Concerts aren’t quite like they used to be. For many, what was once a casual, recreational opportunity to experience the talents of their favorite artists in person is now expected to be a life-altering, almost religious gathering. This shift, in large part, can be credited to Taylor Swift, whose almost two-years-long Eras Tour, with performances that span three hours and feature music from her entire career, went overseas recently and is set to conclude in December.
In crafting his upcoming concert thriller “Trap,” master of suspense M. Night Shyamalan aimed to capture this fervor, even when his star Josh Hartnett wasn’t sure if he could buy it. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Hartnett admits that it took taking his own daughters to the Eras Tour for him to understand what they accomplished with the film.
“I took them to the Eras Tour about two weeks ago when it came to London, to see Taylor Swift, and that was the first big thing they were interested in seeing,” Hartnett said. He later added, “What was amazing about it, I sent a picture to Night basically saying this is life imitating art. Because when we shot the film I felt like his characterization of the audience felt over-the-top to me, as someone who hadn’t been to a pop concert with their kids yet.”
Hartnett went on to explain how he was taken aback by the excitement on set while shooting the concert scenes during “Trap.” He said to AP, “I was like, these guys are way too into it, people aren’t like this at concerts. I remember concerts being like, everybody’s too cool to really do anything. Things now are…they’re rabid. Kids are rabid about the artists that they love now.”
Apparently, it took seeing Swift in person for Hartnett to realize this, but once he did, he immediately knew “Trap” had nailed its depiction.
“So when I went to the Eras Tour, I watched that sort of interaction,” Hartnett said of fans freaking over Swift. “Their intense idolizing of Taylor Swift and like crying when they saw her and all of that was in line with what Night created here, which I was pretty impressed by.”
