Guests:
Sarah Duncan - Sister of Tom, Daughter of Dana
@thenomadicarchaeologist on IG
Previous Episodes: Zodiac, My Fair Lady, The Artist, Inglourious Basterds, The Great Dictator, Forrest Gump, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Liz Arnold - Liz and a Movie
@lizbythebay on Letterboxd
Cast:
Rian Johnson, Writer/Director
Nathan Johnson, Music
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc
Chris Evans as Hugh Ransom Drysdale
Ana de Armas as Marta Cabrera
Jamie Lee Curtis as Linda Drysdale
Michael Shannon as Walt Thrombey
Don Johnson as Richard Drysdale
Toni Collette as Joni Thrombey
LaKeith Stanfield as Detective Lieutenant Elliott
Katherine Langford as Meg Thrombey
Jaeden Martell as Jacob Thrombey
Frank Oz as Alan Stevens
Riki Lindhome as Donna Thrombey
Edi Patterson as Fran
Christopher Plummer at Harlan Thrombey
*Recognition:
Knives Out was released on November 27, 2019.
The film was an unexpected hit grossing roughly $312.9 million on a budget of $40 million.
Knives Out also received overwhelming critical praise as it was considered one of the year's best films by the American Film Institute, National Board of Review, and the mainstream press in ranked lists. Additionally, many accolades were showered upon Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig, and the ensemble cast.
The film would go on to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay that year losing out to Parasite.
Due to the lower budget and high gross with a potential for serialization, Netflix won a bidding war in 2021 for the rights to the next two sequels for $469 million. Glass Onion, a Knives Out mystery, was released in 2022, while the third film, Wake Up Dead Man, is set to be released in 2025.
Knives Out currently holds a 97% among critics on RT, an 82 score on Metacritic, and a 4/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is a gleeful whodunit that reinvents the genre while paying homage to its classical roots. Set against the backdrop of a sprawling Gothic mansion, the film begins with the suspicious death of Harlan Thrombey, a wealthy mystery writer, after a family gathering. Enter Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a gentleman detective with a syrupy Southern drawl and an eye for deceit.
What unfolds is a deliciously twisty investigation into Harlan’s eccentric and entitled family, each of whom has motives aplenty. Blanc's razor-sharp intuition and eccentric charm lead him through the maze of alibis and half-truths spun by the quarrelsome Thrombeys.
At the heart of the mystery is Marta Cabrera, Harlan's devoted nurse, whose genuine care for her employer is her saving grace—or perhaps her undoing. As the layers of this intricate puzzle peel away, Marta's role becomes pivotal, bringing to light the dark undercurrents of greed and betrayal lurking beneath the family's polished veneer.
Did You Know:
It was Don Johnson's idea for his character to hand his empty plate to Marta as if she was the maid during the immigration conversation.
At the will reading, Ransom tells his family to "eat shit": he was originally scripted to tell them, "Fuck you." Rian Johnson decided to remove most of the "F" bombs in the script to secure a PG-13 rating and to keep the movie more like the mystery films he used to watch with his family growing up. Chris Evans was the one who suggested substituting "eat shit."
Several characters refer to a fictional Hallmark movie starring Danica McKellar titled "Deadly by Surprise." Though McKellar was not asked if her name could be used, she was delighted that it was included, and she shared her love for this film on Instagram. She later sent director Rian Johnson a knife with the words "Deadly by Surprise" engraved on it.
Both the title "Knives Out" and the working title "Morning Bell" are tracks from the album "Amnesiac" (2001) by the English rock band Radiohead.
The coin Benoit Blanc flips is a 1901 US Morgan silver dollar. Since they were made of 90% silver, the government melted millions during WWI to help fund the war effort. Some are very hard to find, and depending on condition, they can fetch thousands of dollars.
Ask Dana Anything:
Kieran B - Host of the Best Picture Cast
Would Dana consider doing a live watchalong for Megalopolis?
Sarah Duncan - Daughter of Dana
What was your favorite memory of your mom?
Best Performance: Rian Johnson (Writer/Director)/ Ana De Armas (Marta)/ Daniel Craig (Blanc)
Best Secondary Performance: Jamie Lee Curtis (Linda)/ Chris Evans (Ransom)/Christopher Plummer (Harlan)/ Ana De Armas (Marta)
Most Charismatic Award: Christopher Plummer (Harlan)/Chris Evans (Ransom)
Best Scene:
Second Interview Montage
Marta's Story
Will Reading
Ransom's Offer
Final Reveal
Favorite Scene: Will Reading/Marta's Story/Playing Go
Most Indelible Moment: Final Reveal/Ransom and Marta Driving
In Memorium:
John Peaslee, 73, American television writer and producer (Coach, According to Jim, Liv and Maddie)
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Benoit Blanc: What were the overheard words by the Nazi child masturbatin' in the bathroom?
Joni Thrombey: You'd say that even if the Swiss were clogging in the streets.
Benoit Blanc: I spoke in the car about the hole at the center of this doughnut. And yes, what you and Harlan did that fateful night seems at first glance to fill that hole perfectly. A doughnut hole in the doughnut's hole. But we must look a little closer. And when we do, we see that the doughnut hole has a hole in its center - it is not a doughnut hole at all but a smaller doughnut with its own hole, and our doughnut is not whole at all!
Greatnana Wanetta: [Sees Marta] Ransom? Are you back again already?
Benoit Blanc: But the complexity and the gray lie not in the truth but what you do with the truth once you have it.
Benout Blanc: Be it cruel or comforting, this machine unerringly arrives at the truth. That's what is does.
Marta Cabrera: I've never been to a will reading before.
Benoit Blanc: You'd think it'd be like a game show, but think of a community theatre production of a tax return.
Linda Drysdale: I was just thinking about Dad's games. This all feels like one, it feels like something he'd write, not do. I keep waiting for a big reveal, where it all makes sense. How nice would that be?
Ransom Drysdale: You think I'm not going to fight to protect my own, our birthright, our ancestral home...
Benoit Blanc: [laughing] That is hooey! Harlan, he bought this place in the 80's from a Pakistani real estate millionaire... .
Ransom Drysdale: Oh shut up! Shut up! Shut up with that Kentucky fried Foghorn Leghorn drawl!
Benoit Blanc: Why is grief the providence of youth? I don't know. But I'd imagine that age deepens all feelings.
Benoit Blanc: Mr. Drysdale.
Ransom Drysdale: CSI: KFC?
Jacob Thrombey: And then there was more shouting, but I also heard Ransom say "I'm warning you."
Joni Thrombey: I read a tweet about a New Yorker article about you.
Jacob Thrombey: You had sex with my grandfather you dirty anchor baby!
Benoit Blanc: Best judge of character is a dog. I've found that to be true.
Harlan Thrombey: [Talking to his caretaker, Marta Cabrera, about his grandson, Ransom Drysdale] There's so much of *me* in that kid. Confident. Stupid. I don't know... protected. Playing life like a game without consequences. [Grabs a knife out of a nearby display stand] Until you can't tell the difference [pauses and takes the knife out of its sheath] between a stage prop... and a real knife.
Harlan Thrombey: Why do men instinctively pull at loose threads on their parachutes?
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 7.38
Impact/Significance: 6.75
Novelty: 8
Classic-ness: 6.5
Rewatchability: 7
Audience Score: 8.9 (86% Google, 92% RT)
Total: 44.53
Remaining Questions:
Why did Harlan give Marta the money?
What happens to Marta's mom?
How many years in jail does Ransom get?
Do you prefer Knives Out or Glass Onion?
How many films of these could they make before you would get bored?
Where does Benoit Blanc rank among the all-time film detectives?
Does Marta stay in the house after?
Would Marta help take care of the family?
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