FILM · 2002 · USA
Signs
26 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (26)
- #001
Joaquin Phoenix replaced Mark Ruffalo, who had to drop out of the film because of a brain tumor. It later turned out to be benign.
- #002
The children's birth stories are actually the stories of M. Night Shyamalan's two children.
- #003
The illustrations in the book about aliens were drawn by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's daughter, Saleka Shyamalan.
- #004
The production used a new irrigation technique to make the corn grow faster; the Delaware Valley agricultural college was very eager to adopt it for themselves at the time.
- #005
M. Night Shyamalan said this was the easiest of all his films to write and direct.
- #006
Mel Gibson was not aware that M. Night Shyamalan played the veterinarian until the day they came to shoot their scenes together.
- #007
The crop circles are real, because M. Night Shyamalan particularly dislikes using CGI.
- #008
"Brazilian Video" was shot by M. Night Shyamalan himself with a home video camera.
- #009
Because it is an ensemble piece, M. Night Shyamalan insisted that the film's posters be released without showing Mel Gibson's face, and he made no reference to The Sixth Sense (1999) since it is a completely different film.
- #010
The aliens were originally going to be invisible, but M. Night Shyamalan could not achieve the effect he wanted.
- #011
In the film's ninety minutes, the aliens are on screen for only eleven seconds. In total, they appear in the film for only about a minute and a half.
- #012
Before settling on "Signs," M. Night Shyamalan considered naming the film "The Alien Bulletin" or "Visitors."
- #013
The dramatic dinner table scene was shot in only three hours.
- #014
M. Night Shyamalan shot the film in cornfields because the stalks are taller and more ominous than wheat.
- #015
The scene in which M. Night Shyamalan talks with Hess about his wife's death was shot one day after the death of a member of Shyamalan's family.
- #016
The film grew out of M. Night Shyamalan's idea of showing an alien invasion from one family's point of view.
- #017
Quite unusually, James Newton Howard began the film's score before it was shot, because he was able to work from M. Night Shyamalan's detailed storyboards.
- #018
This was an unusual role for Mel Gibson, who said he was not playing a character and therefore called it "introspective."
- #019
Mel Gibson's name was listed as "Lem Nosbig" on the call sheet to confuse non-crew members who wanted to know which days he would be on set.
- #020
M. Night Shyamalan had the cast watch The Birds (1963) several times during production.
- #021
Filming the basement scene took three weeks, but not because the scene was complex or beset by complications. The basement set was known as the production's "swing set"; there was only a limited window each day to work with the children, so after the children left for the day the crew would go to the swing set and shoot a few more takes of the basement scene. The scene was completed after about 3 weeks.
- #022
The birthday party scene in this film has been called by film critics one of the scariest scenes of all time.
- #023
The aliens were initially written to have feminine builds and movements, so tall, thin actresses were used as models for CGI tests and some shots ("Brazilian Video"). It was ultimately decided, however, that female bodies did not pose a sufficiently threatening stance for the creatures, and a male CGI double was used in the final scene with Morgan and on the roof.
- #024
M. Night Shyamalan called it his "most popcorn movie."
- #025
The aluminum foil hats worn by Bo and Morgan were made from chrome-painted wax paper.
- #026
Immediately after the DVD is inserted and right after the Touchstone logo, a black-and-white image flashes very quickly: a dark, blurry shot of Merrill, Morgan and Bo sitting on the couch with aluminum hats on their heads. When "Play" is selected, the image is shown even faster.
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