The Watchers Director Ishana Night Shyamalan Shares What She Learned From Servant, Addresses Future in Horror

The Watchers is being released in theatres next week, and the new horror film was helmed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan. The new movie was based on the novel by A.M. Shine and marks the younger Shyamalan’s first feature. Previously, she directed multiple episodes of Apple TV+’s Servant, so ComicBook asked Shyamalan what she learned from working on the horror series, and if it is a genre she plans to continue working in.

“Oh my God. So many lessons,” Shyamalan said of working on Servant. “Yeah, I think those experiences I really used as sort of a training ground. I felt really unequipped to embark on this artistic process that I loved so much. And so it was very much kind of looking, observing as much as I could and watching as much as I could and trying out different skills and techniques, and then really got to put those all I think into this feature process.”

“[It] wasn’t really an intentional choice that I go into horror. It’s just sort of the material that I think I’m interested in,” she explained. “I feel for whatever reason, I just connect to darker, scarier things I think I have since I’ve been young. So yeah, it’s more so the palette that I enjoy playing in, but I really enjoy this kind of expanding the genre and touching other things. So for example, this sort of fantasy horror intersection I think is really compelling and cool to me, and would love to go even deeper into that.” 

Dakota Fanning Talks Working With Ishana Night Shyamalan: 

During ComicBook’s interview with The Wachers star, Dakota Fanning, she shared what it was like to work with a first-time feature director. 

“Yeah, she’s super, super excited. Always had a smile on her face, such a bright person and somebody that was clearly put on this earth to create,” Fanning said of Shyamalan. “She’s super creative, super collaborative, comes from a family of artists who love to make cool things, and so that’s inspiring to be around.”

“She wrote this and was directing it and had such a clear vision of what she wanted to do and you can’t help but feel inspired to collaborate with someone like that,” Fanning added. 

In addition to Fanning, The Watchers stars Georgina Campbell (Barbarian, Suspicion), Oliver Finnegan (Creeped Out, Outlander), and Olwen Fouere (The Northman, The Tourist). Joining writer/director Shyamalan behind the camera are director of photography Eli Arenson (Lamb, Hospitality), production designer Ferdia Murphy (Lola, Finding You), editor Job ter Burg (Benedetta, Elle), and costume design by Frank Gallacher (Sebastian, Aftersun). The music is by Abel Korzeniowski (Till, The Nun). The film is produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, and Nimitt Mankad. The executive producers are Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer.

The Watchers lands in theaters on June 7th. Stay tuned for more from our interviews about the upcoming horror film.