With a limited cinematic release set for 26th November followed by its arrival on Netflix on 12th December, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman stars Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack and Thomas Haden Church, delivering a film closer in structure and spirt to the classics of Agatha Christie than either of its predecessors.
“The reality of this movie, it has almost like a more traditional murder mystery structure,” he explained. “This is how most Agatha Christie books work, where in the first act you meet all the suspects, you meet the protagonist, who’s not the detective. Then the murder happens, and the detective shows up.”
The third movie in the franchise sees Daniel Craig return to his role of famed private detective Benoit Blanc. He is facing a darker mystery than in films past, with religious intrigue centered around its protagonist, played by Josh O’Connor, and with gothic elements inspired by the classic works of Edgar Allen Poe. O’Connor stars as Jud Duplencity, a priest sent to a remote outpost in Upstate New York, who becomes a kind of sidekick to Blanc in solving the mystery.
Interestingly, the making of The Last Jedi had an effect on the choice of location for the third Benoit Blanc mystery.
Producer Ram Bergman said prep work got underway before Johnson had finished the script because the writer had a clear vision of where it would be set. Filming took place in London, with Johnson saying he felt comfortable shooting in the city because of his time on Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.
“It mostly takes place in an old stone church in a small town. You have more of those here [in the UK] than we had in the States,” Johnson said. “We just kind of fell in love with working with British crews after working here in London.”
