M. Night Shyamalan Didn't Expect His Knock At The Cabin Cameo To Make The Final Cut

You know the drill. A new M. Night Shyamalan movie comes out, everyone enters into fierce debates over whether the divisive filmmaker has finally found his footing again, and then we rinse and repeat the exact same cycle two years later. Welcome to the internet!

But the arrival of the newest Shyamalan film also signals another fun little trend, too. The Indian-American director has always had a penchant for including his own cameos wherever he can. Some end up taking on a surprising level of narrative significance, like in "Signs" or 2021's "Old." Others are clearly just for fun, thrown in as a bit of lighthearted comic relief like in his "Eastrail 177" trilogy. (That's in reference to "Unbreakable," "Split," and "Glass," for the uninitiated!) So as "Knock at the Cabin" debuts in theaters today and this weekend, Shyamalan fans know enough to keep their eyes peeled in the midst of the end-of-the-world mayhem for that very familiar face.

Rest assured, we won't spoil his cameo here or the finer points of the film in order to give everyone a chance to catch it for themselves in theaters, but be warned that the latter half of this article includes Shyamalan's thoughts on his brief appearance in "Knock at the Cabin," the tone of his cameo, and more. If you'd rather go in knowing absolutely nothing, then read on at your own peril!

You know what? When you're a filmmaker who specializes in telling original stories on mid-level budgets, self-funds those movies, and ends up pumping out box office hits one after another when theaters sorely need the business, then you're well within your rights to have a little harmless fun at our expense. For my money, "Old" just might feature his most fascinating and self-deprecating cameo yet, but you certainly won't want to miss his moment in "Knock at the Cabin."

Those who've seen it already will know exactly what I'm talking about, but everyone else ought to remain on the lookout for one of Shyamalan's funniest self-inserts in his entire filmography. In an interview with Collider, the director opened up about shooting this particular cameo and whether or not he ever thought it'd actually end up in the final cut:

"Sometimes I'm not in the films because I just can't, it doesn't seem right. And this one I thought, 'For sure, I'm not going to be in.' That's what I thought for sure. And then in pre-production, I was like, 'You know what? I have a funny idea.' And then everybody enjoyed the concept so much. I was like, 'All right, let's go shoot.' It was the first thing we shot, this thing that's in 'Knock at the Cabin.' And I was like, 'This is never going to end up in the movie.' And it did. And the editor was like, 'I love it. It's so funny.' And I was like, 'You sure?'

Needless to say, a one-location thriller with an incredibly small cast posed a logistical challenge to incorporate Shyamalan into the action, but he certainly found a funny and clever way to get in on the action.

"Knock at the Cabin" is now in theaters.