Trap Star Saleka Shyamalan On Collaborating With Her Father M. Night Shyamalan

Summary Cooper and Riley attend a concert which turns into a trap to catch a serial killer, leading Cooper to fight for his darkest secret.

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap features a twist-filled plot with music by Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven, adding to the suspense.

Saleka Shyamalan discusses the significance of her character's name, Lady Raven, and her collaboration with her father on writing music for Trap.

Trap follows Cooper as he takes his daughter Riley to a concert. While the pair seem excited to share this experience, things take a turn when Cooper discovers the concert is actually a trap to catch the infamous serial killer, The Butcher. With his darkest secret threatened, Cooper will do everything he can to escape this concert unscathed and keep the truth about himself hidden.

Trap is written and directed by horror legend M. Night Shyamalan with music from his daughter Saleka, who makes her acting debut as the musician Lady Raven. Shyamalan is famous for twists and turns leaving audiences on the edge of their seat and Trap has cultivated countless theories from fans about what the shocking twists could be. Josh Hartnett brings the character of Cooper to life with charisma and charm, hiding the underlying darkness until he brings it to the surface.

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Screen Rant interviewed Saleka Shyamalan about her acting debut in Trap. She discussed the collaboration process with her father, M. Night Shyamalan, and created music to reflect the story to score Cooper's internal journey. Shyamalan also shared the significance of her character's name and the production process of creating a concert and filming a movie simultaneously.

Saleka Shyamalan Breaks Down The Process Of Writing Music To Reflect The Main Character's Journey

Image via Warner Bros.

Trap is Shyamalan's acting debut, but she also had to learn choreography and perform as her character Lady Raven countless times on stage. Behind the scenes, she wrote, produced, and recorded an album for this movie. On a deeper level, while writing the music, Shyamalan needed to follow the story of Trap, incorporating elements of the plot, the building tension, and Cooper's internal journey.

Saleka Shyamalan: I mean, we talked a lot about the characters throughout the process of making the movie in terms of the acting, but also the music. His script had a lot of depth to it, so there was already a lot of information there that I could kind of take from and start the process there. In the beginning I was sort of pitching him ideas of what the sound would be, getting his take on what he felt like, because it really defines the movie a lot in terms of especially the first half, what the music feels like, really feels like the movie. So I wanted it to feel right for him. So I was kind of pitching him ideas and then he said, I like that, I like that, I like that. And then I'd kind of take that and go more into that zone. So I got to kind of curate this genre and this sound for this artist.

One of the coolest things that I think about the music in this is that as the tension builds, we're almost getting an inner dialogue of what Cooper's going through, which is incredible to me. Can you talk about the challenge of writing around the tension and building the tension and finding that musically?

Saleka Shyamalan: That was the most challenging part. I love that you mentioned that because it was a detail that was really important to me, but sometimes people don't see it. Yeah, as the concert's going on, Cooper's story is what we're with, and there's a lot of crazy things happening in the plot. So the first few songs of the movie are not as dark, and then it kind of gets darker. Even the energy and the rhythms and the production style kind of ramps up as the concert's going until the very end. Then the last song, he's kind of joyous and so we're kind of joyous and he's feeling free and all of this kind of stuff. So really I wanted it to feel in sync with what he's going through and kind of teasing his storyline.

What's also cool about this is an actual concert that happens to have a thriller film in it, which has to be crazy production wise and also production design wise. Can you talk about that approach to the film as well?

Saleka Shyamalan: I mean, yeah, we were production designing a concert as well as a movie. And so there was a lot of things going on at once. For my dad, I dunno how he did it, but we mapped out this whole concert in terms of all the songs of course. And then we did choreo, costumes, there's different stage production for each song. And then for him, he's simultaneously directing his camera and then also the cameras that are filming on stage that are doing the live screens. So it was a lot happening.

Saleka Shyamalan Reveals The Significance Of The Name Lady Raven

Shyamalan revealed how the name "Lady Raven" came to be including her part in choosing the name, which reflects, "the idea of something dark and powerful that's also beautiful". She also shared why it holds so much significance, not just to her, but to her entire family.

Saleka Shyamalan: I did actually. My dad kind of came up with maybe five or six names and he was like, which one do you? And I was like, Lady Raven. But Raven is a symbol that's important in our family. I don't know. We've kind of used that symbology. The Blinding Edge logo has a Raven in it. My dad, we call our house Ravenwood. My dad really loves that character from Indiana Jones movies. So the idea of something dark and powerful that's also beautiful, I think is nice.

At core, this movie, I feel like it, it's really a father daughter loves story and there are times where I felt like I was cheering for his character, which is so fascinating. Can you talk to me about what he brought to the role of Cooper that wasn't on the page?

Saleka Shyamalan: So much! I mean, as soon as I saw him play the role, I was like, Oh my God, there's this life that he's bringing. He's so funny and he's so good and you really are charmed by him. I think anyone else in that role, you would not relate to the character as much, like how you did where you're rooting for him. That's the genius of Josh. He's so charming, but he's also able to, you see that he's a dark person, but you love him for it. Yeah, I mean the movie's like, would you still love your dad if he was a serial killer? It's really interesting to think about that.

This is a true collaboration with you and Knight and this is something that you guys thought about a while back to see it finally come to fruition. What does that mean for you?

Saleka Shyamalan: I mean, it's so much, obviously it's so meaningful for me in terms of the role that I got to have in this and writing so much music. I just had so much fun being part of it. It's an extreme honor for me and I'm so grateful every day. I can't even believe it's happening.

About Trap

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A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.

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Trap hits theaters August 2.

Source: Screen Rant Plus