The cast for Rian Johnson’s Knives Out 2 continues to grow as The Hollywood Reporter revealed yesterday that Oscar-nominee Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night In Miami) has landed a role in the whodunit sequel opposite Daniel Craig. It’s quickly becoming a game itself trying to figure out who will Rian will add next, which is almost as fun as when the filmmaker and the Knives Out Twitter account asked film fans to come up with a title for Knives Out 2.
He’ll be joining a stacked cast with actors such as Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Spectre, Guardians of The Galaxy, Army of The Dead), Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, Rounders, Moonrise Kingdom), Janelle Monae (Moonlight, Hidden Figures), and Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision) already on the film’s the call-sheet.
Despite this being a sequel, the Greece setting will make it difficult for characters from the first film to appear as there has been signs that Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc is going to be working on a completely different case and group of murder suspects.
Leslie is an interesting pick considering that he appeared in 20th Century Studios’ Murder On The Orient Express, based on the Agatha Christie novel that Johnson has been attempting to homage with Knives Out and it’s untitled sequels. I guess this means that other actors from Murder On The Orient Express and Death On The Nile are fair game.
Rian and Daniel made a historical deal with Netflix for the next two films for a massive $400 million, the two earning $100 million each. The streamer is aiming to turn Knives Out into a their own high-end franchise aimed directly at an adult audience and it’ll be interesting to see if they pursue further installments beyond the next two movies.
Netflix hasn’t given Knives Out 2 a release date but will begin shooting next month in Greece.
KNIVES OUT – The circumstances surrounding the death of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey are mysterious, but there’s one thing that renowned Detective Benoit Blanc knows for sure — everyone in the wildly dysfunctional Thrombey family is a suspect. Now, Blanc must sift through a web of lies and red herrings to uncover the truth.
SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
THE RONIN 