M. Night Shyamalan is the guy you go to for twisty thrillers like The Sixth Sense, Signs, Split, and Trap.
Nicholas Sparks is the guy you go to for occasionally supernatural (and occasionally also twisty) romances like The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Dear John, and Safe Haven.
Their latest project is an unusual collaboration; a story they wrote together that seemingly combines both of their particular interests. Sparks then turned it into a novel and now Shyamalan has made the movie version. Both are called Remain, with Jake Gyllenhaal as a man who’s madly in love with a woman (Phoebe Dynevor) who … looks like she might be a ghost? (Sparks’ book was subtitled “A Supernatural Love Story.”)
Watch the trailer and see for yourself.
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I’m trying to think of comparable examples to Remain, where an author and a filmmaker developed a project together then separately made their own version of that story in their respective mediums. The only one that’s coming to mind right now is 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was loosely based on several Arthur C. Clarke short stories, but was ultimately transformed into 2001 by Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick together. Kubrick made the movie while Clarke wrote his own novel based on the concept. Both were major successes.
Here is Remain’s official synopsis
From Warner Bros. Pictures, Remain, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is an unprecedented collaboration between two of the world’s most creative minds: best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, and visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan. When reclusive architect Tate Gordon moves to small coastal town to complete his latest project, he encounters an alluring young woman who pulls him out of his shell, and into the center of a deadly mystery that hangs over the town.
Remain opens in theaters on February 3, 2027.
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