures out something…”, it’s not like that. You see in those gaps, he honors those things in the gaps. That’s why Mark felt like the right cast, because obviously he’s a man of faith. To see the things that we don’t know, the lack of need to define it in the closest category is something inspiring when I see that in somebody, whether it’s Einstein or Elliot’s character or in Mark. It really is a question of science to almost give evidence to something else.

Question: How did it feel this time around playing a lofty teacher, and Zooey, the ditsy wife, and Night, why did you choose these characters to portray these people in this film?

WAHLBERG: I was paranoid because I was some high school dropout. I wasn’t a good student and I had to portray a teacher who was actually really good at his job and the kids loved him. I didn’t tell Night that. I didn’t know if he knew too much about my past, but I definitely got a GED science book and spent a lot of time walking around the Ben Franklin Institute, following kids around on their class field trips. In other films, I’ve spoken other languages, and it’s one thing for me to be able to say the words but I obviously need to feel confident enough to understand them to convey them.

LEGUIZAMO: It was a departure for me to play somebody of a little upgraded kind of character, in an intellectual way. I tutored calculus in college; I mean, the kids all failed, but I transferred to a different college after that. I hid at NYU, they’d never catch me there! There’s only so far a teacher can take students. That’s why I washed my hands of that. I felt confident, because math to me in college was the only thing I felt you could believe in, that was finite and had answers, and it helped me through those years. Then I dropped out of college when I felt too confident.

Question: How was it dumbing down your character?

DESCHANEL: Dumbing down?

Question: Ditzy…

DESCHANEL: You thought I was ditzy? I was supposed to be a therapist with a Ph. D. It’s doctor to you!

SHYAMALAN: When I write the characters, there are aspects of me, things that I’m struggling with or thinking about. Zooey’s character is the person that wants to be, is scared to be vulnerable, and uses humor to deflect that feeling. The movie’s really about the state of where we are now in the world of paranoia, of how we feel towards strangers, to each other, to other countries, to everything. The sense of, “we don’t trust anybody.” I was saying Mrs. Jones is the ultimate version of her character. If she kept on going, she would close off everything and distrust everybody. We went that way in talking about her, and really, that’s the part of me that wants to protect myself—she kind of jokes about it and tries to undermine it, but it’s really a delicate thing of me to go, “it’s better to protect myself, let me protect myself like everyone else is protecting themselves,” which is exactly the opposite of what I tell my kids. I tell them to be completely vulnerable, take every hit you can, because that will allow you to feel all those great things that are going to come: love, joy, creativity, all that stuff, will always outweigh the amount of hits you’re going to get, although you want to protect yourself from those little hits. Really, the struggle of the movie was her struggle, which is my struggle, which is, “is this an appropriate way to be?”, which is the way I am naturally. “Is this an appropriate way to be, or is this the right way to be?” The struggle of whether to question it or not. John’s character for me is, ”I’m the guy with the numbers, it always comforts me to give numbers. There’s a 34% chance we’re going to be ok, dadadada….,” and in many ways, they’re similar, because he sees beauty in math as well. So when he tells that story when they’re dying in the jeep, he tells that beautiful riddle in saying, “if you just double a penny, in the end of a month, you have over ten million dollars.” It’s amazing that the properties of math, and he spent one last time teaching this little girl in the Jeep about it, is, “isn’t math wondrous, you want to hear one more story about it?” They each see something bigger in their field, whereas Alma is the person deciding whether the world is that way, or whether it is a crappy place. That was what they were all setting out to do. In all of them, the first thing I wanted to do was to pick the most likeable cast I could possibly put at the center of the movie. You could get a great actor, but they come from a dark place. If you put that in the center of this dark movie, the movie would be unbearable. But they’re all coming from a place of light, all three of them. To put those guys and all the rest of the cast, even Betty Buckley who chose to play Mrs. Jones, trying to have light, and then it just messes up. It messes up for her. A whole cast of actors coming from light was right at the center, and that’s why the movie, even though it’s so dark, has such a great light to it.

Question: Last time you were here doing one of these, you mentioned that “Signs” was the best-reviewed movie, but you also saw it as a “popcorn” movie. Do you see this as a popcorn movie, and is it possible to have the popcorn, but also have the personal parts, faith, and stuff in there?

SHYAMALAN: Yeah, definitely. One of the things I said to everybody, the cast and crew, I said, you know, we’re making a movie about an important stuff, but this is a ‘B’ movie. Let’s get ourselves straight here. This is just a great ‘B’ movie, we’re making the best ‘B’ movie we can, but that’s our job. We’re making a ‘B’ movie. If the fumes of the movie have something that stick with you, great, but we’re not going to put that in front of the movie. We’re going to have a lot of fun. It’s a paranoia movie, we just need to pound away. That’s our job. I was really clear about that, so in that way, it was meant to be entertainment. All my movies are a little bit of that. One reporter yesterday was saying, “how come you just don’t make a pure popcorn movie, and then go make an art movie?” Problem is, both are my instincts. One leg in each place, which sometimes pisses off one group, and sometimes pisses off the other group, and my wife says, “just make one or the other!”, and I said I wish I could, because as it ends up, I do think about all these kind of spiritual things, and I do love cheeseburgers, and I do love Seinfeld, and I do love Coca Cola, and I do love Michael Jordan. It’s just me. If I took one side away, the side that really loves to read about philosophy, and just pretended that didn’t exist, it would be a lie. If I pretended I wasn’t jumping up and down watching the Celtics last night, that would be lie as well. It’s that balancing act, I’m just trying to keep being honest.

Question: The film presents a nightmare scenario, a worst-case nightmare for most people. In real life, can you guys share your greatest fears?

LEGUIZAMO: Getting a little personal here. I’ll share my second big fear. My first big fear…nah, I can’t do that. My big fear, wow; to be asked about my big fear. That would be my big fear. I don’t know…that Obama doesn’t win this fall? That would be terrifying. That would be my most horrifying fear that would really depress me, and math wouldn’t even help me then.

DESCHANEL: I would have to agree with you.

WAHLBERG: Don’t even want to think about that. You guys ever been to jail?

DESCHANEL: I know no matter what you say, it’s going to sound superficial.

WAHLBERG: End up in jail, then you’d be scared.

SHYAMALAN: You know, I think all fear comes down to the factor of being alone. It’s all based on versions of that. If you take random things that you’re scared of—I’m scared of flying, or you’re scared of the new job that you have—it’s all related to the feeling of, “I’m going to have emotions, and no one else will have those emotions. I’ll be alone in some manner.” So if you’re in a plane and you’re scared…I’m scared of flying, but if I talk to the pilot or I talk to somebody else, you don’t feel as scared. It’s the human connection. You’re not alone anymore; you have a commonality. I’ve said that art, I believe, is the ability to convey that we’re not alone. That’s the power of art, and fear is the flip of that. It’s always been in our genetics since we’ve been cave people that fear protects us. “Don’t go down that road, you’ll be alone, we don’t know what’s down that road, you’ll be alone, being alone is not good. He’ll protect me, she’ll protect me, together we’re safer.” The person who didn’t have that didn’t survive, and now it’s kind of flipped on us and become a limiting factor. Now, we’re scared to put our kids out in the backyard now because our neighbors might do something. Our neighbors are wonderful people; the assumption is wrong. It’s the same stats that it was when I was a kid running around on a bike, but yet we’re so much more scared now. But nothing’s changed. Nothing has changed except for fear, and the fear has built on us because we get more and more isolated, like Mrs. Jones, until your fear has been realized: You’re all alone.

Question: One of the things I took away from your film—and this is jumping off of what other people said about belief—is that it’s about belief and fear, because for all the characters, the question is, what does it take to go outside your comfort zone, or what does it take to believe what you really believe? Because, initially, they reject what’s happening. Initially, she was afraid to get married, and for him, like you said, he’s (inaudible). For you, how personal is that about what it takes for you to go past what you used to believe, and then once you do believe, you can take action?

SHYAMALAN: Could you crystallize that? It was getting there, I was starting to land somewhere and then I was like, “no.” And then I said, “should I just BS it and just land somewhere?” Just one more time.

Question: My question is, how personal is it for you to go outside of what you believe, and how has that changed you, maybe, in your life, to make you write something like this?

SHYAMALAN: Right, right…constantly, the one mantra I tell my kid, is—I don’t know if I’m answering exactly this, because the belief thing is a different thing than fear for me—but I always tell my kids that courage is not being scared. That’s not what courage means. Courage is being scared and doing it anyway. It’s a very important thing because people are like, “I’m not courageous,” you’ve gotta go, “no no no…everybody feels scared.” But then you just don’t let that stop you and you go forward. For me, belief is everything. All the movies are about some version of testing faith; what faith do I believe in? Do I believe in family? Do I believe in God? Do I believe in each other, in humanity? Do I believe that we’re a good people? Is this working? I come out on the positive side of that equation. You get the instinct, as I said earlier, to protect yourself like that, and you just lose your identity that way. So, as long as you can, you’ve got to keep it wide open. I don’t know if I’ve answered your question.

Question: Continuing this theme of faith and belief, it seems to me that one of the things I sense from your movies is that there’s sort of an ongoing sense of the limitations of people who live purely by reason, by materialism. That this blocks them off from faith, from the larger sense of the world. Do you see that as a part of your movie, that it is almost a critique of people who think that science and technology alone is all you need in the world?

SHYAMALAN: That’s interesting, because when I was writing it, and the bees thing came up when the bees start disappearing, I thought, this is perfect…we could open the movie with the bees, but then I thought, what if they figure it out before the movie comes out? Then the whole point will be lost, and it will turn out it was a Verizon cell phone tower. I thought, this is going to be awful, and they’ll go ballistic! But exactly. They still haven’t figured it out, it’s still a mystery, they’ll never figure it out. Again, in the gaps of it, I almost think the most clinical minds are the ones that need it the most. They need to be proved the most. Mark instantly believes as a human being, he’s had an incredible life and has incredible experiences, but his ability to believe is just right there. It’s easy, but maybe for the clinical mind that constantly needs the facts, it actually means more to them. It’s such an important moment. My brother-in-law is actually one of these guys, a computer guy, all this stuff…debunks everything. We did a Ouija board once, and he said, “oh, let’s call my...can you guys try to get in touch with my great uncle Willy?” So we all did it, we got great uncle Willy on the Ouija board and all this stuff, and when we finished, he said, “my great uncle’s alive, he’s in Jersey.” I was like, “you want to know more than anybody.” He’s just that guy. He’s that science guy, he’s in computers, that’s what he does for a living. I think we all want, one day, for someone to go, “here’s the answer. There is something bigger going on.” Some of us want to go on faith, and some of us need to see it lay down on paper. It’s an interesting thing because in “Signs”, Mel played a man of faith who became very materialistic and just said, “no, it isn’t that way, it’s just what you see in front of you. That’s it.” In a way, he was the flip character of Mel’s character: a man of science, who (inaudible).

Question: More questions about science: What has the basis of science in “The Happening” allowed you to do that fantasy hasn’t?

SHYAMALAN: Wednesday, I was talking to a science reporter…let me go back a second. When I came up with the idea, I said to the research people, “give me every piece of information. I want to know from 1 to 10 whether this idea is totally, totally possible, probable, or impossible completely. And when they came back, the stack of information about how the environment works and the plants work and examples of anomalous things that have happened in the world, and how a cotton plant can send out a signal to the other side of the field to tell them that this insect is coming, and then they send out poisons and they send out toxins; all these things happening in a smaller form, that kind of thing. I talked to the University of Massachusetts and some other institutes about how the brain works, about toxins and how they affect each other. In a way, I’ve done two movies where there wasn’t any supernatural, “The Village” and this. In the process of the research, there were all these cool scientific facts about other cool shit to write about, make movies about, so it’s really a fun source of finding more conversations about faith. Just looking into science, I found so many more wonderful things, and maybe that’ll be a fun way to go in the future.