Rian Johnson, the director of Knives Out, has spoken about Jeremy Renner’s horrific snowplough accident and how it influenced the cast of the new film.
Renner made headlines on 1 January 2023 when he nearly died in an accident which saw him suffer 38 broken bones and later describe how he was able to see his own eyeball due to his injuries and briefly 'died'.
The Avengers star is one of the lead actors in the third Knives Out film and this marked his first film since the accident took place.
The celebrity has since made headlines after being accused by former business partner Yi Zhou of harassment, however Renner and his lawyers have strongly denied this.
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Wake Up Dead Man, which comes to Netflix later this year after debuting in theatres November 26, focuses on Benoit Blanc investigating the murder of a beloved monsignor Jefferson Wicks, played by Josh Brolin.
LADbible spoke exclusively to Rian Johnson where he revealed how the set dealt with Renner’s return following his horrific accident.
(Note: This interview took place before Jeremy Renner’s allegations of harassment were made public)
When asked about how he dealt with Renner’s return to set following his injuries, Johnson said: “I mean, the rest of the actors really were an incredible community on this on this set.
“That’s been the case for all three of these films, we got really lucky with the groups of actors.
“They all just embraced and supported each other, it was really cool to see.”
He stated that ‘everybody was really wonderful to Jeremy [Renner]’ and added that: “He showed up and just was wonderful right back because he was ready to work and he was just so funny."
The third film focuses predominantly on a local community dealing with a shocking murder, making the importance of the community between the actors particularly important.
In Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery there are references to the real-life actor Jeremy Renner, including appearing as the face a fictional hot sauce brand.
Whilst this fuelled early rumours that Renner would be playing himself in the film, Johnson stated that this was not intentional.
He said: “I was just thinking he’s a good actor he’ll be good in this part, and then I was like, ‘Oh wait, right, I put him on a hot sauce bottle.’”
While Johnson has stated he is open to a fourth film in the Knives Out franchise he stated that a ‘straight-up thriller’ was next for him and he had no current plans to return to the franchise despite feeling ‘invigorated’ by making the third film in the trilogy.
Wake Up Dead Man marks the end of Johnson’s contract with Netflix that saw the second and third film appear on the streamer.
Johnson has previously spoken out about comments made by CEO Ted Sarandos in March of this year calling the theatrical model ‘outdated’, with the director stating his disagreement.
Speaking about these comments now, Johnson said: “Well, look, Netflix has been fantastic partner for us throughout the course of this, and it's like anything with a partnership, there's discussions, there's things that you go back and forth on.
“I love the actual experience. I love people seeing these movies in theatres.
“You know, I'm partners with them, and they have their own perspective on it. And so it's been a conversation and the conversation continues, but that's been a really respectful one.”
Whilst the director has not spoken about ideas for a fourth Knives Out, social media would be hopeful that the next Knives Out is a bit different: that it cuts back on the number of humans and replaces everyone but Benoit Blanc with a Muppet.
This suggestion has regularly gone viral on social media, however Johnson shot down the idea – stating exactly why he would never do a Muppets Knives Out saying he’d ‘given it a lot of thought’.
Johnson was open to the idea at first, however upon reflection said that he ‘loves the Muppet Movies’.
He added: “I really have so much respect for what Muppet movies are having grown up with them, and the truth is what makes a Muppet movie tick is fundamentally different than what makes a Benoit Blanc mystery tick.
“You have to make a Muppet movie but Benoit Blanc is somehow in it, in which case that takes Blanc out of the reality we’re building.
“If you had an actual Benoit Blanc mystery and it had Muppets it would feel wrong because there’d be actual murder happening in it… it would feel wrong for The Muppets.”
He finally added: “I take them both too seriously to do a mash-up just because it’s fun… I’d love to do a great Muppet movie one day though.”
Topics: Netflix, Film, TV and Film, Celebrity
Michael Slavin