Apparently no one knows M. Night Shyamalan's daughter better than Josh Hartnett

M. Night Shyamalan is a family man. One daughter, Saleka, appears in his latest film, Trap. Another daughter, Ishana, is a filmmaker in her own right who has worked with her dad on Servant and Old. Shyamalan has made his work-life balance part of his everyday experience by making most days bring your daughter to work day. If only he were a little more like movie dad Josh Hartnett.

Trap continues his trend of working with his kids. Saleka plays the pop star at the center of the thing, while Josh Hartnett, who we are reasonably sure is not one of Shayamalan’s children, plays a father who happens to be a serial killer. But this is a dad who takes an interest in his kids. He listens to them. As he’s normally doing, Shyamalan is working through some of his own parenting woes through his work, but would it be a twist to learn that the killer knows more about Saleka than her father?

In a very funny and very sweet promotional video for Trap, Shyamalan and Hartnett go head to head in a Saleka off. The singer asks trivia questions about herself, and the participant who chimes in last or wrongly gets their head dunked in water. We’ll spoil the ending: Saleka’s dad gets dunked. It’s not totally his fault. Hartnett is Quick Draw McGraw when it comes to Saleka trivia. He knows her favorite color, her favorite singer, and even her prom date.

 

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After about 30 years of making audiences squirm, it’s very satisfying to watch the director in the hot seat. This is obviously all a setup, but Shyamalan legitimately gives one of his best screen performances when he asks Hartnett, “How do you know Jake?” We never do learn the answer to that one, nor how he knew the age of Saleka’s first kiss. All of this becomes quite terrifying for Shyamalan, who learns in real time that he doesn’t know his daughter/co-worker as well as he thinks he does. If only he were more like movie dad, Josh Hartnett.

Trap opens on August 2.