Anya Taylor-Joy's The Gorge has emerged as one of Apple's biggest streaming originals.Abaca Press
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Collier Jennings
Published 30 minutes ago
Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with a substantial amount of experience under his belt. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. Using his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's been able to tackle a wide variety of articles.
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Anya Taylor-Joy's become one of the biggest stars in the world, racking up a diverse array of roles. She was one of the few good parts of The New Mutants, thanks to her portrayal of fan-favorite mutant Illyana Rasputin; she was an integral part of Robert Eggers' Viking revenge epic The Northman; and delivered wit and steel in equal measure during The Menu. While Taylor-Joy is slated to reprise her role as Princess Peach in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, she also deserves credit for helping reignite a director's career with her role in Split.
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Split finds teenagers Casey (Taylor-Joy), Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula) kidnapped by a mysterious man, Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy). Kevin has a severe case of dissociative identity disorder that manifests in 23 separate personalities, with a 24th known only as "The Beast" threatening to break through and kill the girls. Split wasn't just a box office success, but also helped to restore Shyamalan's reputation as a filmmaker to watch out for.
‘Split’ Helped Resurrect M. Night Shyamalan’s Career
Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke in SplitImage Via Universal
Prior to Split's release, M. Night Shyamalan was at a crossroads. His earlier career, including The Sixth Sense and Signs, managed to shock audiences with their plot twists, while still being carefully crafted and emotionally resonant thrillers. Yet things would take a sharp turn as Shyamalan's films began to receive less than flattering critical reception, while also flopping at the box office. After the one-two punch of his live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender and After Earth (which also saw Will Smith's reputation as a box office draw taking a hit), Shyamalan was nearly persona non grata in Hollywood until he filmed Split.
A large part of Split's appeal is that it feels more in line with Shyamalan's earlier work, putting character work first and foremost while building up to the twist. While its portrayal of dissociative identity disorder drew heavy criticism from mental health professionals, one cannot deny that McAvoy is turning in some excellent performances as he makes each of Kevin's personalities feel like an actual person. Taylor-Joy is able to match him in terms of raw emotion, especially when Casey starts to bond with Kevin over the trauma they both share from their abusive parents. When it comes to the twist, Shyamalan pulled off one of his biggest to date — and called back to one of his best films in the process.
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Posts By Gabrielle Ulubay Aug 31, 2025M. Night Shyamalan Calls Back to One of His Earlier Films With ‘Split’
Split ends with Casey managing to escape Kevin's grasp, as "The Beast" feels she is "pure" due to the trauma she suffered. Due to his crimes, Kevin is referred to as "The Horde", while a waitress says that he reminds her of another criminal. Enter David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the superhumanly strong protagonist of Unbreakable, who solemnly says, "Mister Glass." Unbreakable found David coming to terms with his abilities, and encounters Elijah Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), who was secretly orchestrating terrorist attacks in order to force David to embrace his "destiny." In connecting to Unbreakable, Split threw audiences for a loop while proving M. Night Shyamalan still could deliver surprises.
It turns out that Unbreakable and Split share a deeper connection, as David and Kevin were meant to do battle during an earlier draft of Unbreakable. When discussing Split's ending with The Hollywood Reporter, Shyamalan said he ended up working parts of that draft into Split:
"Kevin Wendle Crumb was a part of the original, original script for Unbreakable. I pulled him out because it just wasn’t balancing right. But a bunch of the scenes that are in this movie, I wrote 15 years ago. They were as is. Patricia opening the door. Hedwig’s first scene. Those were all written already. And it’s literally from the same moment that I created all the characters, all three of those characters."
With just one starring role, Anya Taylor-Joy played a major role in M. Night Shyamalan's comeback story and jump-started her own career in the process. Not many actresses can say the same, which makes Taylor-Joy even more of a standout.
Split
Like Follow Followed PG-13 Horror Thriller Release Date January 19, 2017 Runtime 117 minutes Director M. Night Shyamalan Writers M. Night Shyamalan Producers Jason Blum, Kevin Scott Frakes, Marc Bienstock, Steven Schneider, Ashwin RajanCast
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James McAvoy
Kevin Wendell Crumb
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Anya Taylor-Joy
Casey Cooke
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Anya Taylor-Joy
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M Night Shyamalan
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Split was my intro to Anya, and I'd loved James since Rory O'Shea Was Here (Inside I'm Dancing).
2025-11-30 15:45:21 Upvote Downvote Reply Copy