Movies: Night Vision

His response to this divorce was to retreat even further into his own world — a defiant act in the face of so many doubters he once trusted. Before the split with Disney was final, says the insider, Night was encouraged to show his script to more people with no stake in it — nothing to gain or lose by praising or shredding it. He refused. Most of the A-list producers from his past hits, confidants who weren’t afraid to push Night on creative decisions in service of the film, weren’t involved with Lady. This time, his producers number only three: José Rodriguez, a friend and employee who worked for Bell Atlantic before Night recruited him; Sam Mercer, who’s seen as more of a nuts-and-bolts guy than a script-tweaker; and Night himself.

As a result, no one stood in his way when he cast himself in the film’s second male lead — Vick, a writer who plays a crucial part in the film’s denouement. “The danger is if he considers himself such a big star that he doesn’t need one in his film,” says the Hollywood Reporter’s Grove. “With both Signs and The Village, the critics were not favorable. Same director, same genre, same marketing, except you didn’t have a star to drive The Village. But Mel Gibson [in Signs] was worth about $114 million.” The actors driving Lady are Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, and the director, who doesn’t see a correlation between his hit movies and the star power in them. “People ask me,” Night once told the Inquirer, “why are the movies so successful? Because they are me.”

In his book, Bamberger stresses how important it was to Night during the Lady shoot that everyone, from Giamatti to the cameramen, buy into the story as he did. When Giamatti — an Oscar nominee — didn’t jump at Night’s offer to do the film, Night considered Kevin Costner for the role. “Night wasn’t accustomed to dealing with real-world intrusions,” writes Bamberger. “You were supposed to get sucked up into Night’s world and to hell with everything else.”

In many ways, the purity of Night’s world has always been his greatest strength. But has he become too enclosed in it? When the Disney execs applied pressure, Night chose not to compromise, instead retreating to his 73-acre spread in Chester County and his office there, complete with a secret room. In that way, Night is like so many Philadelphians — he’s never left home. He once said he’d sooner quit making movies than move to L.A. Here, Night has created an enclave like the one in his last film — removed from the outside, and safe from the fans, the critics, and the non-believers. Perhaps both geographically and thematically, Night needs to explore new territory.

“The most successful directors are the most wide open, like Spielberg,” says the insider who knows Night well. “You have an idea? Bring it on! He might disagree, but it won’t crush him. Instead of listening more, Night is listening less.

“I would never bet against Night,” the source continues. “But he needs to let people in. He needs to get out of the village.”