Though Rian Johnson has noted there’s no performer he counts as a “white whale” for his budding Benoit Blanc/Knives Out universe, there is one seasoned actress he’d love to work with.
“There are so many great actors I’d like to work with,” the Academy Award nominee told our sister publication IndieWire recently. “But, yes, if you’re reading this, Meryl Streep, I feel like you’d slot into a murder mystery very well.”
When told that the Big Little Lies alumna finally appeared on the 50th season of Saturday Night Live, Johnson added, “If Lorne [Michaels] can do it, then, goddamn, so can we.”
While Streep’s resume speaks for itself (an understatement, to be sure), it should be noted that she’s already made her mark in the comedic murder-mystery genre via Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, which wrapped the airing of its fifth season last month. (Next up, Streep will reprise her iconic role from The Devil Wears Prada, portraying the fierce editor-in-chief of a glossy, Miranda Priestly, in the film’s 2026 sequel.)
Elsewhere in the interview, Johnson emphasized his love for making the Knives Out films, which first kicked off with the phenomenon of the first Ana de Armas vehicle released in 2019.
“I love working with actors so much,” he said. “There are so many actors I haven’t worked with I want to work with. And that’s one of the real treats of making these movies is you get to experience new actors and these big casts. At the same time, I’d be lying if I didn’t say: one of the great things about doing these movies is I get to know these actors so, when I’m writing original stuff now, that are not these movies, of course I have everyone in mind for it.”
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the third installment in the tonally sprawling film series, featuring a stacked cast in Josh Brolin, Josh O’Connor, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Andrew Scott, Glenn Close and Thomas Haden Church. This go around, Blanc (Daniel Craig) descends on an upstate New York town to solve the murder of a domineering and hate-spewing monsignor (Brolin).
The Gothic and darkly satirical film, which bowed in certain theaters before the Thanksgiving holiday, will release on Netflix Dec. 12. The box office take so far has been upward of $4 million, with great word of mouth from critics and audiences alike.