M. Night Shyamalan reveals “absurd” real life inspiration behind Trap

In an exclusive interview with Dexerto, twist master M. Night Shyamalan opened up about the “absurd” real life case that inspired Trap. 

The Sixth Sense director’s new movie takes place at a concert for Lady Raven, a fictional pop star played by his real daughter, Saleka Shyamalan.

But as was revealed in the trailer, the show is actually a ruse organized by the FBI to capture a serial killer nicknamed “The Butcher.” 

Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue star as a father-daughter duo who get caught up with the plot in more ways than one. 

Holding an entire event to capture a criminal might sound stranger than fiction – and that’s because it is. Dexerto caught up with Shyamalan ahead of the release of Trap to find out more. 

“There were many stages to the movie’s incarnation, and the last part of that incarnation was after Saleka and I talked about what we wanted to make the format, all that stuff,” the filmmaker told us. 

“After I was thinking, ‘Hey, this could be a killer that’s in there,’ this notion came to me of, I remember as a kid, this event that happened in the 80s where the police and the FBI created a sting operation at a public event.”

For the uninitiated, the case, Operation Flagship, was a sting operation conducted by the authorities in 1985 to capture fugitives wanted for various crimes. 

The operation involved sending invitations to a fake event, ostensibly a giveaway for free tickets to watch the Washington Redskins’ home game against the Cincinnati Bengals and the chance to win an all expenses paid trip to Super Bowl XX.

When the invitees arrived at the designated location, Washington Convention Center, they were seized by law enforcement officers, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 wanted fugitives.

“They sent invites to all these criminals, and all the criminals showed up. There was dancing, and there were cheerleaders and mascots and a band, and everybody was a police officer,” added Shyamalan. 

“Literally, they were in cheerleader outfits, dancing with them. And, you know, everybody was [excited], they went in, then they shut the doors and said, ‘You’re all under arrest.’

“The tone of that absurdity – that you were dancing with them and then your life was over on that day – stuck with me as really strange and wonderful. And so we kind of took that language.”

Trap lands in US cinemas on August 2 and in UK cinemas on August 9. For more fresh content, check out the movies heading to streaming this month, as well as the TV shows to add to your watchlist.