【英语听和读】水中女妖

 Callum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Entertainment.

In the programme today I'm going to be looking at different views of a new
film Lady in the Water. We'll hear from the writer and director as well as the
critic.
In 1999 the film The Sixth Sense brought the name of M. Night Shyamalan to
the attention of the international cinema audience. He was hailed as the new
Spielberg and became known for films which have magical and supernatural
elements as well as surprising twists.
M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, Lady in the Water, is described a modern
day fairy tale. It began as a bedtime story he used to tell his children and he's
adapted it to become a movie.
However the process of turning the story into a film wasn't an easy one. A film
written down is called a script and usually every script gets re-written a number
of times – things are changed, corrections are made, problems fixed 1 and so on.
Each different version of the script is known as a draft. How many drafts did it
take M. Night before he was finished and what does he think of the completed
script?
M. Night Shyamalan
It took a lot of drafts, it took 13 drafts, which is obviously a sign that I was in the wrong
direction at first. But by the time we got to thirteen drafts we had one of those very special 
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kind of things that could exist all by itself without even shooting a movie, it could exist and
you could put it in front of somebody and they would read it and become enchanted 2 by it, it
had it's own language, you know.
Callum: It took 13 drafts before the final script was finished but he was very happy with
the end result. He said that people would be enchanted by the script alone, they
would find it magical, interesting and enjoyable. Enchanted. And what does he
think of the finished movie?
M. Night Shyamalan
I love the movie, I love the movie. The cast and crew love the movie, the studio loves the
movie and there's a great deal of audience that loves the movie, standing 3 ovations 5 and stuff
like that.
Callum: He is very pleased with the movie, he loves it. But that’s not all. He says that
the cast and crew love the movie. The cast and crew is a useful expression for
the people who act in and are involved in the making of the movie, the cast and
crew. He also said that the studio – the company that gave him the money to
make the film – loves it and that audiences have loved it, giving it a 'standing
ovation 4'. A standing ovation is when the audience stand up at the end and cheer
and clap.
In the film Lady in the Water someone or something appears in the swimming
pool of an apartment complex. This character is not a human character but is a
fantasy character from a fantasy land who has to return to her own world.
We've heard that the author of story and director of the film, M. Night
Shyamalan thinks it's an enchanting 6 story but what do the critics think?
Mark Kermode is a reviewer who never hides his true feelings about the
movies he sees. This is what he thought about the Lady in the Water.
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Mark Kermode
Absolutely idiotic 7 script that nobody in their right mind would turn into a movie. It's awful, a
whole career going down in flames in the sheer awfulness of it all. It is absolute self-indulgent
waffle.
Callum: Oh dear. Not one of Mark's favourite films. The script that M Night Shyamalan
describes as 'enchanting', Mark describes as 'idiotic'. He actually likes his other
films but this one he thinks is so bad it is like a plane crash for M. Night's
career. He describes it as being self-indulgent waffle. Waffle is a noun and a
verb for when people talk or write a lot but without giving any important. By
using the adjective self-indulgent Mark shows that he believes the writer
allows himself to do exactly what he wants even if that is not necessarily the
best thing.
Listen again to Mark Kermode's comments.
Mark Kermode
Absolutely idiotic script that nobody in their right mind would turn into a movie. It's awful, a
whole career going down in flames in the sheer awfulness of it all. It is absolute self-indulgent
waffle.
Callum: Well that's all from this edition of entertainment. If you've seen this film I
wonder what you think – is it enchanting or idiotic!