The Watchersmay markIshana 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 isM. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, and grew up on his sets. Then, beginning at 19, she wrote on the Apple TV+ seriesServant, and went on to direct six episodes of the show. On top of that, she directed second unit on bothOldandKnock at the Cabin. All wonderful opportunities, but all projects where a top priority was fulfilling a pre-established vision. That wasn’t the case onThe Watchers, however.
Based on theA.M. Shinenovel of the same name,The WatchersstarsDakota Fanningas 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.
WithThe Watchersnow 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 onOld, 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.
PERRI NEMIROFF: This is your first feature, but I know you directed episodes ofServant. You also were second unit director onKnock at the CabinandOld, and I wanted to ask about that process. When you’re working on those films in that capacity, what is it like picking the scenes or the moments that you direct, and are there any particular ones that you found influencing your work here most?
ISHANA SHYAMALAN: The second unit experience for me was a really kind of peaceful, wonderful experience because it was very much, on those movies with my dad, he would say, “Okay, we have these 100 shots that I can’t get in my day. I need you to go get them.” And it was very much me kind of figuring out the logistics and trying to accomplish his vision, which I really enjoyed that process of figuring out the pieces to suit someone else’s perspective. It was wonderful. I think particularly onOld, he shot on film and that was a really precious, precious thing for me that I had never done before and taught me a way of thinking about things with precision and preparation. So, I really enjoyed both of those experiences.
So you lean into fulfilling his vision on those movies. Now, it’syourvision and your vision alone. Well, not alone because it’s based on a book, of course. But during this process, did you discover anything new about your own voice as a director that you think you’ll embrace more going forward?
SHYAMALAN: Absolutely. For me, it’s always sort of been a struggle to determine, how do I behave on set and control the chaos of the environment, but maintain those morals that I protect, which are sort of keeping it chill the whole time, treating everyone with kindness, holding everyone to that standard of treating each other with grace and kindness. I think in many ways, the industry is not geared towards that thing. I don’t know if you experience that as well …
That’s so backwards. Those are the essential pillars that should be present on any set without question.
SHYAMALAN: Absolutely. And I think it’s also a female thing as well, and I do have this belief that I think we’re gonna have this whole new generation of filmmakers that do it differently. So it was very much about that, sort of finding out how you’re able to still maintain the precision of your art form, but keeping it all very healthy and happy.
I like hearing that that’s a priority for you.
Before ‘The Watchers,’ Dakota Fanning’s Most Underrated Role Was This Grim Thriller
This overlooked feature also starred Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard.
A particular thing that caught my eye in our press notes that your dad said — I tend to get really fascinated by the idea that one specific thing could look different when a different filmmaker is executing it, and one of his quotes was, “If this were my movie, my bunker would be different,” so it just made me curious, did you two ever discuss what your different versions of the bunker would look like?
SHYAMALAN: No, I actually never heard what his bunker would look like. That’s so funny. But that is kind of the wonder, I think, of the art-making process is that it was just sort of what I had imagined when I read the book. And then it was pretty immediate, I just put those visionings into the film format and started talking to my production designer about them. But that’s the wonderful thing about it, I think, is that all the artists who come together have their own sense of visuals and their own creative playing field and it ends up creating this very singular, unrepeatable thing.
I love that thought. I also get obsessed with the idea of, what if a movie had a role swap? How might things change?
SHYAMALAN: That’s really interesting!
This is what I lay awake at night thinking about.
The Key to Crafting a Successful Creature Feature? Restraint
I’m wondering if the creatures went through a similar creative process for you. What would you say is the biggest difference between the first draft you and your team came up with in terms of how they look and how they look in the finished film?
SHYAMALAN: The VFX world is such a kind of crazy thing, and to sort of learn how you can take a 2D thing — so we had sketches first, and I had a lot of inspiration, photos, and references that I brought to it, and how to sort of manifest that into something that can move and have a presence was a really winding process for us all and took quite a lot of time. So it was very much almost like a return to what those initial sketches looked like at the very end of the day but then felt quite real.
What was it like figuring out how much to show of them and when? That always feels like the make-or-break thing with a movie that includes a creature, and I found your choices in that respect very effective.
SHYAMALAN: Thank you. For me, the exciting thing about doing this kind of creature feature was the idea of restraint. I love that experience of being a viewer and sort of hearing about something but not being able to see it. I think there’s kind of a cool thing there of pushing you as much as you’re able to and sort of playing with the fact that you don’t really get to see the villain.
Especially when you have such good sound design.
SHYAMALAN: Yes. Thank you!
Shyamalan’s Rule for Horror Fantasy: “Everything Has to Be Real”
I also tend to get a little obsessed with backstory and rules so I am curious, what kind of work in that respect did you do in terms of how your creatures operate, how the forest operates, and where the limitations need to lie with that?
SHYAMALAN: I think for me playing in this fantasy horror space, my approach is basically that everything has to be real. There has to be some sort of logical way to understand anything surreal that’s happening. So, it was very much about thinking about the literal mythology and folklore that’s embedded into the movie and how from those words that were written to today this thing could exist, and what would they look like today and what it would feel like? That’s what I sit awake stewing at night about. I’m like, “Oh, how could this thing exist? What would this thing feel like and eat and sound like?” That’s just a joyous process for me.
Looking for even more The Watchers talk? you’re able to catch my conversation with Dakota Fanning below:
