During this year’s CinemaCon, M. Night Shyamalan (Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense) came to the stage to talk about his new movie, Trap, a thriller that’s coming out this summer. The idea for the film came about when he and his oldest daughter, Saleka, were talking about concert experiences, and the collaboration resulted in her being featured in the movie as a pop singer known as Lady Raven.

Trap stars stars Josh Hartnett as a seemingly fun dad who takes his daughter to Lady Raven’s concert. However, he has a dark secret, and the trailer that first premiered at CinemaCon is now available online. It reveals he is the villain of the story who has kidnapped someone, and there’s a trap set out by the authorities to capture him at the concert.

On April 16th, Warner Bros. Pictures invited Nerd Reactor to a special Summer of Shyamalan event promoting two movies: M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap and Ishana Night Shyamalan’s The Watchers. M. Night talked about why he wanted to cast Hartnett for the role of the dad.

“He’s a charming guy; I needed a handsome guy, somebody that had humor, has charisma,” Shyalman tells Nerd Reactor. “And so those are all descriptions of a movie star. The idea of having a true movie star of their day, I want you to discover him a little bit. I love the kind of reinvention of bringing people, and I tried to do that even with contemporary actors that you guys are familiar with, tried to put them in different kinds of roles that you’ve never seen them in. And Josh was just in the right place as a human being. He’s raising his kids outside London, and you could tell the choices that he’s making: Black Mirror, Oppenheimer, and then Trap.”

The director then talks about finding that rare combination of an actor who has the quality of a movie star and is willing to take riskier roles.

“It’s just a beautiful place because a lot of times what happens to the trajectory of actors is they’ll audition for everything, they so desperately want it. They won’t be able to give anything, then one day, they figure out that it’s not about getting something, it’s giving something, and then suddenly, they’ll get that role. Then they’ll go give everything and they’ll risk everything, and they’ll become well known for that role. And they might do that again. Then after a couple of those, they start to think about how to protect it. And then they do safer things. ‘I’m going to do characters that have already existed in real life. I can feel safer then.’ Then they leave original stories, because it’s really, there’s no floor. And then we lose them. We kind of lose those actors to this other trajectory. And then, of course, they get into franchises and this and that. And so to find somebody that’s a bonafide movie star, that’s a great human being, and is willing to risk everything, man, that’s a rare combination. And sometimes you think that doesn’t exist anymore, and then he walked in.”

The dad is the villain of the story, and both Shyamalan and Hartnett found the character to be interesting.

“I found it really interesting as a character and so did Josh, obviously,” Shyamalan said. “We both found it really interesting the duality of this human being and that he’s delicious, you know? Can I get you to root for him, even if he’s doing the absolute worst things? And what will you feel inside you as you watch the movie when you’re like, ‘I’m rooting for this guy? What’s wrong with me? Am I crazy?’ And the thing that you appreciate about him, And for me, the father/daughter relationship clearly is like a predominant thing in my life, and so that part of him is so beautiful.”

About Trap

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a new experience in the world of M. Night Shyamalan—“Trap” —featuring performances by rising music star Saleka Shyamalan.

A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, “Trap” stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

The director of photography is Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (“Call Me by Your Name”). The production designer is Debbie de Villa (“The Hating Game”). It is edited by Noëmi Preiswerk and the music is by Herdĭs Stefănsdŏttir (“Knock at the Cabin”). The music supervisor is Susan Jacobs (“Old”); the costume designer is Caroline Duncan (“Old”). The casting is by Douglas Aibel (“Asteroid City”).

Trap will be released in theaters on August 9, 2024, in the U.S. and 1 August, 2024 internationally.

Featured image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.