Writer and director M. Night Shyamalan has been a staple of commercial cinema for over 25 years, ever since the release of his classic 1999 psychological supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense, which to this day features one of the most famous plot twists in the history of cinema.
From there, the plot twist would become such a central device utilized by Shyamalan that it has become an expectation for audiences watching his films, who go in fully aware that not everything will be as it seems. Aside from his inconsistency as a filmmaker – especially between the years of 2006 and 2013, where he produced nothing but stinkers like The Lady in the Water, and The Last Airbender – his twists have often proven divisive, either landing with a profound sense of awe, such as in The Sixth Sense and The Visit (2015), or with a sigh-inducing thud, like with The Village (2004) and The Happening (2008).
Shyamalan’s latest effort as a writer and director, 2024’s Trap, is notable in that it is a relatively straight-forward cat and mouse affair that sees a serial killer taking his daughter to a concert (which was shot in Hamilton’s FirstOntario Centre, while Toronto’s Rogers Centre was used for exterior shots), only to discover that authorities have laid a trap at the event in the hopes of finally catching him. There’s no major twist in the film, although I would argue that the real twist is that Shyamalan cast his own daughter, Saleka, as the pop star Lady Raven, whose concert the serial killer is attending with his daughter. The problem, though, is that Saleka cannot act.
As much is clear when she has a much more active role in Trap’s second half and must share the screen with Josh Hartnett, who plays the serial killer and positively chews up every second he’s onscreen in one of the finest performances of his career. It must be said, however, that I am in no way blaming Saleka for her casting, but rather her father.
M. Night Shyamalan knows talent when he sees it; he’s worked with some of the finest actors in the world and even cast the likes of Hayley Joel Osment and Anya Taylor Joy early in their careers. Yet, for Trap, he chose to cast Saleka (who had never acted in a feature film before) in a major role, not because she was some up-and-coming talent, but because she is his daughter. She could not have been more out of her depth, and her father has unquestionably done more damage than good to whatever acting career she might have had. It’s so egregious that I genuinely wonder if the core concept for Trap was to promote Saleka’s acting and music careers, and that everything else was expanded from there.
Intriguingly, this level of nepotism is reminiscent of yet another film by Shyamalan, the science-fiction adventure flick After Earth (2013), though in this case it was perpetrated by none other than Will Smith.
Before Smith lost all goodwill with audiences by slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars, he was one of the biggest and most bankable leading actors in the world and possessed a great deal of sway. As such, he conceived a story that was intended to act as a launching pad for his son Jaden’s major film career, in which Will would play a supporting role, an unusual move for the bona fide leading man at the time. Shyamalan wrote and directed the film, delivering the widely panned After Earth.
Numerous aspects of the production were criticized, but a great deal of the negativity focused on Jaden, who delivered an undeniably poor performance, but much like Saleka, he was put in this position by his own father and, to a degree, his mother Jada Pinkett, who served as a producer on this film alongside Will. Jaden, who was only 13 years old when the production began shooting, was thrust into a situation he was clearly not ready for then, or perhaps ever, and whatever film career they wanted for their son was irreparably crushed as a result.
Sometimes history just has a way of repeating itself, but one would think that Shyamalan would have learned from his experience on After Earth, yet here we are. It’s also worth mentioning that Saleka wasn’t the only Shyamalan daughter to be afforded a rare opportunity, as her younger sister Ishana, directed her feature film debut, The Watchers, at the age of 23 or 24 (which is unusually young for any major film director), ultimately releasing in 2024, the same year as Trap. I have not seen the film, but I do at least know that it was largely savaged by critics. Ishana’s only real prior experience was as a writer and director on her father’s TV show, Servant, in addition to serving as a second unit director on his movies Old (2021) and Knock at the Cabin (2023).
Trap is by no means a perfect film – in fact, sometimes it’s borderline brain-dead – but it was certainly a fun watch for the most part, especially when Josh Hartnett is clearly having a blast in the lead role. Yet, the contrast between the performances of Hartnett and Saleka is so significant that it becomes distracting, so much so that it hurts the film, her career, and even Shyamalan’s credibility as a director. By contrast, Saleka’s music for Trap’s soundtrack received a much warmer reception, and she does at least prove that she has a wonderful voice in the film.
Another instance of cinematic nepotism is Sophia Coppola’s casting in The Godfather Part III, as her performance was widely ridiculed for her performance and many concluded that she only landed the role because she is director Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter. Yet, she went on to silence those critics by showcasing her true talents by becoming an Oscar-winning writer and director. I sincerely wish similar successes to Saleka, but I don’t believe she will find it performing under her father’s shadow.