M. Night Shyamalan Nearly Wrote A Classic Nicholas Sparks Romance Movie

M. Night Shyamalan has made his career crafting suspenseful and twisty horror/thrillers, but the Oscar-nominated filmmaker could have written one of the classic movie love stories of the early 2000s based on the work of best-selling author Nicholas Sparks.

In a recent interview with Variety, Sparks revealed Shyamalan was considered to write the script to The Notebook. “He was busy writing this movie, The Sixth Sense,” Sparks said. Shyamalan was apparently approached to work on the project following Jan Sardi’s original adaptation, but those behind The Notebook ultimately went with Jeremy Leven as Shyamalan made his breakout film.

Both movies ended up doing just fine. The Sixth Sense made $672.8 million globally and was nominated for six Oscars – including for Best Picture and Best Director and Best Original Screenplay nods for Shyamalan. The Notebook took in $118.56 million worldwide and helped launch the careers of stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Each became a cultural touchstone.

This Hollywood near-miss was brought back up as Sparks and Shyamalan are about to collaborate for the first time. Sparks’ latest novel, Remains, is releasing on Tuesday, October 14, and is co-authored by Shyamalan. Shyamalan, meanwhile, has already sH๏τ the film adaptation of the book as his next movie, with Jake Gyllenhaal set to star alongside Phoebe Dynevor for an October 2026 release.

Jake Gyllenhaal Rusty Sabich in Presumed Innocent

Remains follows Tate Donovan, an architect looking for a fresh start after being released from an upscale psychiatric facility and the death of his sister. Tate’s sister revealed on her deathbed that she can see spirits still tethered to the living world, but Tate is skeptical. However, after encountering a beautiful woman named Wren, every ᴀssumption he has about his world will be challenged.

According to Sparks, the two creatives pitched each other an idea, and Remains is based on the one that Shyamalan came up with. However, the author notes that those that read the book should not necessarily ᴀssume that the ending of the movie is going to be the same.

I will tell you that one of the questions I asked Night about is, do you want the ending to be the same? Do you want the twist to be the same? And we made a decision about that. You’ve gotta read the book and see the movie.

Shyamalan is coming off his most recent film, 2024’s Trap, which made $83.67 million at the box office. Meanwhile, Sparks, who has had nine of his books adapted into movies since 2002, has not had one since 2016’s The Choice.