Rian Johnson hints at ‘personal journey’ for Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Rian Johnson has suggested that Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is a “personal journey” for Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc.

The 51-year-old director is back behind the camera on the third movie in the murder-mystery franchise and has suggested that Craig’s sleuth will be affected by the religious nature of the story.

Rian told Empire magazine: “He has the biggest personal journey in this one. Benoit has to engage with (the mystery) in a different way.

“He’s in a very different place than in the previous two films. Daniel and I had a lot of fun thinking about where Blanc is at in his life. And I think he’s going through some s***.”

However, Johnson insists that the detective is still dressed smartly in the new film – which is scheduled for release in November before arriving on Netflix the following month.

The Star Wars: The Last Jedi helmer explained: “I think he looks the best in (Dead Man), out of all three movies.

“The suits that he wears in this one are so gorgeous. They have an almost ’70s tailoring to them. He maintains a degree of sartorial elegance, but in a completely different mode.”

Rian has suggested that the latest whodunnit – which also features Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close and Mila Kunis in the cast – is “Gothic”.

He said: “It’s Gothic in its tone.

“It’s going back to the real origins of the (mystery) genre, which are Edgar Allan Poe, Murders In The Rue Morgue.”

Johnson explained that he was inspired by Martin McDonagh’s 2022 black comedy The Banshees of Inisherin in making the film – although it still maintains the “humour” that feature in the two previous Knives Out flicks.

He explained: “(Martin) McDonagh is so amazing in the way that he focuses on this tight group of characters. It’s so rich and unexpected.

“It’s still a Benoit Blanc movie. It still has a lot of humour in it.”

Rian says that Wake Up Dead Man is very different from the previous films as he never wants to “repeat” himself creatively.

He told Rolling Stone: “If I feel like I’m repeating the same thing, or turning the crank on the handle and turning out more of what I did last time, I’m not good enough to hide that from the audience.

“So what I end up chasing is the experience of each of these things. It’s not necessarily where I’m going to flip and do a totally different tone, but after three years of working on something that has a particular tone, it’s like you’ve been eating the same thing for lunch every day for three years.

“I’m more excited about doing something that feels new. It’s not so much a conscious decision. In order to keep it exciting for myself, I don’t want to repeat myself.”