Knives Out is a new whodunit film by director Rian Johnson with an all-star cast. The film has been received with critical acclaim.
It is one of the suprises of this film season. So let’s dig into some trivia and facts about the new film.
- Knives Out is a 2019 American black comedy mystery film
- It is written, produced and directed by Rian Johnson
- Described as a modern take on the murder mystery genre
- The film follows a family gathering gone horribly awry, after the family patriarch’s death leads a master detective to investigate
- The film stars an ensemble cast, including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, and Christopher Plummer
- The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2019
- It is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on November 27, 2019, by Lionsgate Films
- After making the 2005 film Brick, writer and director Rian Johnson came up with the basic concept for Knives Out
- In June 2010, he expressed interest in making an Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery film
- He told The Independent that he wanted to make the film after finishing Looper (2012)
- However, Johnson’s next film project after Looper turned out to be Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
- Knives Out was announced in September 2018, with Daniel Craig starring in the film
- It was sold to distributors during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival
- In October 2018, Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas, Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Toni Collette joined the cast
- In November 2018, Christopher Plummer, Jaeden Martell, Katherine Langford, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, and Raúl Castillo joined the cast
- Frequent Johnson collaborator Noah Segan was announced as being in the film in December
- Shannon has compared the film to the works of Christie
- In March 2019, Frank Oz, who previously worked with Johnson in The Last Jedi, revealed that he would be appearing in a small role
- Johnson cited several classic mystery thrillers and mystery comedies as influences on the film
- Including The Last of Sheila, Murder on the Orient Express, Something’s Afoot, Murder by Death, Death on the Nile, The Private Eyes, The Mirror Crack’d, Evil Under the Sun, Deathtrap, Clue, and Gosford Park
- Apart from that, the huge fan backlash Johnson received from Star Wars fans on Twitter following the release of The Last Jedi likewise inspired the film
- Specifically the character of Jacob Thrombey
- Principal photography began on October 30, 2018, in Boston, Massachusetts
- It wrapped on December 20, 2018
- In the United States and Canada, Knives Out will be released alongside Queen & Slim
- It is projected to gross $22 to 25 million over its five-day opening weekend
- On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96%
- Based on 136 reviews
- With an average rating of 8.53/10
- The website’s critics’ consensus reads: “Knives Out sharpens old murder-mystery tropes with a keenly assembled suspense outing that makes brilliant use of writer-director Rian Johnson’s stellar ensemble”
- Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100
- Based on reviews from 26 critics
- Indicating “universal acclaim”
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