One of the biggest movie hits of 2019 was the “Knives Out” murder mystery starring Daniel Craig. It was a surprise hit that was made for a very modest budget and wound up raking in more than $300 million. Therefore, the studio that produced it has already said that Daniel will be coming back to star in a sequel. The interesting thing is that Daniel almost did not star in the film at all. Time commitments to filming the latest James Bond film “No Time to Die” nearly kept the actor from playing private investigator Benoit Blanc.
The man who wrote and directed “Knives Out” is Rian Johnson. He recently gave a very interesting interview where he went into detail about the very good luck that allowed Daniel Craig to be a part of the movie. As it turns out, the new James Bond film was pushed back by three months. When Rian Johnson heard this, he immediately called the studio and asked them to contact Daniel Craig to see if he was interested in being in “Knives Out” as the lead. Rian Johnson even postponed a planned vacation to personally meet Daniel Craig and convince him to do the film. Their meeting went very well and the movie was filming only a few weeks later.
Things worked out perfectly because “Knives Out” was ready to start filming very soon after Daniel Craig signed a contract to appear in the film. Therefore, they were able to film all of his scenes in the window of 90 days that they had been given as a result of the James Bond film being pushed back. This bit of luck was good for everyone involved. The film did very well in large part because Daniel is the main star. Also, being in the film will be a huge benefit to Daniel’s career because he will perhaps be playing Benoit Blanc in several more films. He will at least be playing the private investigator one more time.
It is not known why the production of “No Time to Die” was delayed by three months. However, delays are common in the movie industry for a variety of reasons. There are often problems securing the permits to film in certain locations. Therefore, the film production must be put on hold until the permits are issued. There is no indication that is what happened in this case.
