Josh Hartnett may be on top of the world right now as a co-star in the acclaimed Nolan-directed biopic Oppenheimer, but it's also no surprise he has had some of his best successes in the horror thriller genre. Whether it was early successes like Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and The Faculty (both 1998), his 2007 cult hit 30 Days of Night, his mid-2010's hit series Penny Dreadful, or his recent 2023 starring role in an episode of Black Mirror, it's a genre he has often excelled in. It's probably this track record that builds confidence for his starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's next original film Trap. While Universal Pictures has been the distributor for his last five films (from 2015's The Visit to last year's Knock at the Cabin), Trap will be distributed by the competing studio Warner Bros. in a new first-look deal Shyamalan has with them.
While the plot has been kept under wraps, and it's been categorized as a thriller, Hartnett recently spoke about working in the film at the SAG Awards this past weekend. In essence, he seems to be implying a film that will be both strange and scary at times:
“It’s a pivot. But I try to make all of my roles pivots. If you’re playing the same thing again and again, it gets boring to the audience. Working with M. Night was one of the best experiences of my career. I think he’s a true artist in the capitol-A sense of the word. And I think people are gonna be really surprised and excited about the movie we make. It’s very bizarre, very dark, and it’s wild.”
Trap co-stars the director's own daughter Saleka Shyamalan in her film debut. It is set to be released in theaters on August 2nd.