Josh Hartnett’s Trap serial killer has an eerie real-life inspiration

It’s the summer of serial killers, but Josh Hartnett’s Trap villain is a cut above the rest – and is actually based on people he knows in the industry.

After Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs killer, Josh Hartnett is the next to take up the murderous mantle. That is, of course, if you take the Trap trailer at face value. (This is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, after all.)

Taking place at the concert of a world-famous popstar, Hartnett plays a father whose malicious motives are revealed when the police show up to hunt down a notorious serial killer nicknamed The Butcher.

Anyone who’s seen the trailer will know that Hartnett’s character is the killer in question, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t more twists to come.

Although the events of the new movie are fictitious, Hartnett has revealed that his character, Cooper, is actually based on real-life people he knows, specifically within the industry.

“There are a lot of CEOs, politicians, people in our business… a lot of people who are at the top,” Hartnett told Entertainment Weekly.

“They don’t mind stepping over people or doing horrible things to get where they’re going, and not having any empathy is a pretty big sign of being a psychopath.

“Whether or not you’re murdering people, I’ve met people like this, you know what I mean? So it was easy to take it all a step further, make it a little bolder, and make his cover so intense.”

Trap was released in theaters on August 2, and has already reached $6.7 million across Friday and preview screenings. For the record, that’s already beaten Shyamalan‘s last movie, Knock at the Cabin, which earned $5.4 million less.

As is par for the course with a Shyamalan movie, Trap is already dividing audiences. At the time of writing, it has a 48% score on Rotten Tomatoes, though the Audience Score sits higher at 64%.

Trap is in theaters now. For more, check out all the other 2024 horror movies to get excited about. You can also read our Longlegs review for more scares, and check out the highest-grossing movies of 2024 so far.