Director Rian Johnson Breaks Down a Scene from 'Knives Out' | Vanity Fair

Another curious thing, I don't know if I should say this or not. No, every filmmaker made a bad guy in their movie who's supposed to be a secret and wants to murder me right now. Hi, I'm Ryan Johnson. I wrote and directed Knives. exits and these are notes in the

scene

, no, you heard something, tell me. I only heard two things, my will, and then there was more screaming and then I heard Ransom say: I'm warning you, handsome, so this is one of the first

scene

s where Chris Evans' The Rescue character just appeared and it's just before the family reads the will and Chris rushed in and threw everyone into chaos, so this was also the first scene where we had everyone on set at once and with these actors gathered together to act like in a ensemble, it was a lot of fun because everyone showed up ready to play the way it feels in the movie, that everyone had fun, that's really how it was on set, so Jamie Lee.

Curtis, who I loved so much, her, Daniel, and some of the other actors were all setting the tone on set. The fact that when all these people got together, to be honest, I had no idea that they were a group of movie stars and most of him, I'm never all of him, I've never worked with him before, I had no idea How it was going to go unsaid and whether it was going to be a nightmare, I had no idea, but there are good people on the set like you and Jamie. You turn up on set and there's a warm, welcoming atmosphere and everyone plays with each other and everyone instantly has fun, everyone is just gels and actors like Jamie, as well as being fantastic on screen, that's one of the great things she brings to the table. , hoo-boy.

This painting is actually a good example of something I've tried to do many times and that is you can see that it has sort of a t

rian

gular shape in terms of Jamie here in the center, Michael on the left and then Dawn on the right with Ransom in the background, but it creates, it gives depth to the frame and except always there are several layers of people to look at in the scene at any given time, also a little shout out to the Props Department and knowing that at any moment there is a clock or a phone in the set.

Someone has paid close attention to the time and made sure to ask me what time it is supposed to be in the actual scene, the reading of the will we said would be like this, 10:30 or 11:00 or something like that, and so it made sense that at this point in the story it was 10 15 and morning thanks props also another funny thing I don't know if I should say this or not no because it's like lewd or secondary because it's going to screw me in the next Mystery Movie I write, but forget it . I will say that it is very interesting.

Apple allows you to use iPhones and movies, but this is very important if you are ever watching a mystery movie. Bad guys can't have iPhones on camera, so you know each one. filmmaker, there was a bad guy in his movie that's supposed to be a secret and he wants to murder me right now, let's see what the fans know about Jamie, did you hear something, say it, Jaden Martell, he plays Jacob, first of all, he's incredibly nice, very intelligent and also. such a cool kid. I like to go to premieres and see him and I like different things in the press and he always shows up and looks like he came off the cover of a magazine.

He's always wearing like the coolest stuffed animal. he thinks the chair then really wins the sweater game here with this with the pink shirts and the lines it's just all lends itself. I just heard two things, my will and then again I was always looking for ways of composition to get more than one. In terms of the depth of the actor in the frames, you have a couple of things, you have Blanc, who is absorbing all of this, you have Martha, who is looking at Blanc because she is very nervous, he is trying to do it.

At this point, the story fooled him and then, a deep background. We don't have anything new, which is always fun to have Noah Sagan in the frame and then Harlan looking over, since the portrait was a small technical detail when we started shooting the movie, we didn't have the painting, it wasn't there yet finished. We had done a ton of revisions and we just didn't have any artwork that we weren't happy with yet, so when we filmed this and every shot that you see in the movie that has a painting and was green screen, there was only green inside the frame and we had some amazing effects guys come in there and compare, we took a photo of the painting at the highest quality and they compared it for every shot, that crazy thing, plus Daniel Craig wasn't there for the entire shoot, he just did all his stuff on the green screen stage and one day that's not true anymore, Daniel was so focused it's funny, then the scene where he doesn't talk at all because I'm about to talk about the last 30 minutes. from the movie where he just talks the whole time and Daniel showed up to film those last 30 pages and memorized the whole thing like it was a play, he just had it under control and could have done it.

I ended up throwing it away. all my little takes and longer and longer takes so I could let him out so you could move on because he had it under control and the more you gave him the better he got and Anna Dharma says Martha Again, who's primarily listening to this scene, but you know, Anna has done great work before and she's been working for a while, but compared to the high profile that most of the other actors in this movie had, she was one of the lesser known ones. The actors are coming through and she really becomes the center of the movie again and Anna steps into the center of the movie with the confidence that she had and she really carried the movie to the point that she did.

I just think she's extraordinary was more shouting and Then I heard Ransom say, I'm warning you, so this is a good example of Michael Shannon. You might not expect it, but he was the funniest person on set and that little soccer goal-like gesture he makes made me laugh. The day it was just him who came up with that, but there were a lot of lines that we'll get to a line later, that were some of the funniest things in the movie that Michael came up with that day. cookie right here inside your mouth I'm so happy I have this pen you would never ever have those who talk about it mmm oh look at those delicious cookies these are these Belgian cookies here and in fact, when we screened the movie at the Film Festival Ghent in In Belgium, everyone was so excited to have these cookies there because they were like Belgian cookies, they have a lot of butter and I chose them just because I thought they looked cool and then, poor Chris, every time you see an actor eating food and a scene, shame. that actor because they've had to eat that food all day and these cookies that you eat like two of them and you feel like your throat is covered in butter and Chris was crushing them all day so I feel really bad for him, what is it? ?

That means what this whole blocking and blocking or staging thing is about was my big lesson in this movie whenever there are multiple people in the frame, especially trying to figure out how to line up the shots in the first place so that there's depth for that it's not just It's kind of a police lineup with everyone in the same place for it, but it also has kind of a shape and multiple things to look at, so you're getting value from all these amazing actors in the same frame at the same time. time, I think it means our father finally came to his senses and cut this useless brat out of his will, so I guess you'll have to sell the Beamer and tell the Country Club.

Michael Shannon, who is one of my favorite actors working today was excited that I wanted to do this role because usually when Shannon comes on screen he can play very intimidating characters, he's incredibly good at playing heavy, he doesn't bring any threat or he brings a strength. to the screen and the idea of ​​seeing what he would do with a role that is supposed to be like the weaker brother who tries to make up for that by acting tough, but is not really there, I found that really very interesting and it's also hilarious , after working with him, I think he needs to do more comedy with Michael Shannon for us.

I know please and stop whatever trendy drugs you're taking because if you think this scarf I don't want my to mention the Jenny Egan scarf. who is our costume designer. I gave him the note that I wanted Ransom to wear incredibly nice clothes that he obviously didn't take care of and that's why he wears beautiful sweaters throughout the movie that have holes in them and he barely wears them. Look at them, he's wearing these Gucci-type loafers, but they're completely worn out and he slammed the heel back on them and ruined them, but this scarf, when she put it on, I thought, oh yeah, that's amazing of you.

After all the bridges you burned After everything you said After everything you put this family through Riki Lindhome is a singer and writer comedian and she's in this singing and comedian duo called Garfunkel and Oates and I've known Riki since years ago, she had an Amazing scene with Daniel's character with them, while Blanc is one of two scenes that ended up being cut from the theatrical version of the film and both are extras on the home video, so you'll finally be able to See his great work in this scene. with Daniel, which I'm very happy with, and then Katherine Langford is amazing, along with Toni, Katherine also speaks Australian and is so good with accents that I slowly realized that you only talk to her between takes, depending on whoever.

Talking to her will adjust her natural accent to match yours, so when she talks to me, she's talking with an American accent, talking to Tony, she's back to our Australian accent, Daniel, I swear it starts like a melodious song, it's just that she has the talent that she has, dad, it's just like the psyche, she's not messing with you, it's like second nature to her and she's been working a lot internationally. Plus, every movie she makes is in a different country, so it's possible that her brain just isn't sure right now what accent she has. because she actually is, but she was lovely and Tony Cole, that's what I'd seen her do before oh, she's constantly working, but obviously her amazing acting and her heritage was very intense and I think it was fun for her. .

They bring up this California lifestyle guru thing and they get a little bit into what you know, a little bit lighter than hereditary, just a little bit about what you put this family through for the last ten years, that anyone of us will support you, that any of Let's give you as dad would like to say a single red dime. You're crazy. The story was the rescue. Who is a very main character in the film? I'm not sure how far into the movie we are, probably about 40 minutes or so 45 maybe a little more and decide to wait until then for him to appear, one of my favorite movie statistics is that Han Solo doesn't appear in Star Wars until 45 minutes in and there's a new hope and there's something about the energy of what rescue means to the story, it's like a fresh breeze that comes into the movie just when you feel like you have control of all the chess pieces that are in it. the board and that, by mixing two metaphors, refreshes things. and nice little Don Johnson, ladies and gentlemen, my less attractive younger brother, Don Johnson, because Don has done his TV show, first of all, you guys obviously work on Miami Vice, they're also Nash Bridges because he's done it for so many years, he is an actor

director

and he is very conscious. of the technical elements of filming, so he is aware of what you are doing with the camera and why, and he is very good at playing with it, he has incredible skill and he is an incredible professional and I think he is quite funny in the film .

Son, Father, did Harlan tell you that he was going to cut you out of the will? Yes I love it. Michael Shannon just joined in on that little thing, why do I feel like we shot Shannon first so he doesn't know how he even knew to do that? Well, when I've done what none of us were strong enough to do, maybe this will finally make them grow up, this could be the best thing that could happen to them, thank you, my mother, ladies and gentlemen, there's all this crazy stuff going on, I want say, we have been.

Here we are like in close-ups for a while, but you can always watch the movie if you slash, when you get bored you can always just look at the background and David Schlesinger, who was our set decorator, filled this place with all this amazing stuff. things back there there's always something to look at, whether it's the paintings on the wall or the knickknacks on the table or whatever, all those things are David David Crank was our production designer and he and Schlessinger really put effort into this look. This is not going to be easy for you, so with Ransom here was another angle that is 45 degrees to the right of this one and then there is this angle and we have two cameras filming both of them simultaneously, which is really useful because of lines of eyes, which is an absolute nightmare anyway and in that situation it's a beast essentially the deal is right here Chris is looking from left to right, he's looking this way at Tony who is talking to him and the reason for this is becausein Tony's part you take if I can come back here she's looking from right to left she's looking that way so the characters are essentially you feel like they're looking at each other it creates that illusion basically it's the reason we have that other coverage about he's because there are There are other characters that have the opposite orientation, like Don looks at him that way, so it would feel like we're looking at each other if Chris is sitting in a chair here and Chris is sitting in the chair here. this is Chris essentially the camera you're looking at is low and here you know and Blanc is like back here and the other camera for the other angle is over here and this simultaneously covers if he's looking at Tony who's over here so it was Isla , it's this way, so you can see with this other camera, he would be looking from left to right, not right to left, but with this camera because Don is like here this camera covers when he looks at these other characters, so anyway and we did it a lot we figured out how to use multiple cameras to cover the eye lines very occasionally there will be situations where we will use two cameras and we will get sort of a wider shot and a closer shot usually not although usually we use two cameras, it is a similar size on the same person and that is due to the lighting.

If you look at Chris's lighting, there's this beautiful shaped lighting that Steve has made. where the face sizes are a little bit shady that you have here and there's all this equipment that's probably right off the screen here like a huge illuminated flag that's creating that shape and that's a lot of times when someone is in a wide just not you can light their faces with the same amount of detail, so it's not your place to shoot both at once, you'll sacrifice one or the other, I like the other again, although this is for everyone. The intentions and purposes close in on the fact that you still have some depth behind him, although you have Blanc kind of staying on one shoulder and Harlan on the other shoulder, which I quite like and that's one thing when you're, especially when you're shooting up. close-ups, especially when you are filming something with an actor always trying to figure out when you are blocking the geography, part of your brain thinks if there is depth behind them, it will always be prettier than if they were just being up against a wall sometimes it is inevitable, but it can be hard to be here because this was a real place, it was a real living room, actually, in a real house, and it can be hard because that means you're usually kind of curled up and it can be a battle and a lot of times it's unbelievable. what you will end up cheating and what you can do in terms of cheating, not in this take and this take that worked, but very often you will have something where we say that if in the space of the room the chair they are on sitting is literally against the wall and you have to shoot in this direction, you will be surprised, especially in a shot like this, where it is like from a longer lens and the background is kind of in focus, very often I mean what I usually pulls out the chair and takes them out of the absurd, sometimes even like halfway across the room and finds out that when you shoot you can get away with it and she just ends up looking a little prettier, it'll be good, nothing that's easy on your ass, Joanie , you've had your teeth and your family's tits for a long time, you're the original line was actually published and the script was you. instead he said, would you, would you, and would there be, but essentially I changed it right before filming, but I was able to do it because I realized that we had given ourselves an R rating and one big thing with this movie for me was remember?

Going back to the Agatha Christie movies that I grew up watching with my family when I was, you know, 10 to 13, like in that rain, remembering how fun those movies were, the whole family was like, "I'm watching it together and I'm I realized before filming." You know what I want this movie to be on page 13, so I checked that there were actually a lot of F-bombs in the movie. I ended up deleting all but two of them. I think we got away with two that we had chosen. Chris at that point we were asking what should I say besides you and Chris says: I think a good meal always works.

I trust you, Zach. One of the good things about the house was the natural light. It was a beautiful, beautiful south when we first talked to my cinematographer Steve Gadlin and I realized how beautiful the light was. This is the first movie we shot completely digitally, then we shot on film although I love film and wanted a cinematic look and Steve did everything. this crazy science of color and grain added and you had a door fabric and header everything you needed to make it look like a movie. One of the benefits of shooting digital is that if you shoot film you just need more light and usually with something like this we would have big light fixtures outside the windows that would inject a lot of light and then we would give fill light inside also with digital technology.

One of the advantages is that we could let the natural light illuminate the scene and combine with that and in this and in a lot of the things in the house ended up being a big advantage, okay, this is actually an example of where we break the eye line, it doesn't really matter because he's talking to other people, but I want to show you this. Look, if this was in a dialogue situation, it would be a problem, so in this this is the line of sight from where he's talking Tony says he lives from left to right if he was talking until dawn and then we cut to dawn, you can see that there would be a disconnection. there because it looks like they're both looking in the same direction, it doesn't feel like they're looking at each other, that's why you pay attention to the headlines on set, so yeah, yeah, just for a second just because Don is screaming, but look.

Jamie's reaction, seeing what Jamie is doing on this little throw of the baseball, plus giving him some work to do it, leads us to the next scene, anything he can do to do this in terms of the action , the scene, the next scene, the baseball. he's going to play a big role because the dog will come up and want the baseball and these pitches are and that's how he gets the clue, so use this to fit into what's coming next. I won't eat one bit of it is Mike Shanin. Special, that's another one that you came up with and here you can see the layout of the room and you can also see that it's a big room for a room in a house, it's another big room to present a group of actors. and especially once you put the camera on there, you also have to realize that putting the camera on is not just like a camera on the tripod: you usually have a dolly and you usually have a rail placed for the dolly so that the camera equipment the camera can take as you know, but feeling like it takes up half the space, once you're dealing with real world spaces, you're a lot more enclosed than you think, you can see the little details, but this is the kind of thing that when we talk about color management and what Steve does to make it look like a film, then the film does something called halation and if you look at the bright edge between the window, between the darkness of the window and where it shines outside, you can If you look from nearby there is a kind of rainbow, a kind of glow, and that is something that you get with the film and you get it on the edge of whether there is a real lamp or an unset light or if there is an example like With this you will get that effect of halo that you don't get digitally, so Steve actually wrote a script in such a small detail that he wrote something that created that and would apply it to every store where it made sense. almost like a subconscious thing, I would never look twice or think about it, it just adds to the soup of things we look at and say, oh yeah, that feels cinematic.

I think we've covered it. extensive breakdown of the food as seen from the

knives

, so thank you so much Vandy for letting me do this and thank you all for joining in.