Exclusive: Benedict Cumberbatch In Final Talks For M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap
We've learned Benedict Cumberbatch is close to signing on to Trap, the next film from M. Night Shyamalan.
Get ready for this surprise twist. Our trusted and proven sources are telling us that Benedict Cumberbatch is in final negotiations to star as the lead in Trap, the next film from M. Night Shyamalan. The feature will mark the first collaboration between Cumberbatch and Shyamalan.
Trap will also be the first film to arrive as part of Shyamalan’s multi-year first look directing and producing deal he signed with Warner Bros. in February according to Deadline. The deal was signed only a couple of weeks after Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin opened at the #1 spot in theaters. Billed as a psychological horror film, it starred Benedict Cumberbatch’s fellow Marvel alum, Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), in the lead role.
No plot details to speak of have been released about Trap, so we can’t even begin to speak to who Benedict Cumberbatch may or may not be playing, other than — assuming his final talks go well — he’ll be playing the lead. The film is currently scheduled to hit theaters August 2, 2024 and the film’s IMDb page lists Rolando Davila-Beltran as playing a character named Brad Marshall. The actor currently only has a handful of acting credits, most of them for voice work.
M. Night Shyamalan’s filmmaking career has experienced quite a few peaks and valleys over the years. On one hand, as Deadline notes, Knock at the Cabin was the seventh film Shyamalan has directed to open at #1, and every decade of his career has featured at least one Shyamalan film similarly hitting the top spot. But for Trap, Benedict Cumberbatch is joining hands with a director whose films tend to — arguably more than any other living filmmaker — just about define the phrase “you either love them or hate them.”
On one hand, there are Shyamalan films that enjoyed commercial and critical success while being remembered fondly even today by audiences like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. But then there are features like After Earth, The Last Airbender, The Happening, and The Village that make fans and critics say the director’s name through gritted teeth. Often the reaction to Shyamalan’s signature surprise endings has a lot to do with what side of the equation the film finds itself.
Whether or not he’s at all worried about Trap being more of a Lady in the Water than a Sixth Sense, Benedict Cumberbatch has plenty to do over the coming months to keep himself distracted. Along with a number of film and television projects either currently filming or in post-production, Cumberbatch will star opposite Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) in the upcoming sci-fi film Morning and he’ll be both producing and starring in Rogue Male, based on the 1939 novel of the same name by Geoffrey Household.
Update: GFR has received information from Benedict Cumberbatch’s PR team claiming this report is false. It is possible that negotiations fell through, and we will update you with news on the story when we have more information.
