The Happening 2008 Film

The Happening is a 2008 American film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. Production began in August 2007 in Philadelphia. The Happening will be released on Friday, June 13, 2008, deliberately planned to fall on Friday the 13th.

The Happening is a paranormal thriller in which a family must survive a global environmental crisis. The film will portray the earth’s vegetation unleashing airborne neurotoxins that cause all those who breathe it to commit violent suicide. The protagonist, a science teacher named Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), goes on the run with his estranged wife (Zooey Deschanel) and friends as hysteria grips the planet.

Philadelphia high school science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and other people begin encountering breakdowns in human behavior in major American cities caused by the Earth’s vegetation releasing neurotoxins that, when inhaled, leads to chilling suicidal deaths.

Moore flees from the crisis into Pennsylvania farmlands with his estranged wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel). Along with them are Elliot’s friend and math teacher Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez).

In January 2007, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan traveled from Philadelphia to Hollywood to prepare the live-action film based on Avatar: The Last Airbender. Shyamalan submitted a spec script entitled The Green Effect to various studios, but none expressed enough interest to purchase the script.

The director collected ideas and notes from meetings, returning home to Philadelphia to rewrite the script, and 20th Century Fox greenlit the project. Now titled The Happening, the film will be produced by Shyamalan and Barry Mendel and will be the director’s first R-rated project. Shyamalan compared the film to the earlier paranoia films The Birds (1963) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

Later in March, actor Mark Wahlberg, with whom Shyamalan had been negotiating at the same time as his deal with Fox, was cast into the lead role of the $57 million project. Shyamalan had previously cast Wahlberg’s brother Donnie Wahlberg in The Sixth Sense. The India-based company UTV will co-finance 50% of the film’s budget and distribute the film in India, with Fox distributing in the rest of the territories. Production began in August in Philadelphia. The release date for The Happening is set for June 13, 2008, intentionally set for Friday the 13th to suit the thriller.

   

The score to The Happening was composed by Oscar-nominated composer James Newton Howard. He recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage with a 90-piece orchestra, and featured solos by cellist Maya Beiser. Varese Sarabande Records announced that they will be releasing the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for The Happening on June 3, 2008.

Cast:

• Mark Wahlberg as Elliot Moore, a high school science teacher from Philadelphia 

• Zooey Deschanel as Alma Moore, Elliot’s estranged wife 

• John Leguizamo as Julian, a high school math teacher and Elliot’s friend 

• Ashlyn Sanchez as Jess, Julian’s daughter