Rian Johnson Announces Start of Knives Out Production

Movies

Rian Johnson is trading in lightsabers for knives. Johnson announced on his social media that production had officially begun on his new murder mystery film Knives Out, where James Bond Daniel Craig will play a Poirot-inspired detective.

While I will admit to a bit of “phantom menacing” where Star Wars: The Last  Jedi was concerned, I’ve always loved Johnson’s early work, all of which had the crime genre as an undercurrent running throughout, so the idea that Johnson is returning to his roots is incredibly exciting. I remember watching his first film, Brick, which itself was inspired by the writings of classic hard-boiled author Raymond Chandler. The director even ended up writing a novella version of it as practice for the script to get his head around the tone of the story. When Knives Out was first announced, it was said that Johnson was inspired by Agatha Christie and the aforementioned Poirot, so I can help but wonder if he wrote a novella version of Knives Out emulating Christie. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on his website, particularly after the release.

Up until the announcement of Knives Out, I had assumed Johnson’s next movie was going to be the first of his Star Wars trilogy, but I think this is a great idea. It’s good that he’s getting to do a small passion project in much the same way Christopher Nolan did some small films (and some not so small films) between Batman movies. If all goes well, Johnson will come back to the galaxy far far away and give us something fresh and exciting, while also giving himself a potential franchise of his own. Here’s hoping Poirot-proper Kenneth Branagh has given Johnson and Craig a few pointers.

Are you excited for Johnson to take a stab at this new film? Let us know in the comments!