From producer M. Night Shyamalan comes The Watchers, releasing pan India on June 14, written for the screen and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan and based on the novel by A.M. Shine. The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly takes her place alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.

Talking about her lead character Mina (played by Dakota Fanning) and what went into creating her, Ishana says: “Building Mina was an interesting process, because I think she didn’t really exist in full until we began shooting. She was slightly ambiguous to me but Mina represents the audience — she speaks to being young in this modern world. I think in a lot of ways, she represents the cynicism and dissociation that a lot of us feel nowadays. Ultimately, what I love about Mina is how this experience changes her. When Dakota came in, she brought this kind of texture with who she is, which is this effortless cool girl. She put the last piece into place and made Mina real for us.”

Diving deeper into the world of Mina was none other than Dakota Fanning. Ask her about her character and the prep to play her on screen and Dakota says: “Mina is a young person who’s in this stagnant period of her life; she is searching for something and stumbles upon this supernatural experience. But I could relate to this phase of the ‘in between’ in a young woman’s life. You are not super young and you are not older either, trying to figure out who you are and what you want to do. I could see that in the character and, in speaking to Ishana, I think we both could relate to that.”

“Meeting Ishana and talking to her, she’s such a passionate person, so creative, who was very immersed in this whole world herself. It was very inspiring just talking to her and that is sort of what made me want to be a part of it. We meet Mina working at a pet shop in Galway, which was very fun. She’s at sort of a crossroads in her life. You find out very quickly that she’s lost her mother and is isolated from her family — you can put these pieces together that she’s left home and moved to Galway to maybe snap herself out of something. So, she’s sort of in this period of… it almost feels like a kind of hibernation. Isolated and alone — and a little bit stagnant, I would say—she’s moving through the world and trying to figure something out.

“The Watchers also stars Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouere and Oliver Finnegan and marks Ishana Night Shyamalan’s feature directorial debut.

Courtesy: Warner Bros. Pictures