‘Silence of the Lambs’ Meets Taylor Swift Concert: That Was M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Movie Pitch
Written by Ashley Iasimone on July 7, 2024
“What if The Silence of the Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?”
That was the question M. Night Shyamalan asked when he pitched the concept of his new film Trap, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker revealed in an interview with Empire magazine.
Trap follows a dad (Josh Harnett) as he brings his teen daughter (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert to see Lady Raven, a fictional pop star played by Shyamalan’s real-life daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, The Hollywood Reporter says. But it’s not all fun and friendship bracelets here: they find themselves in the middle of a police operation to capture a serial killer known as “The Butcher.”
In the latest trailer previewing the movie, seen below, a stadium employee says in a hushed voice, “This whole concert is a trap.”
As Shyamalan told Empire, “I directed an entire concert! And it wasn’t just a thing in the background. It’s equally important. There is no pretend concert going on.”
The director added, “I love the idea of cinema as windows within windows. One of the reasons to come see the movie at the movie theater is because there’s literally a real concert that you can see nowhere except in that movie.”
Shyamalan said Trap was partially influenced by his daughter’s aspiring music career, and inspired in part by the 1985 “Operation Flagship,” a sting operation by U.S. Marshals and the DC Metropolitan Police Department that resulted in the arrest of more than 100 wanted fugitives who were lured in by free NFL tickets and the chance to win a trip to the Super Bowl. “The cops were literally cheerleaders and mascots. These guys were dancing as they came in. And they were all caught. It was so twisted and funny,” Shyamalan commented.
Trap, from Warner Bros. Pictures, will be in theaters Aug. 9.
Check out Warner Bros.’ new trailer for Trap and a clip of Saleka Shyamalan, who penned 14 original songs for the film, performing as Lady Raven below.
Of her goals in music, in a profile on the family published by The New York Times she said, “I think once he [M. Night Shyamalan] 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.”
