Filmmaker Rian Johnson and actor Daniel Craig don’t seem to be done with the “Knives Out” franchise.
With the film hitting a limited theatrical run next week, Johnson has been out there promoting the film and suggests the new movie left him happy enough that he’s keen to continue even as the Netflix deal for his films has ended.
Speaking with THR, Johnson says:
“Creatively, I feel energised after making this one. Daniel and I are already starting to formulate … what could the next one be if we do another one? I don’t know why I would stop doing it if we could keep making them.”
Separately, he spoke with Indiewire and says there’s no point in recasting the role, it’s a character made exclusively for Daniel and they’d rather stop doing them than have someone else take over:
“For me, personally, these movies are working with Daniel. It’s a partnership. And the instant either one of us feels even slightly like not doing it, we’ll stop doing it. We’re in the boat together in this thing. I think the pressure we both put on ourselves is trying to do right by the other one. And that’s a really good partnership. If Daniel is happy, I’m happy.”
That’s partly why you won’t see a prequel looking at the younger adventures of Benoit Blanc, he tells Deadline:
“I don’t know. For me, I feel Benoit Blanc, he’s the detective, and his job in these things is to solve the crime, and I kinda don’t wanna step outside that to a flashback or anything explaining why he became a detective or something.
I feel like, what’s interesting is seeing how he engages. But we do learn quite a bit about him through seeing his process and through seeing his relationship with the main people. And in this one, I think you get a real glimpse into a certain part of his soul.”
“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” opens in select cinemas on November 26th and then hits Netflix on December 12th.
