DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
A new movie opens with a father-daughter field trip - minivan, music on, impatient tween girl singing along to the pop star she idolizes and is about to see live in concert.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TRAP")
ARIEL DONOGHUE: (Singing, as Riley) Don't...
(As Riley) Go, go, go, Dad.
JOSH HARTNETT: (As Cooper) We're not going to break any laws, Riley. We'll get there when you want to get there. I promise. Trust me.
ELLIOTT: But don't be mistaken. This is no sweet family drama. It's from M. Night Shyamalan, the writer-director famous for this chilling line.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE SIXTH SENSE")
HALEY JOEL OSMENT: (As Cole Sear) I see dead people.
ELLIOTT: "The Sixth Sense" was M. Night Shyamalan's first box office hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
M NIGHT SHYAMALAN: Put aside the success of the movie, it was really the moment that I kind of found my voice, so that was a kind of a beautiful thing to find that.
ELLIOTT: Twenty-five years later, M. Night Shyamalan brings that voice to a new film, which uses a concert as a ruse to catch a killer, if you can. It's called "Trap." And the pop star in the movie is portrayed by real-life daughter Saleka Night Shyamalan. When we spoke with the Shyamalans, this proud dad said the inspiration came partly from Saleka's music.
SHYAMALAN: She had written a few songs for a TV show, and we had been working on - and we said, hey, what do you think about doing a movie that's primarily about music, where the characters are listening to a whole album? And we were thinking, wow, this hasn't been done since "Purple Rain," since the '80s. So we were like, OK, let me come up with an idea that would be a thriller. We thought about that for a bit, and I kind of remembered this thing that happened in I think in the '80s as well, where they did this sting operation where they caught all these criminals, and it was like a Super Bowl event, and there were cheerleaders and mascots, and all the criminals came thinking they were going to the Super Bowl, and then they were trapped and caught.
ELLIOTT: What is it about the setting of a concert that lends itself to a thriller?
SHYAMALAN: Well, it's that it's inappropriate.
(LAUGHTER)
SHYAMALAN: That's what's fun about it. It's - you know, girls screaming their heads off 'cause they're in love with the singer, and you're having a fantastic time. There's this incredible music, and everyone's jumping around, and our main character is having just the opposite experience.
ELLIOTT: Saleka, as your dad mentioned, you're a songwriter. You're also a singer. In this movie, you're playing pop star Lady Raven.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RELEASE")
SALEKA: (As Lady Raven, singing) I see danger. Your love's like a loaded gun. Just a...
ELLIOTT: As a singer, how did you channel that into playing a pop idol on the big screen?
SALEKA: I mean, it was definitely - you know, I wrote all the - I wrote and produced all the songs that are in the movie, which was, you know, 14 tracks. So before we started, you know, rehearsals, even for the acting element of it, I was really deep in kind of the character because I was writing for her. And, you know, in crafting all the songs, I feel like I kind of got to step into this idea of what would it be like performing them on stage? We prepped it like, you know, you'd prep a concert tour. We did dance rehearsals, and we did, you know, stage design. We went through the costumes, just a full performance. So it was full performance mode for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RELEASE")
SALEKA: (As Lady Raven, singing) I reach for nothing, cry tears for something that never will come my way. Can I keep the love but release us from the pain?
ELLIOTT: Let's talk a little bit about the two of you collaborating on some of the songs. How did that work? Is there a song you can point us to that sort of shows how you two were able to work together?
SALEKA: I mean, the process, you know, writing and production part of it was really me, and he let me kind of create all of those things in my own artistic zone. So, you know, the beginning, I was kind of just pitching him song ideas, maybe hooks of songs or beats, and seeing what he was instinctually responding to that felt right with all the characters that he had.
SHYAMALAN: There was only one song that was written. before I wrote the script, from just the idea of Saleka had one song that I was like, ooh, that could fit in the movie. And so I was like, don't put that out on your album. Let me have that one.
SALEKA: (Laughter) That was the song called "Placebo," which is the opening song of the concert.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLACEBO")
SALEKA: (As Lady Raven, singing) When the glasses comes, everybody comes, when his heart is gone, she's back to zero. My fallen hero - it was just a placebo.
ELLIOTT: So let's talk now a little bit about the dad character. Josh Hartnett plays him. On the face of it, he's just this normal, goofy dad who loves his family, but that's not as it seems, right?
SHYAMALAN: No, no, this is the day where a dark secret of his comes out that he's actually this kind of very prominent killer that everybody's been trying to catch. And I think his life was pretty easy up to this day in the sense that he was one or the other. But on this day, he has to be both, and it's very difficult to do that, and certainly he doesn't want his daughter to know.
ELLIOTT: So, a key theme here is like, things are not exactly as they seem.
SHYAMALAN: Yeah. You know, in a deeper way, you know, the movie for me when I was writing it was kind of, like, a graphic novel, and there's the character of the Butcher, which is the killer. And Josh plays the Butcher, and he represents the superpower of compartmentalization. If you don't bring emotion to things, you can achieve anything and get away with anything. And is that the right way to go through life, versus Lady Raven and her connection to everybody? And she's so open. And you get hurt in that way, but you're also connected to everyone. And these two ideologies in this kind of graphic novel way of Lady Raven versus the Butcher, them battling with each of their superpowers, essentially.
ELLIOTT: Saleka, what was it like for you growing up in a house with a father who is so famous for making people feel very anxious at the movies?
SALEKA: (Laughter) Oh, I mean, it's funny because even in a couple of interviews, they always asked me, Oh, how mysterious is your dad? Is he so mysterious? And I'm like, he's not mysterious at all. He's just, like, the sweetest, always optimistic, and he's a very open person. Like, you know, as we were talking about openness, you know, my dad really does embody that in real life in the way that he feels emotions heavily and empathizes with people. And I think that's what makes him such a great writer and storyteller. But he definitely loves, you know, suspense. Even when we were young, you know, our bedtime stories would be these long, like, intricate narratives that would go on for many, many days and have many, many chapters. And was talking about the other day how even when he disciplines us, he's such a director and a storyteller. He'd be like, If you were watching the scene, like, what would you feel about the character that you're playing? Would you like her?
(LAUGHTER)
SALEKA: And we would always be like, no, I wouldn't like her. Sorry (laughter).
ELLIOTT: That's brilliant. I might have to try that one.
SALEKA: Yeah. It worked well.
ELLIOTT: So do you think the two of you will be working together again?
SHYAMALAN: Yeah.
SALEKA: Oh, I hope so. I mean, we've - I've loved it so much (laughter).
SHYAMALAN: Well, I do think Saleka's particularly adept at writing for narratives and music. And I do like this form of music and movies. And, you know, so a lot of different ideas are coming to my head about how to incorporate it in new and interesting ways. So, let's see, as life goes on, and, of course, Saleka has her own music career, so I have to kind of bug her to do something while she - in between her album.
SALEKA: (Laughter).
ELLIOTT: M. Night Shyamalan and Saleka Night Shyamalan - their new movie "Trap" opens August 2. Thanks so much.
SALEKA: Thank you so much.
SHYAMALAN: Thank you so much for having us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SAVE ME")
SALEKA: (As Lady Raven, singing) Come save me from myself. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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