Knives Out was a hit when it came out in 2019, boasting a famous cast and a writer/director, Rian Johnson, who had earned a lot of attention for his work on Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Brick,.
- In Knives Out, writer-director Rian Johnson follows up Star Wars: The Last Jedi with a film that returns to his pre-space opera groove: reviving classic genre cinema with clever modern twists.
- Dec 09, 2019 Knives Out is intended as mainstream entertainment but Johnson has woven a hot-button topic into the fabric of his script, involving Central American immigrant Ana de Armas as Plummer’s devoted caregiver. The conversations that arise give us one more reason to dislike the coddled offspring who are all suspects in this high-profile murder.
- Writer/director Rian Johnson, producer Ram Bergman, and star Daniel Craig are all poised to make $100 million each thanks to the surprising Knives Out sequels deal that Netflix made last week.
Knives Out Star Wars Trailer
Los Angeles (AFP) – Hit murder mystery “Knives Out” is set to become a whodunit movie franchise, with Daniel Craig’s Southern gentleman sleuth tackling a brand-new set of suspects, its creator told AFP.
The 2019 movie was a massive success for writer-director Rian Johnson, previously best known for the divisive blockbuster “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”
An Agatha Christie homage about a family patriarch murdered in his sprawling mansion, “Knives Out” on Tuesday passed $300 million at the global box office, despite a budget of just $40 million.
“It’s always been in my head that if this one does alright, then it’d be really fun to do more of these,” said Johnson.
The film was nominated for the best original screenplay Oscar — losing out to history-making “Parasite” — and last week studio Lionsgate confirmed a sequel.
Fluorine protons. “It’s really more like another case, another set of suspects, another type of mystery, but with Daniel’s Benoit Blanc character there to solve it,” said Johnson.
He has begun writing the second film, with plot details under wraps — “I’m just starting to fish around… There will be a murder, I can say that!”
But there will be “a whole new cast and whole new location and everything.”
The first film boasted an impressive ensemble cast including “Captain America” Chris Evans, soon-to-be Bond girl Ana de Armas and veteran actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
“That’s the other fun thing about thinking about the next one… what other actors could we rope into this?” said Johnson.
– ‘Wood-paneled rooms’ –
Johnson first came up with the notion of “Knives Out” a decade ago.
Having dedicated four years to making 2017’s space epic “The Last Jedi” for Disney, Johnson was itching to quickly switch to something galaxies away from that “big filmmaking world.”
“I had a great time working on ‘Star Wars’… I genuinely enjoyed that aspect of it,” said Johnson.
But the idea of a film “we could make quickly, and just have some fun with actors talking in wood-paneled rooms — you can see how that would be appealing,” he added.
Johnson remains linked to a brand new “Star Wars” trilogy, announced in 2017 but plagued by rumors it had been canceled after the experimental “Last Jedi” enraged die-hard fans.
“I still have a great relationship with Lucasfilm, and nothing’s been announced,” said Johnson.
– ‘Foghorn Leghorn’ –
Beyond the traditional detective formula, “Knives Out” earned praise for its comedic aspects, including its satirical look at the wealthy family’s prejudices.
And, of course, there was British 007 actor Craig’s drawling “deep South” accent, based on the late American Civil War historian Shelby Foote.
World War Two Knives
“It ended up being kind of Shelby Foote by way of Foghorn Leghorn,” joked Johnson.
“He would go, ‘Was that too much?’ And I’d say, ‘No keep going!’”
The accent drew scorn from some viewers, but Johnson insists Craig’s deliberately “humane and clownish” accent was “never just like a joke.”
“It takes a really, really good actor to go big and stay real.”
Although Craig is the only actor resuming his role, social and class themes from “Knives Out” are likely to return.
The genre provides the perfect chance to tackle social issues without appearing to lecture or preach, said Johnson.
“In a whodunit, you have this little microcosm of society with your group of suspects,” he said.
Just as Christie used the genre to turn “the lens on contemporary British society of her time,” the franchise offers “a great opportunity to me to set it modern-day in America and turn the lens on ourselves a little bit,” he added.
“Knives Out” is released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD by Lionsgate on February 25.
Writer-director Rian Johnson has only made a handful of films, from his high-school noir debut Brick to the most recent Star Wars epic. Now he’s applied his ingenuity to an old-fashioned whodunit. As a longtime Agatha Christie fan he’s called on deep knowledge of the genre to craft his own, original “perfect crime” movie and laced it with humor from the very start.
The tone is set by Johnson’s casting, beginning with Daniel Craig as a cocky private eye with an accent one character disparagingly compares to Foghorn Leghorn. Craig seems to be having the time of his life indulging in this role, aiding the mostly-clueless detectives on the case, and the feeling is infectious. Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, and Michael Shannon are the key family members whose shaky relationship with patriarch Christopher Plummer propels the story and they all have their moments… but but the costar who ties Craig for good-humored indulgence in a juicy role is Chris Evans, as one of Plummer’s wastrel grandsons.
The primary setting is a curio-filled mansion, decorated to a fare-thee-well by production designer David Crank and art director Jeremy Woodward. They too seem to have had fun following the “more is more” outlook of their director.
Knives Out is intended as mainstream entertainment but Johnson has woven a hot-button topic into the fabric of his script, involving Central American immigrant Ana de Armas as Plummer’s devoted caregiver. The conversations that arise give us one more reason to dislike the coddled offspring who are all suspects in this high-profile murder.
Knives Out Star Wars Quotes
I find most movies too long and yearn for the days when Charlie Chan solved murder cases in less than 90 minutes. Johnson’s role models were the all-star exploits of Hercule Poirot which, like this one, weighed in at over two hours so I really can’t quibble. Despite a surfeit of detail and story rebounds, Knives Out is never, ever dull and offers the kind of classy entertainment we could use more of on the big screen. And I have a feeling we’ll see more of Daniel Craig’s colorful character down the road.