By India McCarty
KNIVES OUT writer and director Rian Johnson will receive the Bill Wittliff Award for Screenwriting at this year’s Austin Film Festival.
“We are thrilled to welcome Rian Johnson back to Austin Film Festival as this year’s recipient of the Bill Wittliff Award for Screenwriting,” Barbara Morgan, AFF’s co-founder and Executive Director, said in a statement. “Rian is an incredibly gifted screenwriter and visionary filmmaker whose body of work and generosity to the next generation of storytellers exemplifies this award.”
Morgan went on to say that Johnson’s latest project, WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, “solidifies his singular talent for combining intricate plotting, sharp comedic sense, and character-driven emotional impact to deliver an always unexpected, wildly entertaining story.”
“I’m honored to be receiving the Bill Wittliff award from the Austin Film Festival,” Johnson added. “I love the AFF and its support of established and emerging writers, and attending will be both a pleasure and a welcomed excuse to procrastinate on my own writing.”
The ceremony is set to take place Oct. 25.
Movieguide® praised KNIVES OUT’s “overarching theme of ‘the truth will set you free,'” though advises caution for foul language and other content issues. Part of the review reads:
KNIVES OUT is a surprisingly accomplished dark comedy, with an all-star cast that delivers the goods. The humor is intelligent and the story keeps viewers guessing, with many unexpected twists. The moral of the story is surprisingly positive, with major themes about the importance of truth and doing the right thing, even when it’s not in one’s favor. However, KNIVES OUT contains lots of foul language, some lewd content and brief marijuana use. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
KNIVES OUT fans are eagerly awaiting WAKE UP DEAD MAN, also set to debut in October. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Johnson promised it would be “incredibly different” from previous installment GLASS ONION.
“It’s much more a Gothic, much more grounded tone,” he continued. “It’s more similar to the first one in that way. It kind of gets back to the real origins of the genre, which, predating [Agatha] Christie, go back to [Edgar Allan] Poe.”
Johnson continued, “If I feel like I’m repeating the same thing, or turning the crank on the handle and turning out more of what I did last time, I’m not good enough to hide that from the audience. So what I end up chasing is the experience of each of these things…It’s not so much a conscious decision. In order to keep it exciting for myself, I don’t want to repeat myself.”
Related: KNIVES OUT Director Rian Johnson Admits He Grew Up Listening To Christian Rock
Daniel Craig is reprising his role as Detective Benoit Blanc and, like the first two movies, will be joined by a star-studded cast that includes Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington and Glenn Close.
In a 2024 interview with PEOPLE, Close called working on WAKE UP DEAD MAN “truly one of the best experiences of my life.”
“I’m filming in London with Rian Johnson,” she added. “He’s such a fine human being. He’s kind, he’s brilliant. He has a great laugh!”
From the massively popular KNIVES OUT series to his earlier work on STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI and BREAKING BAD, it’s no surprise the AFF has chosen to honor Johnson’s writing this year.
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