Ever since Rian Johnson left the galaxy far, far away post-Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, he’s been in full-on mystery mode. His last three films – Knives Out, Glass Onion, and the upcoming Wake Up Dead Man – have established a new generation’s genius detective in Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, while on the small screen he created mystery show Poker Face with Natasha Lyonne. But next, Johnson is heading somewhere new, he tells Empire.
Speaking ahead of the release of Wake Up Dead Man, the filmmaker teased where he’s going next. “The most exciting thing right now is this idea I have in my head for the next thing I’m gonna make, and I think ultimately, that’s all you can do, is just kind of follow your nose,” Johnson explains. That instinct is taking him into different genre territory. “If I had to define it genre-wise, I’d say it harkens back to the ’70s paranoid thrillers. It’s got a light sci-fi element to it,” he says.
It wouldn’t be the first time Johnson has played with sci-fi, not just on Looper, but on Episode VIII – though a return to the galaxy isn’t happening right now. “That cog will be turning the rest of my life. I love Star Wars,” he says. “And if some day it makes sense to come back to it, for both of us, it would be the most wonderful thing in the world.”
Still uncertain, too, is where Johnson’s next project will land. He struck a deal with Netflix for two Knives Out films; that deal is now complete with Wake Up Dead Man. Johnson say he has been “very, very happy with the partnership with Netflix”, and that “being with Netflix has absolutely just put [Knives Out] culturally in a place that I never thought it would get to, which is very, very cool.” Still, the pull of the big screen is undeniable. “At the same time, I’ve said that the theatrical experience is very, very important to me,” he continues. “It’s something I really believe in, and I feel like the reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. We see that this year, with movies like Sinners – something genuinely exciting by one of our great new filmmakers, connecting with audiences in a huge way, and in a way where people want to get out to the theatre to see it. That’s really exciting to me.” Stay tuned for whatever the future holds.
Read more from Rian Johnson in Empire’s Wake Up Dead Man feature, in the Stranger Things 5 issue – on sale Thursday 23 October. Pre-order a copy online here. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery comes to cinemas from 28 November, and streams on Netflix from 12 December.
