‘Knives Out’ Trailer: Rian Johnson Tells a Wild Murder Mystery With Chris Evans
Zack Sharf
Rian Johnson heads back to his murder mystery roots in the first trailer for Lionsgate’s fall drama “Knives Out.” Johnson got his start in the genre with his breakout 2005 neo-noir “Brick” before taking on more ambitious studio projects like “Looper” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Before Johnson embarks on a new “Star Wars” project, he’s returned to smaller scale filmmaking, albeit with a star-studded cast.
“Knives Out” centers around a family gathering gone horribly wrong when the family’s patriarch (Christopher Plummer) dies. Daniel Craig and Lakeith Stanfield play two detectives who arrive at the family home to investigate the death, only to discover no shortage of twisted family secrets. The cast also includes Chris Evans, in his first big screen role since saying goodbye to Captain America in “Avengers; Endgame” earlier this year, plus Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas, Toni Collette, and Don Johnson.
At Lionsgate’s CinemaCon presentation in April. Johnson compared “Knives Out” to the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie, adding the film has a “Hitchcock thriller-type twist.” Johnson also teased that his central family is a bunch of lunatics, something the trailer below makes clear, but he did say Armas’ character serves as the “moral center.” Armas has a breakout role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049.”
“Knives Out” is arriving later this year in what has been a hit-or-miss year for Lionsgate. Box office bombs “Hellboy” and “Long Shot” have not totally brought the company down in 2019 because it’s had some major hits with “Five Feet Apart,” “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral,” and “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.” The latter became the highest-grossing entry in the “John Wick” franchise and has already spawned a fourth film, set for release in May 2021.
Johnson is attached to direct a new “Star Wars” trilogy after his work on “The Last Jedi.” While his first “Star Wars” movie seemingly divided fans, the project earned universal critical acclaim and had many film critics calling it one of the best “Star Wars” films ever made. “Knives Out” marks Johnson’s break in between “Star Wars” projects.
Lionsgate will release “Knives Out” in theaters November 27. Watch the first official trailer below.
