M. Night Shyamalan launches YouTube channel to try to work on his relationship with you

This is per the first, and for now only, video to have been added to Shyamalan’s new personal account, a brief movie in which Shyamalan makes one of his famous cameos—classic Night!—as himself, a filmmaker who actually seems extremely nervous to be on YouTube. “What I hope it is is an opportunity to reflect, get to know each other, deepen the relationship,” Shyamalan says of this initial outing on social media. Noting that he’s “scared” and interested in “the messiness of it all,” Shyamalan seems to be genuinely reckoning with the fact that his back-and-forth with the moviegoing public has not always been entirely positive over the decades. “Thirty years making movies, and I want to kind of undo it a little bit. Undo whatever stigmas are in my head, or in anybody’s head.” (He does not then go on to name any specific stigmas you might have about his films kicking around in your personal noggin, presumably because comments sections across the internet are already filled to the brim with those.)

It is, honestly, pretty engaging in its vulnerability, as Shyamalan expresses his worry that this kind of direct communication might “break” something important to him. (It also includes a lot of footage of his incredibly swanky looking office and the little bench he sits on when he’s not “feeling great”—”which is often”—while looking at a tree he planted after his dad died earlier this year.) Shyamalan noted in the comments for the video that he intends to post something new to the channel on Sunday, August 30.

Anyway, it took maybe one hour for someone to comment “What a twist!” on this thing, so we’re guessing you might want to get this version of direct access to Shyamalan while the gettin’s good.