By Paul Salfen AMFM Magazine November 20, 2025
At the world premiere of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the energy in the theater was electric—laughter, gasps, and thunderous applause greeted the third and darkest chapter in Rian Johnson’s beloved whodunit franchise. A few days later, AMFM Magazine’s Paul Salfen sat down with Johnson and star Josh O’Connor for an intimate conversation about the joy on set, the spiritual weight of the story, and why this Benoit Blanc adventure feels like nothing we’ve seen before.
Paul Salfen: The audience at the premiere was absolutely buzzing. You could feel the joy radiating from the screen. Was making this one as fun as it looks?
Rian Johnson: It’s true every time, but especially this one. We put together another ridiculous dream cast, and nobody wanted to go back to their trailers. They just hung out together all day. There’s this incredibly joyful, collaborative spirit that happens on these movies, and Wake Up Dead Man had it in spades.
Josh O’Connor: Every single day felt like pinching myself. Whether it was doing an intense scene opposite Glenn Close, looking over and seeing Andrew Scott or Jeremy Renner, or just being directed by Rian—it was special. And the green-room tent became this daily hub of laughter and camaraderie.
Paul Salfen: Josh, you have a particularly intense scene with Glenn Close late in the film. What was that moment like?
Josh O’Connor: It felt almost spiritual. Without spoiling anything, it’s a very charged scene, and sharing it with someone like Glenn… I’ll remember that day forever.
Paul Salfen: Rian, you’ve described this as the most Gothic of the three films—closer in tone to the original Knives Out but even creepier, with a locked-door impossible crime at its heart.
Rian Johnson: Exactly. Glass Onion was bright and broad and sun-soaked. This one goes back to the roots of the genre—pre-Agatha Christie, almost Edgar Allan Poe territory. Old stone church, graveyards, fog, secrets. It’s earthy Gothic, but still packed with Benoit Blanc humor. We wanted to explore a different corner of the murder-mystery sandbox: the pure “impossible crime” puzzle, the kind John Dickson Carr mastered.
Paul Salfen: The film dives deeply into faith—guilt, redemption, belief, doubt. Both of you have spoken publicly about your own relationships with religion. How personal did this one get?
Rian Johnson: Very. I grew up very Christian; I’m not anymore, but that shape never leaves you. Writing the young priest, Father Judd, I had to put myself back into the mindset of when I was a believer. It was healthy, challenging, and ultimately really fulfilling.
Josh O’Connor: For me, the whole experience felt perfectly timed. I had a lot of personal questions about faith swirling around, and playing Judd—learning from him, collecting another soul, as actors do—landed exactly when I needed it. Sometimes these roles arrive at the precise moment you’re ready for them.
Paul Salfen: One of the signatures of this series is the dinner-party casting. You’ve got Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, Cailee Spaeny, Mila Kunis, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church… and of course Daniel Craig back as Benoit Blanc. How do you keep recreating that family feeling with a new ensemble every time?
Rian Johnson: We learned on the first Knives Out that when great actors hang out together, magic happens. So now we deliberately create that space—big green room, games, stories. On this one we did the same, and this group bonded like no other. Every day I’d look around and think, “How did we convince these people to come play with us?”
Josh O’Connor: It really does feel like theater repertory company energy—hierarchies fall away, everyone’s in it together. That’s rare on film sets, especially at this scale.
Without spoilers, what brings Benoit Blanc to this remote upstate New York parish?
A seemingly impossible murder rocks a tiny congregation. Local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) has no obvious suspect, so she calls in the world’s greatest detective. Blanc finds himself knee-deep in clerical intrigue, battling priests, haunted cellists, secretive authors, and one very devout church lady who might know more than she’s letting on.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the most atmospheric, emotionally resonant, and flat-out twisty entry yet—proof that Rian Johnson and Benoit Blanc still have endless surprises up their sleeves.
The film is in theaters everywhere now. Go wake up a dead man—you won’t regret it.
