TORONTO — For the third time, the knives were out at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Rian Johnson on Saturday night premiered the third movie in his whodunit series, “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.” Like the previous two movies, “Knives Out” and “Glass Onion,” Johnson brought a cavalcade of stars to Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre for what was easily the hottest ticket of the festival.
“This is my favorite place to be in the world,” said Johnson, recalling the similar TIFF first weekend premieres of his first two mysteries.
“Wake Up, Dead Man” is arguably Johnson’s darkest, most intricate and most star-studded “Knives Out” mystery yet. It includes plenty of the quips that have characterized the first two movies (there are “Star Wars” and “Scooby Doo” references), but the film is also more ambitiously existential.
Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc returns for a murder case involving a local church, with themes of truth, lies and grace threaded throughout. Josh O’Connor stars a young priest named Jud Duplenticy, with Josh Brolin as the Monsignor and Glenn Close as a devout parishioner. The cast also includes Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Daryl McCormack, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, Thomas Haden Church and Cailee Spaeny.
“The first one was kind of a cozy, Agatha Christie family mystery. The second one was a big blow-out vacation mystery. And with this third one, we’re going back to the roots of the genre,” Johnson said. “And the roots of genre actually lie in Edgar Allan Poe. A little gothic. We’re going to go by way of Poe into some John Dickson Carr. We’re going to veer into some G.K. Chesterton with the Father Brown mysteries. And we’re going to go back to church.”
After the screening, the cast spoke about their joy at being inducted into Johnson’s “Knives Out” ensembles. Renner said it was “like winning the lottery.” Washington compared it to an all-star team.
“Putting this many stars into one film is literally like herding cats,” said a beaming Craig.
After the first “Knives Out” was released in 2019 by Lionsgate, grossing $312 million worldwide, Netflix scooped up the sequels in a $400 million package.
Though Netflix has prioritized its streaming platform over theatrical, it gave “Glass Onion: Knives Out 2” a run in 696 theaters in 2022, including the biggest chains AMC, Regal and Cinemark. Though much smaller than a traditional theatrical opening (big productions typically launch in 3,000 to 4,000 theaters), the movie was estimated to gross $15 million in its first week.
Wake Up Dead Man” will open in select theaters Nov. 26 for a two-week run before it begins streaming on Dec. 12.
