Why M. Night Shyamalan’s Killer Thriller ‘Trap’ is Actually a Dad Movie

When his daughters were growing up, M. Night Shyamalan was the “cool dad.” Not because of his genre-defining movies like “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” and “Signs,” but because of the special moments he shared with his kids. Shyamalan’s oldest daughter, Saleka, now an R&B pop singer, recalls going with him to her first concert to see Beyoncé in Philadelphia when she was just 10. “That was like a huge core memory for me,” she says.

Shyamalan himself reminisces about taking his children to see Adele before she became a global sensation. “Sharing the music and art that I love with the kids is a big deal in our household,” he says.

A father and his daughter attending a high-profile concert is a pivotal scene in Shyamalan’s latest film, “Trap,” which hits theaters this Friday. However, the occasion takes a dark turn. In the thriller, Cooper (played by Josh Hartnett) takes his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see pop star Lady Raven, portrayed by Saleka. The twist? Cooper is an elusive serial killer known as “The Butcher.” He realizes the FBI and local law enforcement are onto him, setting off a tense showdown inside the concert arena.

“It’s kind of a daddy-daughter rite of passage to go to a pop concert,” Shyamalan explains. “So it’s like the birthday party in ‘Signs,’ something that’s supposed to be very happy where something dark happens.”

Themes of fatherhood often permeate Shyamalan’s work, from the two dads and their daughter in “Knock at the Cabin” to adults isolating their children from the world in “The Village.” “They’re all kind of urban nightmares, this sense of something threatening the sanctity of the family,” Shyamalan says. “I guess that’s just the underlying fear for me, so most of my movies have that at the center.”

“Trap” feels personal to Shyamalan, especially given where he is in his own life. As a father of three daughters—Saleka, 28, Ishana, 24, and Shivani, 19—he feels the bittersweetness of seeing his children grow up. “Probably a little bit of it is the girls have become adults and I feel that I’m losing them, their childhood. Our relationship is beautiful as it’s transforming, but the baby girl and the father that they look up to, that part is going away,” he shares. “Now, there’s kind of mutuality, as they see me as more complex and they become aware of things in life and all of that stuff. So maybe it’s the fear of losing your little girl and that they’re going to see you differently—this balance of who you are as a person versus how you know yourself as a dad.”

The perspective in “Trap” gradually shifts from Cooper to Lady Raven, embodying different ways of existing. Cooper represents extreme compartmentalization, while Lady Raven is connected to everyone. Another unique element Shyamalan introduced was casting Hayley Mills, known for “Pollyanna” and “The Parent Trap,” as a determined FBI profiler. “I thought, rather than a guy hunting a guy, could it be a maternal figure who’s hunting these guys, is really good at reading their thoughts and anticipating what they’re going to do next?” Shyamalan explains. “So it just added the kaleidoscope nature of being at this concert, but there’s this little elderly lady who’s hunting him down and who’s buoyant and as smart as him and is having as much fun as him.”

“Trap” marks a return to original storytelling for Shyamalan, following his adaptations “Old” and “Knock at the Cabin.” “It was a big deal,” he says. “I didn’t realize how much I missed it, that I wasn’t trying to honor or interpret what someone else had written.” The film also caps off a remarkable summer for his family. He produced his daughter Ishana’s directorial feature debut “The Watchers,” and “Trap” not only stars Saleka but also includes 14 of her songs.

“My wife would be like, ‘When are we taking a break?’” Shyamalan jokes. “Although I started writing my new one, so don’t tell her that.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why M. Night Shyamalan’s killer thriller ‘Trap’ is really a dad movie

Source: USA TODAY