Trap | |
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Directed by | M. Night Shyamalan |
Written by | M. Night Shyamalan |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Sayombhu Mukdeeprom |
Edited by | Noëmi Preiswerk |
Music by | Herdís Stefánsdóttir |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Trap is a 2024 American psychological thriller film written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, and Alison Pill. Its plot follows a serial killer evading a large presence of police officers while attending a pop music star's concert with his daughter. The film premiered in New York City on July 24, 2024, and is scheduled to be released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on August 2.
Cooper, a serial killer dubbed "The Butcher", joins his teenage daughter Riley at a concert for pop star Lady Raven, an event he learns is a trap set by police to catch him. [2]
In October 2022, Universal Pictures announced a then-untitled film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. [3] In February 2023, the film changed distributor when Shyamalan and his production company Blinding Edge Pictures entered a first-look deal with competing studio Warner Bros. Pictures; its title was revealed to be Trap. [4] The film sprouted from conversations Shyamalan had with his daughter, singer-songwriter Saleka, about combining the concert and theatrical experience and devising an album for a narrative. [5] [6] The premise was inspired in part by Operation Flagship, a sting operation in which disguised law enforcement arrested 101 wanted fugitives at a convention center, having invited them under the pretence of gifting them free NFL tickets. [7] Shyamalan pitched the film as setting The Silence of the Lambs (1991) at a Taylor Swift concert, in reference to her Eras Tour, produced it with Marc Bienstock and Ashwin Rajan, and said the screenplay was the fastest he ever wrote at five-and-a-half months. [7] [8] [9] Actor Josh Hartnett did not watch any media in preparation for the lead role to make the character his own. [10]
As with his other projects, Shyamalan and a storyboard artist storyboarded the film. Shyamalan originally intended to frame the film in a 4:3 aspect ratio, but after a discussion with cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, they agreed it limited their ability to shoot the movie and was "too much work" to create a feeling of claustrophobia. They changed it to a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and the film was re-storyboarded. [11] Principal photography was scheduled to begin in Cincinnati, Ohio, in August 2023, where it would have received over $9 million in tax credits from the state to film there. [12] [13] Production relocated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and was granted an interim agreement on September 18, 2023, to film during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. [14] [15] [16] Under the working title Good Grades, filming reportedly occurred from October 16 to December 8, 2023. [14] [17] The film's pop concert venue, known as "Tanaka Arena", was filmed in Hamilton, Ontario, inside FirstOntario Centre, a 20,000-seat arena that the production obtained access to for two to three months because it was undergoing renovations. [18] [19] Cora Kozaris was the choreographer for the songs performed on stage, [20] and the Rogers Centre in Toronto stood in as the venue's exterior. [21] Songs in the film were performed as if it were a real concert, with a videographer recording onstage material and projecting it onto the stadium's screens in real-time. [22] Trap was shot on 35mm film stock, a rarity for Shyamalan due to financial reasons. As a result, the crew had to wait three days for dailies to be processed and returned from a film laboratory in Los Angeles to review their footage. [11]
Shyamalan's daughter, Saleka, stars as singer Lady Raven, whose concert the characters attend. As her father was writing the script, she composed fourteen songs for the film, designed diegetically to match the action onscreen. [23] Saleka previously collaborated with her father by making a single for the film Old (2021) and an EP for the series Servant . [20] [24] [22] Shyamalan was inspired to incorporate musical elements by Prince's musical film Purple Rain (1984) and visiting Saleka on tour. [25] [26] Saleka also noted Bollywood cinema, in which music often plays a key role in the storytelling, as an influence. She described Trap as a "Shyamalan American version of a Bollywood movie that is grounded and the songs make sense — not necessarily a musical, but completely music-centric." [20] Trap was released the same year as The Watchers , the directorial debut of Saleka's sister, Ishana Night Shyamalan; a poster for The Watchers appears in the background of a scene in Trap. Saleka and Ishana Shyamalan worked on their respective films on their family's property in Pennsylvania; Saleka operated in a recording studio while Ishana mixed her film next door. [27] Columbia Records will release the soundtrack album, "Lady Raven", which features appearances by Kid Cudi (who stars in the film), Russ, and Amaarae. [20] [28] Herdís Stefánsdóttir composed the score independently from Saleka. [29] Editing and mixing were completed on June 22, 2024. [30]
Trap is scheduled to be released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on August 2, 2024. It is the second film of Shyamalan's to be distributed by the studio after Lady in the Water (2006), and marks the filmmaker's departure from Universal Pictures, which distributed five consecutive films of his, starting with The Visit in 2015. [31] Universal initially scheduled the film's release for April 5, 2024. [3] In 2023, Warner Bros. acquired and pushed the film to August 2, 2024. [32] In 2024, they postponed it to August 9, [33] and later brought it forward a week to August 2 again. [31]
The film premiered at Alice Tully Hall [34] [ better source needed ] in New York City on July 24, 2024. [35] It did not screen for critics before its theatrical release. [36]
In the United States and Canada, Trap is scheduled to be released alongside Harold and the Purple Crayon and is projected to earn $15–25 million in its opening weekend. [36] [37] [38]
Manoj Nelliyattu "M. Night" Shyamalan is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally. Shyamalan has received various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe.
Joshua Daniel Hartnett is an American actor. He began his career playing Michael Fitzgerald on ABC's Cracker (1997–1998), after which he became known as a teen idol through starring parts in films such as Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, The Faculty, The Virgin Suicides (1999), Pearl Harbor, O, Black Hawk Down, and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002).
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