The Watchers Director Ishana Shyamalan Had A Fun Role Reversal With Her Famous Director Dad [Exclusive Interview]
During this year's CinemaCon back in April, audiences were given the first look at the feature directorial debut of Ishana Shyamalan, "The Watchers." Based on the novel of the same name from A.M. Shine, the story centers on an artist named Mina (Dakota Fanning) who gets stranded in the woods in western Ireland. Her only source of refuge is a strange box in the middle of a clearing, where the front wall is a gigantic one-way mirror. She suddenly realizes that she has been trapped with three strangers who have all been in the sanctuary known as "The Coop" for months themselves. Each night, mysterious creatures arrive outside The Coop to watch them from the outside. The group is unable to see the creatures, but the creatures see everything. The film's trailer has wisely kept any other plot details under wraps, allowing Shyamalan's film to entice audiences and creep them out to the fullest extent.
"The Watchers" marries folk horror elements with thrilling fantasy, playing out like a live-action Miyazaki film through the lens of someone who grew up watching M. Night Shyamalan movies. Ishana grew up on her famous father's film sets and recently began directing on her own, serving as second-unit director on "Old" and directing multiple episodes of "Servant." As easy as it will be for fans to compare her work on "The Watchers" to her father, Ishana Shyamalan has a bold voice, perspective, and approach to horror that looks and feels all her own. I recently had the chance to talk with her about her new film, the pressures of being a nepo baby, growing up Shyamalan, and why she's so drawn to horror.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
How Ishana Shyamalan knew The Watchers was the perfect feature debut
I have to make a confession: I am such a Shyamalan fan/defender/stan, whatever you want to call it.
[laughs] Love it!
So "The Watchers" was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. The second it was announced, I re-watched "Servant" so I could watch your episodes, I read the book, and the whole time I kept thinking, "Oh my God, she's going to crush this," and I'm thrilled that you did!
Thank you! Thank you.
What was it about this novel that made you decide, "This is it. This is the story for my future directorial debut"?
I think there were so many elements about the book, and I'm sure if you read it, you kind of experienced that as well. It's just a really, really scary book. I think the author did such a wonderful job at drawing out this mystery, and playing with your expectations as a reader and making you question what world you're in, in order to kind of touch this much larger, much more wondrous kind of fantastical world. So I was just in deep admiration of what he had done with the book, and I just really loved reading it. So it felt to me like it would be just kind of an honor to put that on screen and put those visuals into reality.
This is such a unique story with that mystery in that it doesn't fit nicely in any one horror subgenre box, which I think is also a very Shyamalan thing to do as well. What are the types of stories that you were drawing from?
I think for me, horror is really a sort of means of confronting various fears that we have about different things. And the ones that make me the most afraid are the ones that are outlining something I didn't know I was afraid of. Something that surprises me that I'm like, "Oh my God, I do have that fear." So I think that's the hope with this movie as well, is that it talks about this fear of judgment and this fear of being looked at that is very, very much within us all, I suppose. So hopefully it sort of just preys on that and helps you confront that.
We're all 'watchers'
Oh, definitely. There is something so anxiety-inducing about having to face a full-length mirror for an extended period of time.
Oh my gosh, yes.
Which is essentially what that box is.
Yes.
When you were directing on set, how long were you having them stand and just stare out?
Yeah, there were quite a few moments and scenes where they had to kind of look into that mirror and they had to be in that box. It was a very claustrophobic environment, and it was really interesting. We couldn't have any of the crew in there because it was so small, so it was just them on the inside. And anytime the mirror was out, the crew would be on the outside watching them like an audience, kind of like they were performing for us. It was a very interesting, weird dynamic that I think contributed to that feeling of unease.
I think this is also coming in such a perfect time to tell a story like this, because right now everyone is online. There are people who exist in this world as if they're constantly being perceived because they probably are.
Yes. Yes!
We're always recording everything! Was that also a motivating factor in telling the story? Do you think this story can relate to the fact that we are all "watchers?"
Absolutely. I mean, it's ultimately I think just kind of a satire on that exact thing. It is something that I feel very much, and it is a weird, weird part of our society right now that there is this performative element of everything where you kind of have to think about how you're perceived in a very unnatural way. Yeah. So it's kind of that idea, and just for me, grappling with feelings of judgment or feelings of being observed and looked at in this kind of scrutinizing way and just coping with those emotions.
On the pressure of being 'the next Shyamalan'
And on that note, when your dad broke into the mainstream, I'll never forget that Newsweek magazine that was like, "He's the next Spielberg," which is such an insane pedestal to put a person on.
Insane, I know! Insane.
Absolutely ridiculous. You are just setting someone up for failure at that point. It's so cruel.
Why even compare artists like that?
Right, exactly. Let artists be artists!
Yes, exactly.
Do you feel any of these feelings of pressure of being "the next Shyamalan" to be making a horror movie? Or are you just unbothered with what other people have to say?
I wish I could say I'm unbothered, but I really do care a lot. [laughs] I'm very affected by things. But I've done a lot of deep thought on it and trying to put myself in the right headspace, I think. Trying to honor what my dad has built and knowing that I'm not there and I probably will never get there to what he's created and just taking what he's taught me throughout the process, which is just to tune into my own artistic instincts and be as emotionally truthful as possible and do that with kindness and a work ethic. And I think that's the best I can do and I can feel happy so long as I have done that.
M. Night Shyamalan is a proud 'girl dad'
I loved learning that he did some second unit directing on your movie, which I know is a role that you've done on his movies. How does that dynamic shift when now you are the director and you're in charge?
That was one of the coolest things ever, because he was so stressed about getting me the shots that I wanted. He was like, "I don't think I got this one for you. Oh man, the camera was doing this and I don't think I got it." I'm like, "It's amazing. It looks beautiful. I don't know what you're talking about." So it was really fun where we kind of had that role reversal for a moment. He was so into it.
Oh, I love that. Because at the end of the day, he's still your dad, and dads want to support their kids in whatever way. I mean, I obviously don't know your dad, but parasocially, I've always gotten the, "That's a proud girl dad vibe."
Yeah. Oh yeah. He's like a total girl dad and totally involved in that way. It's wonderful.
Ishana Shyamalan is more than a nepo baby
I know it can be a touchy subject, but something that I think gets left out of the "nepo baby" conversation is that the reason so many people who grew up in the industry continue in the industry is that they grew up on these sets so they understand them better than anyone else. What are the things that you've learned from being on sets your whole life that you took on in this film, and what are things that you feel like you're bringing that are wholly unique to you and your creative process?
I mean, I think, yeah, you can learn by observation a certain level of things. So for me, it was mostly seeing my dad's sort of emotional journey as he moved through the process. And seeing A) how disciplined he is, and how sacred the kind of art form is to him. And then B) just how he sort of copes with that reaction element. And he's incredibly resilient. So it was mostly me as a daughter admiring how emotionally strong he is while being on set. And then I think for me, it was very much I only really started to understand how to make a movie, or how to put the pieces together, when I started doing short films. It was very much something I felt like had to be practiced — skill sets that I didn't really have until I started doing it myself.
I think my journey has been very much about how I can take this art form that I admire so much and make it suited to me, where I can express myself in the way I express myself, which is maybe a bit quiet and a bit soft and still get the image that I want or the performance that I want. So it's very much like a journey of that: Figuring out how I can do it with my own ethics and my own kind of moral standards.
On bringing maximalism to the fold
I love that. Right now, I think the young crop of filmmakers are also coming from backgrounds that didn't even exist when a lot of our parents' generation were making movies because technology has changed, social media has changed, and the way the world interacts has completely changed. So what are things that you think you've been able to teach him as a filmmaker?
I don't know. I mean, I think that might be a question you'd have to ask him. I think we have slightly different styles of filmmaking. I think I'm a bit more maximalist than he is in terms of my visual palette. So he always, I think, enjoys watching how I am building the sets, or how I'm thinking about the production design elements of it, because that's just my favorite thing to do. I don't know, I think we have very different approaches to the art-making process. It's fun to be able to share that with each other.
I love that you said that you are a much more maximalist filmmaker, because I think we have been needing a return to maximalist filmmaking so desperately.
I know. I love it so much.
No shade to minimalist filmmakers, there's beauty in that as well, but I want lush sets, so thank you for giving me that. That's not a question, that's just a compliment. And something else that I love about this movie is that there is almost this fantastical, and almost darkly whimsical feel at times. I know I've read in some interviews that you feel very inspired by Miyazaki, and I could see that throughout this movie. So: nailed it. Good job.
Thanks. Thanks!
The Watchers is an anxiety film
But more importantly, what is your approach like in incorporating non-horror elements into horror stories?
I think horror is really just a language through which to speak, in my mind. So it's really the other genres that are at play there that I'm kind of experimenting with. For me, I think everything has an element of darkness and beauty to it in this life, and I really enjoy thinking about how to visually manifest that relationship. So I think that's kind of what exists. Ultimately to me, the movie is kind of an adult fairy tale. So it was very much going with that mindset, that it's more of a Gothic-flavored movie about this kind of odd family dynamic and this woman. And that's kind of how I allowed the tonal choices to be guided.
Beautiful. Well, I have time for one last question. So, what sensation are you hoping audiences walk away feeling once they have seen "The Watchers?"
I hope there's some leaving with an element of kind of questioning the things around them, mixed with wonder. But I love that word that you used: anxiety. I think it's definitely an anxiety film, and my hope is by the end, you kind of conquer some element of that anxiety.
"The Watchers" arrives in theaters on June 7, 2024.