How blink-182 Almost Got M. Night Shyamalan to Direct a Video for Them
A blink-182 music video was very nearly directed by blockbuster moviemaker M. Night Shyamalan, the auteur behind The Sixth Sense (1999), The Village (2004) and this summer's Old.
That's what blink's Mark Hoppus and his estranged bandmate in the rock group, Tom DeLonge, remembered this week on an episode of Hoppus' After School Radio on Apple Music. The two musicians — no longer in the same band together but still buds — spent the broadcast discussing blink-182, their friendship and, perhaps most revealingly, their ideas about "fearlessness."
One "example of [Tom's] fearlessness that I wrote down," Hoppus shares with DeLonge and with listeners, "and I just remembered right now was, we were on tour in Japan and we were having lunch in the hotel in Japan, and we look over and M. Night Shyamalan is at a table next to us."
"And [Tom's] like, 'I'm going to go ask him to direct a blink-182 video,'" the bassist continues. "I was like, what the hell? The dude's having lunch on a promo tour of his movie in Japan and you just walk up and you're like, 'Hey, my name's Tom DeLonge. I play in a band called blink-182. We're a big fan of yours. Would you ever direct a blink video?' And within half an hour, we're all sitting together and he's coming up with ideas for a blink video."
Hoppus adds that Shyamalan "did come up with a whole treatment and everything. It was going to cost, whatever it was, $20 million, but I mean, just on [Tom's] gumption or I don't know, no fucks to give, [to] just walk up to somebody and say, 'Hey, I want you to direct a blink video.'"
While the video ultimately wasn't to be, the ask was certainly a fearless move, much like Hoppus' own fearlessness after he was recently diagnosed with cancer. He's now undergoing treatment that's delivering positive results.
Listen to the entire Hoppus and DeLonge After School Radio episode, nostalgically dubbed "The Mark and Tom Show," over on Apple Music.