The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan is episode 51 focusing on the TV "documentary" of the same name, as part of the Pod Night Shyamacast miniseries covering the filmography of M. Night Shyamalan. Posted 12 Apr 2016.
Summary
"In the final episode of the Pod Night Shyamacast mini series, Griffin and David discuss the SyFy Channel hoax documentary, 2004’s The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan. Why is Academy Award nominated documentarian Nathaniel Kahn involved in this project? What are #thetwofriends final thoughts on Shyamalan? Together they analyze Javier the pizza guy’s impact on cinema, Johnny Depp’s appearance, hanging outside of your favorite director’s property gates and pretending to commune with the spirt world."[1]
This was made for the Sci-Fi Channel, back when it had a cool logo and didn't have a silly name like Syfy. This "documentary" was embroiled in controversy from the very start... just not for the right reasons. When it aired, the over/under on viewership was probably around two people; and to give you some idea of its status today, well, you can find it split into segments on Youtube.
The multiple-Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn directed this. What? How?! Why?!?!
On TV it was three hours long?
Wait a minute... Griffin was IN this thing when he was a newly formed teenager? What's the story on that?
Which megastar appears in this special, out of nowhere, and actually turns in the best "acting" performance?
Was this an unparalleled exercise in narcissistic publicity?
So many questions about this piece of content... Griffin and David do their best to answer them.
Milestones and Ephemera
- new nickname for the producer: Ben Night Shyamalan
- Blocked Griffin on Twitter: Lights Camera Jackson
- Go watch the documentary "My Architect" to see Nathaniel Kahn put his talents to better use. You'll learn a little bit about the best architect of modern times.