Ishana Shyamalan Interview: Finding Her Own Voice After Working on Her Dad’s Films

The Watchers may mark Ishana Shyamalan’s feature directorial debut, but she’s got far more experience than most at her age because she’s been surrounded by film her entire life. Ishana Shyamalan is M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, and grew up on his sets. Then, beginning at 19, she wrote on the Apple TV+ series Servant, and went on to direct six episodes of the show. On top of that, she directed second unit on both Old and Knock at the Cabin. All wonderful opportunities, but all projects where a top priority was fulfilling a pre-established vision. That wasn’t the case on The Watchers, however.
Based on the A.M. Shine novel of the same name, The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning as Mina. While in the midst of a lengthy drive through the forest in western Ireland, Mina gets stranded. While she manages to find shelter with three strangers, it’s far from a safe situation. The four must be in “the coop” by nightfall, or else. Once inside, they can’t see out into the forest, but something can see it - mysterious creatures who stalk them throughout the night.
With The Watchers now playing in theaters nationwide, I sat down with Shyamalan to discuss her experience going from second unit director to directing her very own feature film. She walked me through lessons learned while working on Old, her priorities when finding her own voice on set, and how she figured out how much to show of her creatures throughout the film. You can hear it all straight from Shyamalan herself in the video at the top of this article, or you can read the conversation in transcript form below.
#thewatchers #director #filmmaking #mnightshyamalan #interview
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[@MrAndy12878]

Already showing wisdom beyond her years. Nice talk and ?'s as always 🤘🏼🙌🏾

[@NG-qo7nu]

Queens

[@honestcomments8053]

Ishana is talented and works hard. Mr. Shyamalan did an excellent job raising his kids....they are all working and contributing to economy...unlike some celebrity's kids who are addicted to drugs or alcohol..

[@honestcomments8053]

Smart girl...her wardrobe matches her movie theme.

[@numbersandsports4206]

This is like LeBron getting to play with his son, lol. Her dad must be crazy proud.

[@RBunks92]

She has her fathers proclivity for making AWFUL films. The Watchers was a dreadfully awful piece of cinematic excrement. Only a Shyamalan could take something with so much potential, and an actress as good as Dakota Fanning and make it a complete festering turd.

[@smileletters8820]

Es un asco de película carece de sentido, la idea es buena pero no supo desarrollar la historia, le quiso meter de todo y eso hizo ser una película muy inútil es una pérdida de tiempo y dinero, un apellido no dice nada