M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan has made her feature directorial debut with a thriller called The Watchers, which is set to receive a June 7, 2024 theatrical release, courtesy of Warner Bros. / New Line Cinema. With that date just a few months away, a teaser trailer for The Watchers has made its way online – and if you want to see what a movie from a Shyamalan daughter looks like, all you have to do is check out the video embedded above!
The younger Shyamalan wrote the screenplay for The Watchers, based on a novel by A.M. Shine (pick up a copy HERE). The film stars Dakota Fanning (The Equalizer 3) as Mina, a 28-year-old artist who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers that are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night. Also in the cast are Barbarian star Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and Oliver Finnegan (Creeped Out).
When the film was heading into production, New Line Cinema’s Richard Brener provided the following statement: “We couldn’t be more excited to make Ishana’s first film with The Watchers. Equal parts visual, immersive, and terrifying, the script grips you from the first page and never lets go.“
M. Night Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan are producing The Watchers for Blinding Edge Pictures. Nimitt Mankad of Inimitable Pictures is also producing. Jo Homewood serves as executive producer.
Ishana Night Shyamalan was an important part of the creative team behind her father’s Apple TV+ series Servant, writing and/or directing multiple episodes. Speaking about his daughter’s work on Servant last year, M. Night Shyamalan told Entertainment Weekly, “She has slightly more of a fantasy bend than I do. She speaks in bolder colors than I do. The camera is more canted or more grotesque in showing someone scarier. The disadvantage of being an accomplished artist is that your experience starts working against you. I see less options, because I’ve done so many things. She doesn’t see that; for her, everything is possible. There are advantages and disadvantages to the levels of experience that we each have.”
In addition to her work on Servant, Ishana Night Shyamalan has also worked as second unit director on her father’s movies Old and Knock at the Cabin, and she has directed four music videos for her sister Saleka. She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and was still attending the school when she started working on Servant.
What did you think of The Watchers teaser trailer? Will you be seeing this movie when it’s released in June? Let us know by leaving a comment below.