Daniel Craig is on the case in Lionsgate and MRC’s “Knives Out,” which was prominently featured during the studio’s presentation with footage introduced by writer-director Rian Johnson and stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Ana de Armas.
Heavily inspired by Agatha Christie’s murder mystery novels, the film follows a stately Southern investigator named Benoit Blanc and his partner Troy Archer — played respectively by Craig and LaKeith Stanfield — as they investigate the murder of a wealthy 85-year-old (Christopher Plummer) on his birthday. And everyone in the victim’s extremely dysfunctional family is a suspect.
Stealing the show in the footage is Chris Evans in what will be his first major post-Captain America performance. He plays the spoiled, smartass son of Jamie Lee Curtis, who at one point rapidly tells each member of his family one at a time to “eat s–t” and at another completely blows off the investigation.
“What is this, CSI: KFC?” he snarks.
During the presentation, Curtis also said that Ana de Armas will play “the moral center in this cast of lunatics,” and that she finds it fitting that it will be coming out during Thanksgiving weekend, as like many families at Thanksgiving dinner, the one in “Knives Out” “end up hating each other by the end.”
Oh, and for all you “Star Wars” fans out there, Johnson said that he wanted to introduce the film “”Before I get back to a franchise in a galaxy far, far away.” Take that as you will.
“Knives Out” also stars Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Don Johnson and Jaeden Martell. It hits theaters November 27.