Daniel Craig’s ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ to screen at TIFF
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Daniel Craig’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is set to screen at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
The second film in the series, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, also debuted at Toronto’s 47th edition in 2022, while the original Knives Out made its world premiere at the festival in 2019.
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In the third instalment of the whodunit franchise, Craig’s snappily-dressed detective Benoit Blanc tackles an “impossible crime” that he declares is his “most dangerous case yet.” The ensemble cast will also feature Josh Brolin, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
Very few details about the mystery Blanc will be tasked with solving have been revealed, but writer-director Rian Johnson teased in a social media post that the title offers “a little hint of where it’s going.”
“I love everything about whodunnits, but one of the things I love most is how malleable the genre is,” Johnson wrotein a statement posted to X. “There’s a whole tonal spectrum from (John Dickson) Carr to (Agatha) Christie, and getting to explore that range is one of the most exciting things about making Benoit Blanc movies.”
After a presumably brief theatrical run, the threequel will premiere Dec. 12 on Netflix, which picked up the rights to two sequels after the first entry proved to be a success with moviegoers.
But Wake Up Dead Man isn’t the only high-profile film set to debut at the festival’s 50th edition this September. Organizers also announced that Channing Tatum‘s Roofman will make its world premiere in Toronto.
Co-written and directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines), the true-crime comedy follows a jailbird (Tatum) who secretly lives in a Toys “R” Us. Kirsten Dunst plays the film’s love interest.
Oscar nominee Paul Greengrass is also bringing The Lost Bus to Toronto. In the Apple-produced film, Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera play a bus driver and a teacher who helped rescue a bus full of children during California’s 2018 Camp Fire.
“The Lost Bus is the story of quiet heroism — of people coming together in the face of the unthinkable. I’m honoured to have been entrusted with this story,” Greengrass said last month.
Other notable films also announced Wednesday included Jodie Foster’s A Private Life; Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet (which casts Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare); Clement Virgo’s psychological thriller Steal Away; Nicholas Hytner’s The Choral (starring Ralph Fiennes, Jim Broadbent and Simon Russell Beale); and Rental Family (a comedy-drama from Beef director Hikari).
Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer at TIFF, hailed the diverse storytelling traditions the newly announced films represent. “These films reflect a sweeping range of voices and styles that embodies the spirit of TIFF and our commitment to a public audience,” Lee said in a statement.
Those titles join already announced films, including Alejandro Amenábar’s The Captive, Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, Sung-hyun Byun’s Good News, Nia DaCosta’s Hedda (based on Henrik Ibsen’s famous play), and Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks.
Soderbergh’s return to TIFF marks his 10th time at the festival after visiting with 1999’s The Limey, 2005’s Bubble, 2008’s Che, 2009’s The Informant, 2013’s The Visitors (as a presenter), 2017’s GFE – season 2 (as a producer), 2019’s TheLaundromat, 2021’s Mr. Kneff, and last year’s Presence.
This year’s official screening venues will once again include TIFF Lightbox, Roy Thomson Hall, the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre, Cineplex’s Scotiabank Theatre Toronto, Glenn Gould Studio at the Canadian Broadcast Centre, Cinema Park at David Pecaut Square, and the Royal Alexandra Theatre. TIFF’s Tribute Awards Gala, which in the past has honoured well-known names like Benedict Cumberbatch, Harry Styles, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett, Joaquin Phoenix and Kate Winslet, will take place on Sunday, Sept. 7.
In addition to the film screenings, the festival will be bringing back its popular In Conversation With… series, which features some of the biggest names in movies offering insight into their filmmaking process, as well as the popular Festival Street, which returns for opening weekend along King Street West, from Peter Street to University Avenue.
The festival is set to open with a Ryan Reynolds-produced documentary celebrating Canadian comedy legend John Candy. Colin Hanks directs.
TIFF is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world and many of the movies that Canadians first see in Toronto become big players during awards season, including this year’s Best Picture winner Anora.
“People love movies here, but it’s not a snobbish film audience,” TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey says of festival goers. “They really embrace stories that speak to the heart, as well as the head, and people coming to TIFF love the experience of discovering new films. It’s not just for an elite group.”
The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs Sept. 4–14. For tickets and info, visit TIFF.net.
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