You wouldn’t normally hope for an anticipated cultural event to begin with a murder, but at this year’s London Film Festival, they’re readily kicking off proceedings with blood, death and a puzzlingly cryptic whodunnit. The man here to crack the case is Benoit Blanc, Daniel Craig’s Southern gentleman detective. And for the third in the Knives Out series, which will premiere on October 8th at the Royal Festival Hall for the LFF’s Opening Night Gala, he’s returning to solve his most ambitious and timely crime yet.
Written and directed once again by creator Rian Johnson, and produced by his longtime collaborator Ram Bergman, Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man sees Craig and a stellar ensemble cast featuring Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Josh O’Connor, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner and Andrew Scott gather in the fictional parochial town of Chimney Rock in upstate New York. There, Brolin’s territorial Monsignor Wicks leads his church - Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude - with unwavering control. When young priest Father Duplenticy (O’Connor) is dispatched to join him, suffice to say his arrival is not a welcome one.
