Knives Out (2019)

[Small Man Big Horse]

What was with Blanc pinging the piano during the interviews? I was waiting for it to pay off later. Was it just to highlight when he thought they were lying?

Every time he pings the piano the cop asks the same question, which annoyingly I can't remember but I think it's relating to when they arrived.

[Alberon]

The sequel appears to be happening.

As Knives Out concludes yet another strong weekend at the box office, writer-director Rian Johnson is already working on a follow-up to his hit original whodunit, lining up a potential franchise for Lionsgate.

Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter at Lionsgate's pre-Golden Globes party on Saturday night that he was already developing a sequel centered on Daniel Craig's Southern detective Benoit Blanc investigating a new case. The filmmaker added that he was eager to make the pic quickly, ideally in the next year.

Johnson's producing partner Ram Bergman added that Craig was eager to reprise the role. "Daniel had so much fun doing it, and he wants to do more," he said.

It's taken $247m so far on a $40m budget, so while it hasn't been officially greenlit there seems little chance it wouldn't be if Johnson and Craig want to do more.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/knives-sequel-works-centered-daniel-craigs-detective-character-1266533

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've never really liked Craig, I don't like Bond at the best of times and playing a poshboy gangster in Layer Cake was just as unappealing, so it was really nice to see him play something silly and him seeming to enjoy it.

[Misspent Boners]

Yeah I've only seen Craig in dullard roles like Bond and Layer Cake to my knowledge and thought he was delightful in this. I must be alone in thinking his accent was quite good and didnt detract from everything as much as say Pattinson in Lighthouse or the fella in the Boys

Great film, great plot with no meandering. Weird how it seems to have gone under the radar a bit

[Old Nehamkin]

Great film, great plot with no meandering. Weird how it seems to have gone under the radar a bit

It's actually been a pretty big hit, grossing $247 million against a $40 million budget. Rian Johnson is reportedly already developing a sequel:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/knives-sequel-works-centered-daniel-craigs-detective-character-1266533

[Alberon]

SNAP!

[Old Nehamkin]

SNAP!

Lol, missed that.

[Wet Blanket]

Yeah I've only seen Craig in dullard roles like Bond and Layer Cake to my knowledge and thought he was delightful in this. I must be alone in thinking his accent was quite good and didnt detract from everything as much as say Pattinson in Lighthouse or the fella in the Boys

He puts in another flamboyant performance in Logan Lucky, with a similar southern fried accent. Wonder if this helped land him the role?

[Misspent Boners]

It's actually been a pretty big hit, grossing $247 million against a $40 million budget. Rian Johnson is reportedly already developing a sequel:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/knives-sequel-works-centered-daniel-craigs-detective-character-1266533

Ah well that's good to hear; just meant in terms of people talking about it out in the public sphere etc. Hope they dont cock up the sequel!

[Famous Mortimer]

He was fantastic in Logan Lucky, agreed. Well worth a watch if you like that sort of thing.

[popcorn]

Would be happy for this to become a series. I'm sure Daniel Craig would too, a cosy retirement package after Bond.

[DrGreggles]

Not sure if it was predictable or if I just got lucky, but I'll take the bonus point regardless.
Got over Craig's impression of Fanshawe Standon surprisingly quickly and it was a fun couple of hours. Recommended.

[phantom_power]

I thought he did the fake-out where you-know-who was obviously the baddie and then shown not to be before finally revealed to actually be really well

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

He puts in another flamboyant performance in Logan Lucky, with a similar southern fried accent. Wonder if this helped land him the role?

Craig was the first pick of Rian Johnson and the first actor to be cast. That's because of his involvement that the other actors were willing to sign on this middle-budget production. I guess he has points on the gross, which has also worked out to his own benefit.

Even if English is not my first language, his accents on Logan Lucky and Knives Out are quite different, even if they're both over-the-top (which is deliberate). He's more nasal and high-pitched on Logan Lucky, while he has a deeper voice on Knives Out. Some Southern people have managed to attach both to very specific places where they talk like that, so there was some research behind the performances.

For the record, Rian Johnson is half-jokingly considering having Craig talk in another different accent for the sequel.

[touchingcloth]

For the record, Rian Johnson is half-jokingly considering having Craig talk in another different accent for the sequel.

After reading the other posts on this page I was about to say that they should have Craig speak in a different batshit accent! It would be ridiculous of course, but part of me would like to see a Benoit Blanc franchise where that happens but is never commented on or explained.

And on a tangent, it's not surprising that it's done so well at the box office in terms of sales against budget - I hadn't actually heard of it when it came out, but had two separate people recommend it to me, so I suspect it's done very well in terms of word of mouth marketing.

[Better Midlands]

After reading the other posts on this page I was about to say that they should have Craig speak in a different batshit accent! It would be ridiculous of course, but part of me would like to see a Benoit Blanc franchise where that happens but is never commented on or explained.

This would be great fun and a neat gimmick too.

Also another recommendation for Logan Lucky if you haven't seen it.

[phantom_power]

Do you think he plays the character from Carlito's Way who had a change of career and lived in the south for a few years?

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

And here's the tweet:

https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/1211446534333718534?s=21

[touchingcloth]

Do you think he plays the character from Carlito's Way who had a change of career and lived in the south for a few years?

I think he'd just spent a bit too much time in Bayou Benny's Liberal Lagniappe.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I watched this again this weekend, with a bunch of friends that hadn't yet seen it. I was a bit worried that I might have talked it up too much to them, but they all loved it. Rightly so, as it is knockout stuff. Rian Johnson must be at least a little amused that this has been so successful, while The Rise of Skywalker has proven to be an underperforming mess (by blockbuster standards).

If I had to level a criticism at the film, it would be that using

Spoiler alert

Fran's death

[close]

as the basis of probably the two biggest laughs in the film is perhaps a little too flippant. I still roared with laughter, along with the rest of the audience, so It's not a major complaint.

It's an inherent part of the genre, I suppose, but it was interesting seeing how certain characters' behaviour takes on different connotations when you know the whole story. Even though the culprit should be obvious,

Spoiler alert

Evans's residual Captain America trustworthiness is put to good use convincing us that he's on the level (plus, he and Ana De Armas are so very good looking that I half wanted them to just fuck off the whole mystery and bonk each other silly).

[close]

I enjoyed Frank Oz's cameo (nice to see not every actor was so keen to distance themselves from Johnson after Last Jedi) although the will reading scene could never top the one from It's always Sunny in Philadelphia. And speaking of cameos, I noticed in the credits that Joseph Gordon Levitt has one (as the voice on the radio during the dumbest car chase ever) which left me wondering where he disappeared to in the last five or so years.

Every time he pings the piano the cop asks the same question, which annoyingly I can't remember but I think it's relating to when they arrived.

You remembered correctly. It seems odd that a police detective would need reminding to ask when the guests arrived, but whatever. I guess it was done to build up a bit of mystery around Blanc, with him lurking in the background and directing the investigation.

[Better Midlands]

Joseph Gordon Levitt has one (as the voice on the radio during the dumbest car chase ever) which left me wondering where he disappeared to in the last five or so years.

He was on Dax Shepard's podcast a couple of months ago

https://youtu.be/EqqetqhljTc

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

I enjoyed Frank Oz's cameo (nice to see not every actor was so keen to distance themselves from Johnson after Last Jedi) although the will reading scene could never top the one from It's always Sunny in Philadelphia. And speaking of cameos, I noticed in the credits that Joseph Gordon Levitt has one (as the voice on the radio during the dumbest car chase ever) which left me wondering where he disappeared to in the last five or so years.

Frank Oz' cameo is even more entertaining as he's been in many ways acting like the guardian of the temple for all things Muppets, often saying that Jim Henson wouldn't have loved what they've done. And he fully embraces what Johnson did on The Last Jedi.

Gordon Levitt's cameo happens earlier. He's voicing an inspector in some kind of true crime documentary that Marta's sister watches on her laptop.
He got married and has a couple of kids, maybe he wanted to spend time with them before returning to acting. He has two news film coming on streaming services, a low key (but well reviewed) thriller that was bought by Amazon, a sci-fi project with Jamie Foxx for Netflix, and he's one of the leads in the film Aaron Sorkin directed about the Chicago Seven.

[Endicott]

You remembered correctly. It seems odd that a police detective would need reminding to ask when the guests arrived, but whatever. I guess it was done to build up a bit of mystery around Blanc, with him lurking in the background and directing the investigation.

You could perhaps argue that the two cops weren't really on board with the murder investigation at that point, and thought the whole thing was a bit silly. Whereas Blanc was paying attention so he was picking the moment he wanted that question asked. Maybe.

[touchingcloth]

That piano plonking smacks of a character trait which was included as they didn't have enough footage of Benoit at that early point in the film, and then the payoff was cut from the final edit. Maybe.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Murder on the Nile reference wasn't it?

[Mister Six]

I am tempted to go and see this tomorrow but feel that Rian Johnson's work often tends to be massively overrated (I really didn't understand all the fuss about Brick, for instance, and Looper is the only one of his that I actually like) so I'm not sure if it's for me.

I feel very much the same, but thoroughly enjoyed this. Not at all something you need to see in the cinema, and the obnoxious orange-and-teal colour grading makes it look a bit shit, but other than that it's a cracking yarn. Johnson says he wants to do more Blanc mysteries, and I'll be quite happy to watch them.

[Thomas]

the obnoxious orange-and-teal colour grading

I enjoyed the film so much that I didn't even notice this, and These Days it's one of the main things I take from a new film or TV show (as my weekly Who posts tend to demonstrate). Alternately, I thought Looper was boring and far too long. Haven't seen Brick. Like Mister Six I would happily watch more of Daniel Craig having fun as Blanc, though, in a new mystery with an entirely different cast. Set before or after Knives Out, they wouldn't have to make it clear. I don't think it needs a related sequel at all - only a further adventure of Benoit Blanc.

Usually I end up irritated by other cinemagoers (shut up shut up shut up - the director put the quiet bits in for a reason, it's not a chat break), but when I went to see Knives Out I really enjoyed the atmosphere of communal enjoyment.

[popcorn]

Usually I end up irritated by other cinemagoers (shut up shut up shut up - the director put the quiet bits in for a reason, it's not a chat break), but when I went to see Knives Out I really enjoyed the atmosphere of communal enjoyment.

It really has been one of the great crowdpleasers of recent times and for good reason. It's an example of a sort of obvious thing that's hard to do, which is to just tell a funny, friendly, good-natured story that's accessible and appropriate for everyone. It's old-fashioned in the best sense.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Soz for the necro-bump but this has just appeared on Prime Video if anyone's interested.

[Lord Mandrake]

Saw this last night and loved. Somewhere in between Girl with the dragon tattoo and Grand Budapest, a very sweet spot. Special mention Michael Shannon but the whole cast was great.