Spoilers for “Knock at the Cabin” to follow.
Quinn was only 27 when she gave that interview, so it’s plausible she’d initially auditioned for Shyamalan as far back as 2010’s ill-fated “Last Airbender.” Since then, there’s been no shortage of roles in his films that would’ve been age-appropriate for Quinn. To be sure, the filmmaker is one of the best in the biz when it comes to offering top-notch parts for young people, going all the way back to Haley Joel Osment in “The Sixth Sense” and, most recently, Kristen Cui as Wen in “Knock at the Cabin.”
Wen, as it were, suffers a much different fate in “Knock at the Cabin” than in Tremblay’s book. In Shyamalan’s version of the story, the young girl and her fathers, Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), spend most of the film desperately trying to evade their terrible fate. By the end, though, Eric accepts that the home invaders are telling the truth and convinces Andrew to kill him, not wanting Wen to grow up in a devastated world. It’s a decidedly bittersweet ending that Tremblay himself feels is way darker than his novel.
Having read the book, Quinn agrees. “It’s almost even more heartbreaking that they just have each other, that this kid survived this, and now has to live with this,” she told SYFY. “I think the ending was the biggest, shocking difference for me.” Some have even argued that “Knock at the Cabin” is Shyamalan at his worst. Yours truly? I’m more of the mind that it’s an uncomfortably honest parable about the limits of queer assimilation and how the most innocent members of society are frequently called upon to make the greatest sacrifices.
But that’s Shyamalan for ya, stirring the pot like few other directors nowadays. No wonder Quinn waited 14 years to work with him.