It was a family affair during the Warner Bros. panel at CinemaCon as movies from M. Night Shyamalan and his daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan were teased, Trap and The Watchers, respectively.
Ishana Night Shyamalan is making her feature directorial debut with The Watchers, a thriller based on the novel by A.M. Shine. Steeped in Celtic horror and set in Ireland, the film stars Dakota Fanning as Mina, “a 28-year-old artist who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers that are watching and stalking by mysterious creatures each night.” A new trailer for the movie was screened at CinemaCon, which our Chris Bumbray said was “very fantasy-esque.“
Shyamalan has previously praised his daughter’s work as she helmed several episodes of Servant. “She has slightly more of a fantasy bend than I do,” Shyamalan said. “She speaks in bolder colors than I do. The camera is more canted or more grotesque in showing someone scarier. The disadvantage of being an accomplished artist is that your experience starts working against you. I see less options, because I’ve done so many things. She doesn’t see that; for her, everything is possible. There are advantages and disadvantages to the levels of experience that we each have.“
As for M. Night Shyamalan, he was on hand to tease Trap, his next thriller. The director got a kick out of promoting his own movie alongside his daughter, joking that they’re like the Indian Von Trapps. Shyamalan’s other daughter, Saleka, stars in Trap alongside Josh Hartnett. The first trailer for the physiological thriller was screened, which takes place at a concert. Saleka plays a Taylor Swift-style pop star known as Lady Raven, with Josh Harnett’s character attending alongside his daughter. He quickly discovers that the concert is a trap designed to lure a serial killer known as The Butcher, but it turns out that Harnett is the serial killer! I like it.
