With two new movies premiering this summer, M. Night Shyamalan is expanding the family business.
The Oscar-nominated director’s daughters Ishana and Saleka told The New York Times “it was unplanned” but “it feels right” that their respective movies, The Watcher and Trap, are debuting within months of each other.
“I feel like in some ways we’ve always done that, since we were growing up, experience things together,” said Saleka, the 27-year-old R&B singer who plays pop star Lady Raven in her dad’s latest directorial outing, Trap.
She and M. Night took inspiration from Prince‘s Purple Rain as they conceived the idea of Trap together, a thriller about a man (Josh Hartnett) taking his daughter to see her favorite artist, played by Saleka. Additionally, Saleka wrote 14 songs for her character to perform, all of which had to fit into the film’s narrative.
Although the father of three admitted that he first found Saleka’s contemporary musical aspirations “ridiculous,” M. Night has since admitted he was wrong. Meanwhile, Saleka has since gone on to some real-life musical stardom, opening for the likes of Boyz II Men.
Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue star in M. Night Shyamalan‘s Trap. Sabrina Lantos / Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
“I think once he saw that I had passion for it in the same way that he had a passion for film, he understood it and was like, all right, I’m with you, let’s make this happen,” recalled Saleka.
While the sisters could be considered “nepo babies,” Ishana, 24, opened up about that responsibility after making her feature directorial debut with The Watchers, which is produced by her father.
“It’s really about meeting that privilege and honoring that with as hard a work ethic as we can, by being as kind people as we can and holding ourselves to the highest standard possible,” she explained.
Ishana has also made it a point to differentiate her own cinematic style from her dad’s. “He’s very grounded in his tone and his style, and I really enjoy pushing that a little and going maybe a little bit more experimental,” she said.
Ishana Shyamalan (R) directs Dakota Fanning (L) in a scene from The Watchers. Jonathan Hession / Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Dakota Fanning, who stars in The Watchers as a young woman who becomes stranded in an Irish forest with three strangers, praised Ishana as “very detailed and microscopic” in her approach.
“She told me that she would map out the day in her mind every morning,” Fanning told NYT.
And while Fanning said Ishana’s family was “the definition of proud parents and proud sister,” M. Night admitted, “As a dad you, don’t want them to get hurt ever. So watching them push themselves to the limit and past it for both of these projects it was hard.”
The Watchers is now playing in theaters. Trap premieres August 9.