Michael Shannon praises Knives Out director Rian Johnson for creating an original whodunit… as he BLASTS remakes (including Kenneth Branagh’s Murder On The Orient Express!)
Michael Shannon has praised Knives Out director Rian Johnson for writing an original whodunit, rather than remaking a classic like one of Agatha Christie’s Poirot stories.
The actor, 45, hailed the Star Wars: The Last Jedi director, 46, as ‘a real smart fellow’ for creating the story from scratch, citing Kenneth Branagh’s Murder On The Orient Express as an example of typical whodunits.
Speaking to Collider on Wednesday, he said: ‘I was just so happy for Rian. I’m just really impressed with him. He’s just a real smart fellow.’
Honest: Michael Shannon praised Knives Out director Rian Johnson for his original whodunit on Friday… as he blasted remakes including Kenneth Branagh’s Murder On The Orient Express
Michael, who appeared in Knives Out as murder victim Harlan Thrombey’s son Walt, added: ‘It’s the kind of movie that they don’t really make much anymore.
‘If they do, it’s Kenneth Branagh remaking an Agatha Christie movie that’s already been made. For somebody to construct one of these from whole cloth is cause for a little bit of excitement.’
Knives Out followed private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), as he tried to discover the truth behind Harlan’s death, as he questions the Thrombey family and Harlan’s nurse Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas).
Gushing: Michael heaped praise on Rian, saying he ‘was just so happy’ for him, and said: ‘I’m just really impressed with him. He’s just a real smart fellow’
Criticism: Of the film, he said: ‘It’s the kind of movie that they don’t really make much anymore. If they do, it’s Kenneth Branagh remaking an Agatha Christie movie that’s already been made’
The film became a huge critical and commercial success following its release last year, earning a staggering $309 million at the box office.
Following its hugely successful run in cinemas, Rian and Lionsgate confirmed that a sequel was in the works and that Daniel would reprise his role.
The Brick filmmaker recently revealed the next instalment of Blanc’s story would not be a director sequel as he’d have a brand-new mystery to solve, much like classic literary detectives.
Hit film: Knives Out follows detective Benoit Blanc as he tries to find the truth behind the death of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer, centre) and questioned his family and nurse
In an interview with SiriusXM, Rian said: ‘In my mind, I don’t even think of it in terms of like a sequel… ever since we started working on this I was like, look, if we can keep this going, the same way Agatha Christie wrote a bunch of Poirot novels.
‘I mean, do that with Blanc and keep making more mysteries. Whole new cast, whole new location, whole new mystery.
‘It’s just another Benoit Blanc mystery and it seems like there’s just so many different things you can do with it, you know? It seems like it’d be really fun.’
More to come: Rian recently revealed the next instalment of Blanc’s story would not be a director sequel as he’d have a brand-new mystery to solve