Synopsis

Apartment superintendent Cleveland Heep discovers a mysterious woman living beneath the swimming pool in his Philadelphia apartment complex. She reveals that she is a narf from a magical world and must return home, but a grass-covered predator called a scrunt is hunting her. Cleveland rallies the residents, each of whom has a role to play in protecting her and fulfilling an ancient purpose.

Factoids & Trivia

• The story began as a bedtime tale M. Night Shyamalan created for his children before he developed it into a feature film.

• A children's book version, titled Lady in the Water: A Bedtime Story, was published to coincide with the film's theatrical release.

• The narf, scrunt, tartutic and Great Eatlon were created specifically for the film rather than being drawn from an established Chinese folk tale or traditional mythology.

• The apartment complex and swimming pool were constructed as large-scale sets at a warehouse site in Levittown, Pennsylvania. The production used the location after normal working hours.

• The project was originally associated with Disney, which had released Shyamalan's previous films, but ultimately moved to Warner Bros. after the filmmaker and Disney executives disagreed about the story and its commercial potential.

• The film became a notable turning point in Shyamalan's career. It received strongly negative reviews and earned roughly $72 million worldwide against a reported $70 million production budget.

• The character Harry Farber, a film critic who interprets the story through familiar movie formulas, gives the film an unusually self-conscious commentary on criticism, storytelling and audience expectations.