Dakota Fanning to lead Ishana Night Shyamalan's directorial debut 'The Watchers'

Los Angeles: Actor Dakota Fanning will star in "The Watchers", the upcoming thriller which marks the directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of filmmaker M Night Shyamalan.

Ishana, who recently served as writer and director on the critically-acclaimed Apple TV+ series "Servant", which was showrun by her father, has adapted the film from author A M Shine's novel of the same name, according to entertainment news outlet The Hollywood Reporter.

The project is backed by New Line Cinema.

In "The Watchers", Fanning will essay the role of Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland.

"When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers that are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night," the official logline read.

M Night Shyamalan and Ashwin Rajan are on board to produce the film through Blinding Edge Pictures. Nimitt Mankad with Inimitable Pictures will also serve as a producer, and Jo Homewood is attached as an executive producer.

Production on the thriller will begin later this year with the studio eyeing a June 7, 2024, worldwide release.

Ishana, a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, also directed the second unit on her father's hit films "Old" (2021) and "Knock at the Cabin" (2023).

Fanning will be next seen in "Equalizer 3", which reunites her with "Man on Fire" co-star Denzel Washington.

Her upcoming projects also include Netflix limited series "The Perfect Couple" and Steve Zaillian’s limited series "Ripley" adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels.