Rian Johnson Shows Off First Footage From His Murder Mystery Film KNIVES OUT
Rian Johnson’s upcoming film project has been shrouded in mystery, but during the Lionsgate presentation at CinemaCon he pulled back the curtain and shared some of the first footage from the movie.
Johnson explained that his new movie is a tribute to the kind of murder mysteries that Agatha Christie gave the world and mixed it up with a Hitchcockian-type thriller. It’s a who-dunnit story that is filled with suspense, twists and turns, and it’s set in Modern Day America.
Daniel Craig stars in the film as Detective Benoit Blanc and he is looking to find a murderer within a family. He also sports a southern accent. Jamie Lee Curtis also stars in the film and she explained that the movie is a family gathered together in a mansion and this family does not get along with each other. She also teased that by the end of the film, things are going to take a bloody turn as all family members start turning on each other.
The rest of the cast includes Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas, Don Johnson, Toni Collette and Christopher Plummer and they all play wonderfully colorful characters. Johnson has always had a talent for creating great characters and there’s a good chance that these might be some of his best.
The footage we were shown starts off in an old Victorian style mansion with many family members gathered together to celebrate their father’s birthday, but the party comes to an end when the father is murdered. Two detectives played by Craig and Stanfield walk in to investigate the death and they are going to stay in the mansion until the investigation is complete.
Michael Shannon’s character makes it very clear that he isn’t happy at the suggestion that someone in the family could be involved with the murder. Then there’s Chris Evans, who plays a character unlike any character he’s played before and as family gets in a heated debate with one another and he repeatedly tells each of his relatives to “eat shit” and it’s hilarious.
We are then shown a series of shots from the film showing off some crazy moments that many members of the ensemble cast find themselves in. Some of the footage shown features the shot of a spider crawling on a dead woman’s face. There are also lots of shots of knives that are obviously going to lead up to something,
Craig’s character says, “I suspect foul play!” and at the end exclaims, “This is a twisted web and we are not finished untangling it, not yet.”
The movie looked great and for those of you who are fans of Rian Johnson’s earlier films like Brick and The Brother’s Bloom, you’re not going to want to miss this. This is Johnson doing what he’s best at!
Knives Out opens in theaters on November 27, 2019.