Josh Hartnett Drew Inspiration from Showbiz ‘Psychopaths’ for Trap Role

Josh Hartnett has shared that he drew inspiration from certain people in Hollywood when portraying a serial killer in his new film, Trap.

The 46-year-old actor takes on the role of a murderer known as The Butcher in the M. Night Shyamalan thriller.

Trap revolves around a father and his teenage daughter who go to a concert, only to find out that the entire event has been orchestrated to catch the father, played by Hartnett.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hartnett said he looked to various influential figures for his character’s mindset. “There are a lot of CEOs, politicians, people in our business… a lot of people who are at the top,” he explained. He noted that such individuals often have no qualms about stepping over others or engaging in unethical behavior to achieve their goals, highlighting a lack of empathy as a common trait among psychopaths.

“Whether or not you’re murdering people, I’ve met people like this, you know what I mean?” Hartnett added.

Hartnett recently opened up about his decision to take a hiatus from Hollywood, revealing that his experiences with “borderline unhealthy” fans played a significant role. The actor was a prominent figure in the 1990s and early 2000s, starring in films such as The Faculty, The Virgin Suicides, and Black Hawk Down.

He eventually decided to step back from acting and moved to Hampshire, England, with his British wife, actor Tamsin Egerton.

In recent years, Hartnett has returned to major projects, including a role in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer.

Recalling one particularly harrowing incident, he told The Guardian about a man who showed up armed at one of his premieres, claiming to be his father. “He ended up in prison,” Hartnett said.

“There were lots of things. It was a weird time. And I wasn’t going to be grist for the mill,” the actor concluded.

Reviews for Trap have been mixed. The Hollywood Reporter deemed it “a moderately entertaining thriller,” while Variety criticized its numerous twists as “more contrived than the last.”

On a more positive note, The Wrap commented that, although the film “doesn’t have the depth of Shyamalan’s most important films or the theatricality of his most memorably weird experiments,” it still ranks as “one of his best thrillers.”

Trap is currently out in the US and is set to be released in the UK on 9 August.

Source: The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Wrap