M. Night Shyamalan opened up about why Josh Hartnett was the perfect choice to play a serial killer in his upcoming movie, Trap.
“When he walked in, he just had an energy about him that was [a] superstar,” Shyamalan, 53, exclusively told Us Weekly at the New York premiere event for the film on Wednesday, July 24. “He’s a superstar — but that was one half of the equation.”
The director praised Hartnett, 46, for being willing to push boundaries, adding, “The other half of the equation is, ‘Hey, I’m willing, I’m ready to do anything, whatever you want, I don’t want to be safe.’ Like he pretty much said that to me.”
Shyamalan and Hartnett were on the same wavelength when it came to the final product.
“Danger and taking huge risks and not knowing whether we’re going to succeed. That’s what kind of excites him,” Shyamalan continued on being so “like-minded” with Hartnett. “I think we both kind of eschewed some of the Hollywood journeys and normal movements that you would do in Hollywood and we both enjoy kind of breaking the mold a bit. … [We] really connected on many things.”
Trap stars Hartnett as Cooper, a father who takes daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert for fictional popstar Lady Raven (played by Shyamalan’s real-life daughter Saleka Shyamalan) that is a front for a sting operation aimed at capturing notorious serial killer “The Butcher.” a.k.a. Hartnett. As a result, Cooper goes to great lengths to keep from being captured.
Shyamalan also spoke to Us about getting the opportunity to work with his daughter on the project. (He shares three kids with wife Bhavna Vaswani, whom he has been married to since 1992.)
“Saleka is a world-class artist. She’s a world-class musician. She spent her whole life working on music,” he noted.”So it’s me and another artist making something together and we talk about art all the time.”
Shyamalan pointed out that Saleka’s talent earned her the role, saying, “Obviously she handles the music component herself. But the acting component — I treat it just like I treat everyone else. I talk about the character and what is the character and what are they feeling?”
He continued: “I don’t really work with people that [know where the journey is going to end up] …You have filters or affectations and try to come up with things that are intended. You should not know what you’re going to do — just let it happen. Don’t come with a destination [Saleka] is like that.”
With reporting by Leanne Aciz Stanton
