Sawt Falasteen - New 'Knives Out' spotlights Trump-era US political landscape

"It's hard for it not to be in your mind," writer and director Rian Johnson told AFP as "Wake Up Dead Man" opened the London Film Festival on Wednesday after premiering in Toronto last month.

"We tried to not shy away from that," he added, noting his latest Daniel Craig-led murder mystery was "unapologetically set and tuned into this moment" in the United States.

The film, showing for the first time outside North America, features a charismatic tyrannical monsignor, played by Josh Brolin, holding sway over a devoted and dysfunctional congregation.

He is challenged by another priest (Josh O'Connor), who is accused of being a PINO: a "Priest in Name Only", playing on the "Republican in Name Only" slur beloved by the US President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Taking swings at conspiracy theorists, and with characters delivering lines like "what is truth?", the battle lines drawn by Trumpian politics are apparent on-screen throughout.

Johnson, a one-time evangelical, said he chose to set the movie in small-town upstate New York and its church after seeing his former faith increasingly collide with politics and cultural issues under Trump.

"It's something that I think popular culture and movies that are meant to be entertainment are sometimes very afraid to engage with," he argued.

- 'Sin and guilt' -

The now-trilogy of "Knives Out" whodunits are loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's novels and other works from the so-called golden age of detective fiction a century ago.

Oscar-nominee Johnson noted this instalment was also heavily influenced by the 19th century writing of Edgar Allan Poe, adding a "darker" and more "Gothic" edge.

It sees Craig's Benoit Blanc -- the gentleman detective with a deep Southern drawl who has anchored every film -- grappling with a seemingly impossible death while unpicking congregation members' possible motives.

"Faith and human sin and guilt, it clicks together like two gears with a murder mystery form," explained Johnson.

Glenn Close is among the stellar cast, with the director calling it "a real bucket list thing to get to work with her".

"Anytime you get to work with a legend that you grew up watching, it feels like something special," he said.

Meanwhile, rising star O'Connor -- who first came to prominence playing a young Prince Charles in "The Crown" -- shines as a boxer-turned-priest with a strong moral backbone but weighed down by guilt.

Johnson revealed Craig tipped him off to the fellow Briton's potential and, after watching him in 2023's "La Chimera" and last year's "Challengers", soon saw he was a special talent.

"The camera loves him. There's a very specific thing with certain actors where the camera just loves looking at them," he said.

"It's wild because you're hanging out with them in-between takes, and then you look through the camera at them, and boom, it's there."

- 'Fresh challenges' -

After the success of the first "Knives Out" film in 2019, Netflix paid a reported $400 million for two sequels.

The second film, "Glass Onion," became the streaming giant's first to play in major US theatre chains.

This follow-up will also hit some cinemas first in November, before streaming globally from December 12.

Johnson revealed his next movie, a "paranoid thriller" that is "pretty well developed", will be "totally different" and outside the franchise.

"I've had a great time doing three of these, and now I think it'd be healthy to do something else next," he told AFP.

That said, the 51-year-old filmmaker reiterated he and former Bond star Craig are open to crafting more "Knives Out" sequels "as long as we both want to do it".

The London Film Festival closes on Sunday, October 19.

N.Awad--SF-PST