The Watchers Director Ishana Night Shyamalan Describes Horror Vision

Ishana Night Shyamalan describes her vision for The Watchers.

By Aaron Perine

The Watchers is coming later this summer and fans are curious to see what Ishana Night Shyamalan has up her sleeve for this horror film. The director participated in a Q+A for "The Summer of Shyamalan" recently. ComicBook.com was in attendance for the festivities and got to hear her break down her first horror feature. Shyamalan was sure to focus on the cast for this one and assembled a dynamite team including Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, and Olwen Fouere. The filmmaker feels like every performer really fits together.

"Well, it was very much just imagining what the 4 or 5 of these people were like, and what they would be like together. Then, as the continual lesson that I learned during the filmmaking process, there's just a certain alchemy that happens," Ishana revealed. "If you're lucky enough to catch it, you do. With this path, there were all these movements that just led to this group being together. They have such an electric energy when they're all together. It's really, really cool. It's so fun. It felt like theater!"

Assembling the ensemble is no easy task, and for this film, Shyamalan was careful to construct her team in a very particular manner. Everyone had to have their own sensibility. But, they also needed to be able to bring forth a cohesive vision on-screen. That balance can be delicate. However, the filmmaker is impressed with the results on The Watchers.

"I think that was kind of one of the largest parts of the process was the curation of the various creative people who are going to be on it. And, they're all very distinctive artists in their own right," Shyamalan recalled. "The EP, the production designer and all these people, the costumer too. They're all very singular kinds of artists. It was many conversations and an exploration to find the right team, who brought this brought this thing to life. So, I think it carries kind of the energy of like many different special artists."

How Much Did Starting On Servant Help With The Watchers?

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(Photo: Apple TV+)

Horror fans might already be familiar with Shyamalan's work on the Apple TV+ show Servant. Ishana actually directed and wrote a couple episodes of the series. During the Q+A, the moderator asked how that experience on Servant helped prepare her for this big-screen debut. Also, the supplemental learning during working second unit on Knock at the Cabin and Old would help mold her understanding of processes as well.

"It was such a wonderful thing I worked on, Servant for 3 years," she began. "It was great. I think the kind of that particular TV format is so wonderful because, you get to play with the form in a controlled space. There's already a look created and a vibe created. It's getting to practice different skill sets within that framework, that's already been built for you. So it was really, really wonderful. Just trying to see how, in a 30 min episode format, I could make structure better. And, make characters work better. I felt like I really got an opportunity to train in that way."

What Is The Watchers About?

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(Photo: Warner Bros.)

Here's how New Line describes the upcoming thriller: "Mina, a 28-year-old artist, gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night. You can't see them, but they see everything."

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The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Ocean's Eight), Georgina Campbell (Barbarian, Suspicion), Oliver Finnegan (Creeped Out, Outlander), and Olwen Fouere (The Northman, The Tourist). The film is produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, and Nimitt Mankad. The executive producers are Jo Homewood and Stephen Dembitzer.

Will you be catching this one in theaters as a part of "The Summer of Shyamalan? Let us know in the comments down below!

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