By George & Josh Bate
The third installment in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out trilogy – Wake Up Dead Man – hits Netflix today, meaning viewers around the world will soon be treated to a hilarious and timely Star Wars joke.
In the film, one of the suspects Cy Draven (played by Irish actor Daryl McCormack) talks about joining his father to build a vast, powerful Empire, before unironically comparing himself to the Rebellion in Star Wars. It’s a joke that mirrors a variety of social media posts over recent years from prominent conservative political figures and their supporters, in which people in support of or even part of a fascist regime in charge unironically (and quite hilariously) see themselves as being part of the Rebellion and not the Empire.
Johnson spoke with Polygon about the joke in a recent Zoom interview. “I couldn’t resist,” the filmmaker said. “The ultimate joke of that moment, that everyone thinks they’re the Rebels, I think is very apropos today.”
The timeliness of the joke fits in with Johnson’s approach to the Knives Out movies, which feature cutting-edge social commentary and jokes poking fun at unfortunate facets of contemporary living. “You just have to be instinctual about it,” Johnson said. “On the one hand, I like that these movies are unapologetically set in the present moment. That’s a feature and not a bug. On the other hand, you don’t want to get annoying about it, so it’s a little bit of just trusting your ear.”
When asked about the parallels between the exploration of faith in The Last Jedi and Wake Up Dead Man, Johnson remarked, “Anyone who grew up with Star Wars deeply rooted in their childhood — it’s almost a cliché to say it feels like a religion. That can be used to cut both ways. But for me, there is something very fundamental about it. It’s a fundamental myth that we grew up with, from childhood. I grew up very Christian, so when I was a kid, I was parsing Star Wars through my faith and through my Christianity. It’s all tied up in that. Very naturally, if I’m telling that story, it’s going to be filtered through the values I grew up with.”
In the interview, Johnson also spoke of his approach to The Last Jedi, which involved challenging conventions of the franchise. “Having grown up a Star Wars fan, I know that thing where something challenges it, and I know the recoil against that,” Johnson reflected. “I know how there can be infighting in the world of Star Wars. But I also know that the worst sin is to handle it with kid gloves. The worst sin is to be afraid of doing anything that shakes it up. Because every Star Wars movie going back to Empire and onward shook the box and rattled fans, and got them angry, and got them fighting, and got them talking about it. And then for a lot of them, got them loving it and coming around on it eventually.”