Director M. Night Shyamalan Shares Behind-The-Scenes Tidbits About His Latest Thriller 'Trap'!

The iconic twist-writer and director M. Night Shyamalan announced his latest film Trap back in February of last year. The film is Shyamalan’s return to feature directing after his 2023 film Knock at the Cabin. 

Trap stars Josh Hartnett as a father who brings his young daughter to a concert. When he notices the heightened security at the event, he is informed that a local serial killer is expected to show up at the event. Fear, thrills, and secrets fill the space as a countdown to catch the violent man commences. Unlike most of his other films, the twist in this one is revealed right away -- the father is the very serial killer that the authorities are hunting for.

The film’s cast also boasts Kid Cudi, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills (from the OG The Parent Trap), and Shyamalan’s own daughter, Saleka Shyamalan. 

Leading up to the release, Shyamalan has been posting routinely. Specifically, he's been sharing "fun facts" from behind the scenes and the production of his film. 

Keeping with his original and unique approach to film development, Shyamalan has shared his choice to opt for shooting on film instead of digital for Trap. As he shares, he has hired Director of Photography Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who is known for his work on other visually compelling films such as Call Me By Your Name, Challengers, Suspiria, and Thirteen Lives. 

Shyamalan always has a certain style when directing his stories. He loves to play with creative ways to tell the story through the work of filmmaking. In The Sixth Sense, for example. the director utilized the color red to signify the dead. In Trap, Shyamalan shares that he'll be playing with distance and character. 

Shyamalan currently has 19 scripts under his belt over the course of 30+ years. Both Trap and his 2002 film Signs are nearly identical in length, with Trap’s runtime being 1 hour and 46 minutes while Sign’s runtime is 1 hour and 45 minutes. 

Audiences may be most familiar with the lead of this film from a slew of iconic and critically-acclaimed films from the past several decades, including the cult fave '90s horror film The Faculty, Michael Bay's epic WWII film Pearl Harbor, and this year's Best Picture winner Oppenheimer. You can also catch his guest appearance on the latest season of "The Bear", where he plays Tiff’s fiancé, Frank, in the episode “Violet”. 

Make sure to check out Trap in theaters August 2!