<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The greatest mystery in Rian Johnson\u2019s \u201cKnives Out\u201d movies might be Benoit Blanc.<\/p>\n
Over the course of three films, Johnson and Daniel Craig<\/a> have stingily dropped clues to Blanc\u2019s past and personal life. Since Blanc first introduced himself in \u201cKnives Out\u201d<\/a> as \u201ca respectful, quiet, passive observer \u2026 of the truth,\u201d following the breadcrumbs has been a sport of its own.<\/p>\n There are, for instance, the vague, offhand references to cases he\u2019s cracked before: something with a tennis champion, another with a ballet dancer and, in the latest chapter, \u201cWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,\u201d we hear about something dastardly at the Kentucky Derby that he solved.<\/p>\n Blanc has been profiled in The New Yorker and a guest on \u201cThe View.\u201d He appears to live with Hugh Grant. He dislikes the board game Clue. Having been caught singing Sondheim and, in the new one, humming \u201cSkimbleshanks: The Railway Cat,\u201d from \u201cCats,\u201d we know he loves musical theater.<\/p>\n Over the course of the \u201cKnives Out\u201d trilogy, Johnson and Craig have colored in Blanc with sporadic and comic revelations, adding subtle, and sometimes personal, characteristics.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not as much into musical theater as Rian,\u201d Craig says, sitting beside his director in a recent interview.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he claims in front of a microphone,\u201d adds Johnson.<\/p>\n Every \u201cKnives Out\u201d movie is wholesale change. New setting. New case. New cast of characters. But Craig and Johnson are the mainstays. Together, they\u2019ve turned Blanc, the last of the gentleman sleuths, into one of the greatest \u2014 \u201cHalle Berry!\u201d \u2014 protagonists in recent movies.<\/p>\n In \u201cWake Up Dead Man,\u201d which opens in theaters Wednesday and hits Netflix on Dec. 12, Blanc takes up the case of a monsignor (Josh Brolin) who dies mysteriously in the middle of a church service. Of the movie\u2019s many delights \u2014 among them, Josh O\u2019Connor\u2019s<\/a> co-leading performance as a priest under suspicion and a cast of parishioners including Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner and Glenn Close<\/a> \u2014 is seeing Craig continue to find new little wrinkles to Blanc.<\/p>\n \u2018A Southern lilt\u2019<\/p>\n Rather than being set in stone, Blanc has evolved. Take that accent. The first script, Johnson recalls, described \u201cthe slightest hint of a Southern lilt.\u201d But Craig, taking inspiration from Tennessee Williams and Shelby Foote, pushed the accent closer to, as Chris Evans’ character says in \u201cKnives Out\u201d: a \u201cKentucky-fried Foghorn Leghorn drawl.\u201d In \u201cGlass Onion,\u201d he laid it on even thicker, part of a scheme revealed only later into the film.<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest fear was that it would devolve,\u201d Craig says, chuckling. \u201cIf it ever becomes pastiche, it\u2019s like, \u2018Whoa, let\u2019s get out of here.\u2019 God knows I\u2019m not comparing myself to Gene Wilder, but the way Gene Wilder did comedy was: It\u2019s all through truth. As long as you\u2019re as truthful as you can get in that situation, the funny comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n As thoroughly established in the role as Craig is, he very nearly missed out on Benoit Blanc. Craig was initially unavailable for \u201cKnives Out\u201d due to production on \u201cNo Time to Die.\u201d<\/a> Johnson sought other possible actors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was literally five weeks later we were shooting. We didn\u2019t think you were available,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cThen something happened where suddenly you guys got delayed for three months and we had a window.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI read it and I was shocked that someone would send this to me,\u201d Craig says. \u201cOverjoyed. I saw it from the off-go. I read it and I visualized it. It\u2019s a testament to his writing. I mean, come on. Benoit Blanc.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Halle Berry!’<\/p>\n In forming the role, Craig took inspiration from Jacques Tati\u2019s debonair but bumbling Monsieur Hulot and Cary Grant\u2019s elegant panache in \u201cTo Catch a Thief.\u201d He combed through out-of-print books of Southern expressions. (One that got cut: \u201cButter my buns and call me a biscuit.\u201d)<\/p>\n Along the way, Craig has improvised some of Blanc\u2019s best expressions. In \u201cWake Up Dead Man,\u201d he suddenly blurts out, as if moved by the swelling whodunit hijinks: \u201cScooby Dooby Doo!\u201d A sip of Jeremy Renner-sponsored hot sauce in \u201cGlass Onion\u201d<\/a> led to the infamous \u201cHalle Berry!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll of the best lines in there are things Daniel just brings,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cHe says, \u2018What about this?\u2019 and I start laughing. And it\u2019s the best line in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have a security team and there\u2019s a guy that says it,\u201d Craig says of the etymology of \u201cHalle Berry.\u201d \u201cI stole it. I said, \u2018Can I have that?\u2019 and he said \u2018Yep.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n For Craig and Johnson, Blanc has been an ongoing conversation. \u201cWake Up Dead Man,\u201d the most sincere of the three mysteries, deals significantly with matters of faith and religion. The two worked to sharpen Blanc’s perspective. In the film, he declares himself \u201ca proud heretic. I kneel at the altar of the rational.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are the ornate flourishes of dialogue Johnson pens for Blanc. Modeled on Agatha Christie\u2019s Hercule Poirot, Blanc is the knowing product of a rich literary tradition, dusted off for modern times. In contemporary satires, Blanc is the retro lynchpin.<\/p>\n That means Craig delivering lines like \u201cI suspect foul play\u201d silhouetted against a fireplace, and vowing to uncover \u201cwhat this flock of wicked wolves is hiding\u201d while framed in a stained-glass window.<\/p>\n \u201cDelicious,\u201d Craig says with a grin.<\/p>\n A franchise of their own<\/p>\n It\u2019s ironic that, on the heels of their own experiences with iconic film series, Johnson and Craig have built a franchise all their own. Johnson released \u201cKnives Out\u201d two years after the much-debated \u201cStar Wars: The Last Jedi.\u201d<\/a> As he exited the James Bond films, Craig donned the suit of another justice-seeker, albeit one with much different swimwear<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think either of us really thought about it that way,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cIt\u2019s just been making one movie after another, just trying to keep it challenging and fresh for ourselves. It feels almost accidental that suddenly we\u2019ve made three. It definitely wasn\u2019t setting out to build, God forbid, the filthiest word in the universe, IP. We\u2019re just trying to make movies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for long enough that as soon as you start counting your chickens on a job, it\u2019s all over,\u201d adds Craig.<\/p>\n