Rian
he was really looking forward to the opportunity to have some fun. So that,
JOHNSON ★
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much more than the idea of somehow playing off of how the public perceives him, was the motivation. I just got the sense that he was ready to really cut loose and play with this one, and he did. How did you come to Ana de Armas for
His new film Knives Out sets an Agatha Christie-like whodunit against a modern political landscape BY J O E U T I C H I
the role of Marta? I had seen her in Blade Runner 2049, but I wasn’t really familiar with her work. It was Mary who brought her to my attention and said, “This girl is really something special, you have to look at her.” I looked at her
H
AS RIAN JOHNSON BIRTHED A NEW FRANCHISE
with Knives Out? With a $40+ million opening weekend gross over Thanksgiving, it may not have reached the dizzying highs of his last movie, 2017’s Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, but Knives Out is still a rare beast in 2019; an original murder mystery tale that is effortlessly drawing in audiences. Inspired by classic Agatha Christie whodunits, Johnson pays homage to the genre’s legacy while at the same time dragging it into the modern era. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine future adventures for his central detective, Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc.
work and I could tell that she was really good, but I googled Ana and saw glamour shots of her, and I was just like, “No, she’s totally wrong for it.” Then, I met with her and read her, and she was so right. Besides being just an incredibly skilled actor, she has that indefinable thing with her eyes. She’s got that Audrey Hepburn-type thing, where her eyes just bring you in, and you’re instantly on her side, and that’s what we needed for the character. It was perfect. Designing the interiors of your mystery writer’s mansion must have been a joy.
A weak whodunit betrays its artifice
How much of the film’s commentary,
It was fun. One of my favorite films is the
on a second viewing, where audi-
came from your experience of social
1970s version of Sleuth, with Laurence
ences are looking out for the film’s
media over the last couple of years?
Olivier and Michael Caine. That movie
misdirection during the mystery.
Some of the immediate political stuff
is also obviously centered on a mystery
Knives Out is quite different.
obviously sprang up out of the last couple
writer, and largely takes place inside the
Oh, thank God [laughs].
of years, but weirdly, the basic bones
mansion, but it’s like the inside of his brain.
of what it’s about—who Marta is as a
So, I gave David Crank, our production
In this case, you’re just left with
character, and how that applies to the
designer, and David Schlesinger, our set
a better understanding of all
family—I’ve had for years and years, right
decorator, that reference, and they just
the little clues you drop, and the
before the election. That’s always been in
ran with it. They completely scoured
mechanics by which you weaved
the bones of it.
Massachusetts for oddities, strange
between them.
curios, automatons and artwork, and it’s
We built little things in there, yeah. I
Did you have specific actors in mind
such a rich, beautiful tapestry they made,
think it’s important, even on the first
while writing?
which to me was a joy. I would just wander
viewing—even if there are things that
No, not really. I’ve kind of learned not to
around, seeing all the treasures they had
you’re not going to pick up until you see
do that because, inevitably, they won’t be
gathered up.
it again—that you, as an audience, are
available, and you’ll be sad. So, I just write
so tuned into it. You’re going to be pick-
the characters as a blank slate, and then
Did you document all of that stuff?
ing up so much stuff, even if you don’t
sit down with Mary Vernieu, my casting
Yeah. We have folders of photos of all this
know its relevance yet.
director, and figure out who’s available.
stuff, and a lot of it is still sitting in the
And just as a fan of whodunits, I
warehouse somewhere. So someday, if
know that that big dénouement scene
It might seem like a bit of a leap to
I ever want to just deck the house out…
at the end, where you do your reveals,
imagine Daniel Craig playing a South-
We’ll see if [my wife] Karina would kill me.
is only satisfying if it feels like you’re
ern detective like Benoit Blanc.
We’d have another murder on our hands.
connecting dots that you recognize. It’s
That’s the thing. I mean, he’s great as
the recognition scene, and that’s where
Bond. I had seen him in other things over
Surely you took the wheel of knives?
all the satisfaction comes from. So,
the years. Obviously, it was Logan Lucky
I really wanted to, but half of those knives
planting those very clearly, that’s fun,
recently, where you see he’s willing to
were rentals. It’s funny. The big, industrial
and there are some tiny things that I’m
have fun and go a little wackier. I’d seen
barbecue grate and all the knives on it,
very proud of that you probably will only
him on the stage. I just knew that he’s a
half of them were antique knives that we
catch on your second viewing.
great actor, and also, I got the sense that
rented. Priceless pieces. ★
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D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E
1218 - 4 - Dialogue - Rian Johnson.indd 42
PHOTOGRAPH BY
Josh Telles
12/13/19 11:37 AM
