Josh Hartnett describes how he prepared to play a serial killer in new thriller movie
Actor Josh Hartnett is taking on a new and challenging role in M. Night Shyamalan's thriller, "Trap."
Hartnett plays Cooper, a seemingly loving father who takes his daughter to a pop concert. He quickly realizes the concert is an elaborate setup for police to catch a serial killer known as "The Butcher."
The twist is that Cooper is "The Butcher" — or he at least appears to be.
"This character is so delicate. The balance between the evil and the light, and it's sort of technicolor," he said.
Hartnett — who is known for his roles in popular movies like "The Virgin Suicides," "Black Hawk Down" and "Oppenheimer"— said to play this character, he had to do research into psychopathy.
"I tried to keep this character as far away from me as possible," he laughingly said. "Basically it's not necessarily serial killer first, it's just like could I understand what it would be like to try to hide your identity, put this other facade on in front of you that you spent your whole life kind of living, but really having this deep, dark secret."
Hartnett said as an actor, he wouldn't want to play the same type of role all of the time.
"For me it was an exercise in trying to do something that's so far outside of what I understand."
He knew it would be challenging after reading the script, but Hartnett said he wanted to do the movie because he loves Shyamalan's work. Some are calling this moment in his career a "Josh Hartnett renaissance."
"I've been trying to do really interesting work for years. Some of it, we thought things would be hits that weren't hits, and now, suddenly, things are starting to work," he said. "In this last few years, I've been working with directors who really have a great audience ... actors are never any better than the director they're working with, so I've been very lucky to work with some great people recently."
With decades of experience, Hartnett emphasized the importance of being yourself for those who may just be starting out.
"Don't let anybody else tell you who you are."
