Introduction to the Latest Film
It is Saturday evening in Tiff, and the cast of Rian Johnson’s latest film, Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, are preparing for their premiere. Among the group gathered in the Deadline Tiff Studio, only Johnson knows what the finished product looks like, as his lineup has yet to see the film. The atmosphere is one of excited anticipation and a rough family game.
The Plot and Inspiration
Daniel Craig, whose southern gentleman gumshoe character Benoit Blanc is at the center of all three Knives Out films, said to Deadline: "This owes a lot to mysteries with locked doors, impossible crimes that don’t really have to make sense, and that have no logic to them. They don’t seem to add up at first inspection." Johnson revealed that this time, Benoit is exposed to a darker puzzle than in the past films, with religious intrigues centered around his priest protagonist, played by Josh O’Connor, and Gothic elements inspired by the classic works of Edgar Allan Poe.
The Mystery Genre
One of the things Johnson loves about the mystery genre is that it encompasses a whole spectrum of different types of stories. "And so it was a kind of cozy Agatha Christie whodunit with the first film. The second was a big, wide, comedy mystery for blowout vacationers. And with this, it’s Edgar Allan Poe, where the genre started. Murders in the Rue Morgue is usually regarded as one of the early prototypes of this genre. And given the topic here, we were creative with secrets, and our priests have that here, I thought it made sense to go Gothic," Johnson explained.
The Cast and Characters
Josh O’Connor plays Jud Dupency, a priest who is sent to a remote outpost in New York State, which becomes a kind of buddy to Blanc when solving the puzzle. "I’ve already played a priest," said O’Connor. "I played Mr. Elton in an adaptation of Emma years ago, and I grew up Irish Catholic. I think Rian and I had early on how interesting it is that they can have two priests who believe in the same God, but basically in such a way that one person can see this God as a fear that punishes God, and someone else can see this with the completely same belief in this Church and this writing, can see this God as forgiving, very loved God."
Filming and Set Experience
Mila Kunis plays a local police officer who is amazed by the mysterious events in the cavalry, also known as Benoit Blanc. The all-star cast, including Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin, Cailee Spaeny, and Daryl McCormack, shared their experiences filming the movie. Craig explained that Johnson’s camaraderie encouraged a sense of family on set. "The last one was very special because it was COVID, and we were locked up in a hotel, so we couldn’t go anywhere. But it’s really important for the films that we build on a work relationship from the first day, and the best way to do it is that we become dependent on each other."
Fun on Set
Close, whose character Martha Delacroix is called, said about the experience: "It was great fun. We had a movable tent. They would lay down a small carpet and then bring in the air conditioning in the middle of a forest, so it was fantastic. [O’Connor] wrote a speech for a best man at a wedding, and we gave him notes. Kerry [Washington] and I had our dogs, which always adds a wonderful dimension. Jeremy Renner, when he came for the first time, I thought, well, he was really the calm. We knew that he recovered from his terrible injuries. But in the end, he was one of the funniest. And we played backgammon. Most of the time, Mila and I."
Film Details
The film, Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, is part of the Special Presentations section at Tiff. It is directed and written by Rian Johnson and stars Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, and Daryl McCormack. The film is distributed by Netflix and follows Benoit Blanc as he looks into his most dangerous secret yet.
