‘Trap’ Exclusive Interview: Director M. Night Shyamalan

Opening in theaters on August 2nd is the new thriller from legendary writer and director M. Night Shyamalan entitled ‘Trap’.

The new movie stars Josh Hartnett (‘Oppenheimer’), Alison Pill (‘Star Trek: Picard’), Hayley Mills (‘The Parent Trap’), Kid Cudi (‘X’), and Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan.

Moviefone recently had the honor of speaking with M. Night Shyamalan about his work on ‘Trap’, developing the screenplay, the audience’s expectations, working with Josh Hartnett, directing his daughter, and filming the concert sequences.

Related Article: Director M. Night Shyamalan Talks ‘Trap’ Trailer and Explains New Movie

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about developing the screenplay and the themes you wanted to explore with this movie?

M. Night Shyamalan: It was an unusual birthing process for the movie because it was more of a kind of a challenge, a conceit of Saleka, my daughter, and I talking about how to aim an album towards a narrative and making it more of a theatrical experience, because the concert experience and theatrical experience are similar and it’s an audience thing, and could we put those together? I was encouraged by seeing movies like ‘A Star is Born’ or other movies where I was engulfed in the music at moments, and say, could we do a whole movie like that and make it a thriller? So Saleka and I talked a lot about that and then I was like, “Let me think if there’s a plot I can think of.” Then we said, “Well, maybe let’s do it in one location, an arena where you hear an album that way, but the characters are listening to it as something else is going on.” So, it kind of started that way.

MF: There are certain expectations that come with an M. Night Shyamalan movie. At this point in your career, are you trying to subvert those expectations, or do you embrace them?

MNS: Well, I always find it fascinating because it’s not necessarily accurate. For example, if they go, “Oh, he makes scary movies,” and I go, “I do? ‘Unbreakable‘?” And they go, “Well, not ‘Unbreakable’.” Then you go, “Well, he does that,” so you have to keep on, and I can keep going like that. “Oh, he does this. He does that.” For me, being original and having certain aspects, let’s say like highest quality audience movies is what I want to make, and being proud and honored to make audience movies. Maybe other people might think of genre as a lesser art form. I don’t think of it that way. But we still want to go, we want to give you the best performances, the best cinematography, the best music, everything, all in service of the characters in the story, and I feel the audience feels all of that. So, for me, that’s what you should expect when you come to see my movie. Certainly not tone or movement or structure or anything like that. It’s going to be surprising in some way.

MF: Can you talk about working with Josh Hartnett and why he was the right actor for this role?

MNS: It was an amazing experience with Josh. We’re very similar and we’re very close. I think partly, it might be in some ways that we both had early success in our twenties and then chose to live outside of Hollywood and raise our families. We also coincidentally have three daughters. There’s a lot of interesting things that bond us, and the thing is the way I choose to make movies really excites him. I make them smaller with high risk and complicated characters and new tones, and you’re not going to be safe. There’s not a lot of frills when you make a movie with me. You’re coming and we’re all just going for it. I am going to be eating a sandwich on the set and that’s lunch, and let’s just keep thinking about how to do this. And make it as fun, almost like film school again, and he loves that. He’s only drawn when there’s high risk, and I’m the same way. For me, when I met him, I was looking for someone who could play a dad, who was incredibly charming. A handsome guy who no one would ever think could do anything wrong and would embrace the complexity of this other side of him, and struggle with it in the right way in front of the camera, and he was just perfect for it.

MF: What was it like directing your own daughter?

MNS: Well, I wrote Lady Raven, the character, as a version of Saleka, but as she would tell you, a more outgoing, extroverted version of herself. She would tell you I’m writing what I wish she was, that she would be more extroverted and be more relaxed and that kind of thing, but that’s not true. It’s a fictional character. I love Saleka the way she is. She’s such a pure artist, and so for me, directing human beings that are connected to their truth with no artifice, that’s the most important thing. That can be a world-class actor like Josh who’s learned to de-filter himself and be connected to his purity. It can be a child. It can be a human being like Saleka that has studied her art form of music to the point that she’s also unfiltered like Josh. So, I can just talk through the characters to these people, whether it’s a child or Saleka or Josh, and we just get rid of all those affectations. We can never reproduce it. That’s always the goal, I tell the actors. Let’s do something right now that we cannot reproduce, we couldn’t do it again. That’s because you’re so present and the audience feels that magic, so that’s always our goal. You and I couldn’t do this movie again. It just wouldn’t come out the same way.

MF: Finally, can you talk about shooting the concert sequences?

MNS: The concert stuff was incredible because I learned a different type of storytelling in that. Giving so much love to the element that’s behind the story is really rewarding and it really enriches everything and has ramifications that you foresee. Like say for example, the way we spent so much time on making this a real concert, the lighting, the movement and the way the audience is reacting and cheering around Josh. Or the light on his face, all that stuff, or his reaction or all the extras and the way they’re dazzled by what they’re watching because it’s a real concert, those all come to play out and is very similar to what you’re watching.

What is the plot of ‘Trap’?

Cooper, a serial killer dubbed “The Butcher”, joins his daughter at a concert for pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan), an event he realizes is a trap set by police to catch him.

Who is in the cast of ‘Trap’?

• Josh Hartnett as Cooper
• Ariel Donoghue as Riley
• Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven
• Hayley Mills as Dr. Grant
• Alison Pill as Cooper’s Wife
• Marnie McPhail as Jody’s Mom
• Vanessa Smythe as Tour Manager

Director M. Night Shyamalan (center) on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ crime drama thriller ‘Trap,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Sabrina Lantos. Copyright: © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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