M. Night Shyamalan's Daughter Saleka Shares Cutest Childhood Memory That Makes Total Sense

Imagine legendary producer M. Night Shyamalan reading you bedtime stories growing up. Listen back to the full interview with "Trap" stars and father-daughter duo M. Night Shyamalan and Saleka Shyamalan.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's one or two point seven kiss FM. Shall we
bring in m Night and Selica Shamalan. Good to have you.
The family is here. It's a family.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thank you for having us well.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Selika, it's so nice to meet you. I can't wait
to understand what it was like being the daughter in
Star All At the same time, M Night, What are
your friends call you?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
What should I do? I call you M night?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
No?

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Just night's fine?

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Night?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Okay? Good, because you know I want to be comfortable, right, yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's start by saying we're psyched to have you on.
Trap is the suspense thriller that everybody needs to see.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
The other thing I want to say is we do
think of your work as the work of a legend.
I know you're still in the youthful phase of your life,
but you have done so many legendary things early on
in your life that stick with us, and so thank
you for all of that. You wrote and directed Trap,
which is only in theaters Friday August.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Second, but Selika, I want to go to you first.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, was your father the kind of guy that was
always jumping out from behind trees like when you're a kid.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
A little bit I mean, he definitely likes to he
likes suspense, He likes to tell stories. He would tell
us very intricate bedtime stories when my sisters and I
were kids, Like they would be like a chapter each
night and they go on for months. They were like, Oh,
that's so cool. And he'd love to scare us, Like
I remember him when if we're not eating our food
at dinner time, he'd be like, do you see that

(01:34):
door over there. There's a man behind that door, scary man,
and he's going to come poor food on your head
if you don't finish your meal.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
I don't think I would ever sleep. I would not
have a sleepful night with a dad like that.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
But it was all with like positivity and fun and love,
you know. It was just a creative ways of no racingness.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
At night. Where did this come from? For you?

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Where did this ability to capture such suspense both in
real life and in art?

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Where that start for you?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
You know, I've always you know, I think I was
just born at the time when Spielberg and Lucas were
doing their these masterpieces for ten eleven twelve year olds
that were just I mean, it was like religion, you know,
so that inception moment of that happening of getting hit
with these incredible things. And then Spike Lee kind of

(02:34):
came up right when I was fourteen fifteen, and I
was like, Oh, you can go to school for this.
This is incredible. And so then you know, I was like,
oh wow, you know, because we're an Indian family, Indian
immigrant family, so obviously I was going to be a doctor.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
So this was you know, that was just set. It
was that's what was going to happen.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
And then I was like, hey, you know this, this guy,
Spike Lee went to a film school called Tish and
I could go there. And my parents were like what
And then so that you know, I did that. I
luckily got a scholarship and I went, and you know,
I think they thought it would just work itself out
as a kind of a you know, my like goth

(03:13):
punk phase or whatever it is. Yeah, but it worked out.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Have you guys heard So let's go back to sixth sense.
Listen to this.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know that famous line I see that people. Have
you heard Kendrick Lamar's track where he says it at
the top.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Oh no, I haven't heard about that?

Speaker 3 (03:30):
What shaking her head?

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Dad?

Speaker 1 (03:35):
So he does know he's kidding. All right, So this
is the movie. Now, this is the Kendrick tracks. I see,
damn people, you know you've made it when Kendrick Lamar
does that.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, yeah, he actually referenced I think one of my
movies in the first track that he did at the end,
and then and then that was the second one.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
But yeah, it's funny.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
I wonder if there's kids around that are going to
now watch sixth times and be like, yo, night stole
that from Kendrick.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yes, for sure, that's exactly what will happened. All right.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
So, Selika, you're playing the artist that the star, the
pop star at a concert in this film.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
I don't want to give anything away. We do know
there's a serial killer.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Maybe you should you should tread lightly on what happened
so we don't give something away.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
But tell us about your role.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Tell us about performing on stage and working with your
dad in this I mean, it.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Was it was just an incredible experience. We got to
kind of create an entire concert for this movie, and
we prepped it like a concert, so you know, we
had choreography, we did intricate costumes through the whole thing.
Production designed for the stage, and then I wrote and
recorded fourteen original songs for the movie. You hear all
of them in the movie to different degrees, and they
all have different roles in the film, but you really

(04:47):
get to experience them in this live form, which is
something that's so new and something that we really, you know,
wanted to do and we're inspired to do.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
It's called Trap. It's only in theaters. You got to
see it with the community. Only in theaters August at night.
Why only in theaters?

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Oh, And that's what I do for a living.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
That's it's that, that is the that is the art form,
that's the highest art form. It's where when we watch
a story together we become a collective thing. And it's
that collective id we all learn from each other and
become this incredible thing. And in COVID, I think just
made us realize how much we need to be together.

(05:26):
And you know, I you know, for me, everyone keeps
trying to kill the movie theaters and I'm like, leave
us alone.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Man, We're we're we're we're going to be here forever. Yes,
I agree, you know, don't don't let these.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Corporations and the streamers and everybody make you think anything otherwise,
they want what we have, which is this beautiful in
depth experience, uh, when we're together and seeing a concert,
you know, and a movie and a thriller. So these
kind of immersive experiences of watching a concert and feeling
like you're actually in a real concert and the the

(05:57):
suspense that comes from a you know, a top thriller
at the same time. And that was kind of our
our inspiration because we were we were talking, as Sleek
has been in music from from some when she was
four years old, this, Hey, you know, you could write
an album for a movie and that it would be
diegetically watched by the characters that there it's not score
on top of the movie, but there the characters actually

(06:18):
watching this music being played. And we would We talked
a lot about Purple Rain and how about that movie
means to us, and how how unique that was what
he did and what Warner Brothers did at that time,
how rare that was even today, yeah, Prince yeah, And
and so we said, can we do that with a thriller?
Could you write directly? And so then we started talking

(06:40):
and building it from there and saying, hey, we could
be in a concert, we could set it in a concert. Ooh,
that's very Hitchcockian. And then we could everyone it could
be just in an arena and you can't get out,
and well, what's happening? Why would that be? And then
and then the idea of a trap came and and on.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
And on and on. It's even you guys are both
so talented.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Get the triple threat of your daughter and and uh
writing and directing this one. It's called trap. Check it out,
huge fans. Thank you both for coming on and continued success.
And by the way, night, I love that you've got
your technogym workout gear in your office because you are
a dude. All right, brother, thanks again, it's like it's
so nice to meet you. Continued success, guys, take care

(07:19):
Seeyboddy bye.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Thanks guys. You know a phrase I'm gonna throw it
every once a while. It's cocky in Yeah, I know,
it sounded so.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Cocky, right, very very hitch cocky in over there today,
very hitche cocky.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Coming up Court of the Day for this Friday and
Sysney gonna tell us what's new this morning.