‘TRAP’ Exclusive: M. Night Shyamalan Says He’s Not Interested In Easy Wins ‘I Need It To Be Risky’

M. Night Shyamalan’s newest film TRAP arrives in theaters Friday, August 2nd.
Source: Courtesy / Warner Bros. Pictures
GlobalGrind Sr. Content Director Janeé Bolden sat down with the iconic director to discuss his latest film, working with his daughter Saleka and keeping audiences on their toes. Speaking of the latter, Shyamalan opened up about his instinct to inject humor into his thrillers.
M.Night Shyamalan Shied Away From Mixing Humor Into Suspense, But It Was Always His Instinct
“It was something that I shied away from because others had shied away from it, but it was always always my instinct, even when I was a kid making these movies,” M. Night Shyamalan told GlobalGrind. “You see there’s little bits of humor In Sixth Sense and there was a lot more humor in Unbreakable that I cut away because I wasn’t secure in that this was gonna work. Can you laugh and keep suspense going at the same time? It’s really only from The Visit that I go, ‘I’m just going all in on on my instinct that humor and suspense can coexist.’ And some will have more humor or less humor depending on the subject matter. Obviously like Knock at the Cabin, that is a point where you can’t put humor in because it’s really dark stuffm but in this movie because it’s set at a concert and it is this ironic juxtaposition of this very dark person and a very buoyant place, I was able to put it everywhere.”
Source: Courtesy / Warner Bros. Pictures
Shyamalan’s inspiration for TRAP came from his daughter Saleka, who also created the music for the film, which she also stars in. His daughter Ishana wrote and directed another film he produced this year, The Watchers. Clearly he’s cracked the code on raising creatives who defy the nepo baby stereotype!
“One thing you don’t mess with me is the ethics of of art, and the kids know that and they are exactly that same way,” Shyamalan told GlobalGrind. “This is not an opportunistic situation. This is not something where you would do something no matter what if you were given acceptance. If those are your instincts, you’re you’re going to have a real problem with me. This is about you and your connection to your particular craft of art. That’s it. If it’s a painting and whatever is in the way of you painting that painting properly to express who you are, whether you’re a singer, or you’re a writer, or you’re director, that you’re using craft to help you express your feeling about your character and the thing you’re doing, that’s it. Everything else will come as it’s supposed to — or not. It doesn’t matter. You can get loved by the whole world or hated by the world, because it’s irrelevant. Just concentrate on that relationship. If your instinct is to be accepted or get validation, money, fame, you’re gonna have a big problem in this house, because that’s not what we do here. If any brick of that house was paid for by something that doesn’t represent me, didn’t represent, that you can’t look at The Village now and say, you know, ‘That’s you,’ you know. Or if I’m like, ‘Oh I really hated it,’ or whatever. That it wasn’t me, that’s wrong. That brick would be mocking me when I come home. But it’s not. It’s so beautiful that we have this life. So I said, for their lives, you want whatever that tiny house is or that tiny place that it was paid for by the something that represents who you are with integrity.”

Shyamalan also spoke about how this latest movie excited him to make because of his desire to always challenge himself to tackle projects that aren’t safe bets.
“I realized I’m built I’m built that way,” Shyamalan said. “If someone offers me a movie and I go, ‘Whoa that’s definitely going to win’ — I’m not interested. That’s a definite win? Immediately all the energy goes out of me and that you know, ‘Can I do this for two years?’ It kind of goes out of me. I need it to be like, I can hear it and ‘Whoa that’s really risky and there’s no safety net.’ Then I’m in. I’m in, I’m focused.”
“You know it’s a little bit like, I don’t know if this is gonna make any sense, what I’m about to say,” Shyamalan continued. “You know how you see a skateboarder and they come off of a stairs and they land? The reason that they can do that is they’ve risked themselves so much practicing that there’s no other option than to learn immediately everything that they can, because you’re going to break your bones right? You don’t learn fast in that same way — this is like, ‘I’m going to break my bones here if I don’t learn.’ So I’m completely present and making a movie with music at the center of it. 14 songs, we’re going to do it and it’s a father/daughter story and it’s weird and you love him and you’re rooting for the antagonist. All these things that you shouldn’t be doing ,right? There’s your ‘I’m gonna break my bones unless I figure this out real quickly.’ So I like that feeling of being alive and I have to be present and learn quickly.”
TRAP is in theaters Friday August 2