Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has a new picture about to hit theaters- “Trap.” Shyamalan’s name can draw mixed reactions from people with how wildly varying in quality his catalog of films have been. One could make the argument that he’s been doing a bit better for himself lately with films like “Knock at the Cabin,” “Old,” and “Glass” performing well at the box office, even if the critical response has been mixed. Ahead of “Trap” though, the writer-director appears to want people to know his inspirations for the film before they go in.
The first trailer for”Trap” has one of the “twists” laid right out. Josh Hartnett plays a dad taking his daughter to a concert, only to find out that the concert is one massive sting operation to capture a serial killer called, “The Butcher.” From what we’re shown, it would seem that Hartnett is indeed The Butcher who is accompanying his daughter to the concert and also seems to have someone held captive in another location.
There’s a lot of moving parts but as Shyamalan told Empire Magazine, he pitched it simply as “‘Silence of the Lambs‘ at a Taylor Swift concert.”
Though he makes reference to the film in his pitch, he goes on to describe how he was also inspired by the real-life Operation Flagship. In late 1985, the US Marshalls set up a sting operation to lure in wanted fugitives by posing as a television company giving away a chance for free Super Bowl tickets.
The sting worked, capturing a number of fugitives, all while the Marshalls disguised themselves as various employees, cheerleaders, and mascots. It’s easy to see where this translates into some of the details we see in the setup for “Trap.”
The Taylor Swift in this scenario is the character Lady Raven, played by Shyamalan’s own daughter, Saleka. In the interview, Shyamalan also revealed that he directed an entire concert’s worth of material. While we don’t know yet how much of the concert we’re actually going to see in the film, it would seem that the intent was to film an actual concert by his daughter and have it be a legitimate part of the overall project. If anything, it can’t hurt her career to basically get a concert film inserted into the middle of a thriller.
“Trap” is set to hit theaters August 2nd. You can check out the second trailer below:
