Rian Johnson has found success with different types of movies, from the neo-noir mystery Brick to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. However, more recently, his name has become synonymous with the murder mystery genre. Between the Knives Out series — the latest of which, Wake Up Dead Man, is set to hit the 2025 movie calendar in December — and Poker Face, Johnson has been a big part of repopularizing the genre, but it turns out the inspiration to do so had been bubbling for longer than we may have realized.
Knives Out was a hit when it was released in 2019, introducing audiences to Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, the world’s greatest detective, with his Southern drawl and wonderfully flamboyant sense of style. It turns out ole Benny rented space in Rian Johnson’s head for some time before he made his debut six years ago. Ram Bergman, co-producer on the Knives Out films, told Variety the idea was born a full decade before the first movie’s release.
