Filmmaker Rian Johnson’s latest big screen effort, Wake Up Dead Man, is the best of the Knives Out films, at least in my mind, despite losing some of the casual humor and charm of its predecessors. The third entry’s religious subject matter and reflections on faith make it somewhat harder for fans to continue pushing for a long-gestating dream crossover movie: Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc enlisting the entire Muppets ensemble to help solve a mystery. Still, you can bet we’ll keep clamoring for it, especially now that the director addressed the idea.
Amazingly enough, Johnson actually gave the mash-up pitch idea full consideration as a self-proclaimed Muppets fan himself, but explained to THR why he doesn’t think it would be nearly as enjoyable as rabid fans believe it would be. As much as it pains me to say it, I kind of agree with his point. Here’s what he said:
On the Internet, the notion of a Knives Out Muppet movie comes up a lot, and I wanted to get you guys together here so that I could explain why that’s a bad idea. It’s not a ‘bad idea,’ but I love and respect Muppet movies too much, and also Benoit Blanc movies. They’re so different. The reality is, if you put Muppets in a Benoit Blanc movie, it would feel totally wrong because they would be getting murdered.
It’s not even just a vocal desire, as fans have put together mash-up videos combining Benoit Blanc and Jim Henson’s creations, mostly to positive effect. But all that is of course, just preexisting footage juxtaposed, as opposed to someone crafting an original story for the human and felt-covered characters to partner up on. That’s where Johnson’s hesitance rears its head, since his detective exists on a plane driven entirely by facts and reality. Meanwhile, the Muppets are the Muppets.
I don’t think audiences would get too caught up or upset over a Muppet character being killed off, so long as it’s someone who hasn’t featured prominently before, in the way that The Simpsons has killed off background characters. (Or, hell, just kill Walter, I guess. Or make it look like he’s dead.) Also, it’s entirely possible that the Muppets could join an investigation regarding a human being murdered. I get that the crime itself is a sticking point, but this isn’t Muppet Babies. (Unless he wanted to make a feature out of that, because I’d take it.)
Rian Johnson continued, saying why he doesn’t think the alternate of the above would work either:
The alternative is to just stick Benoit Blanc into a Muppet movie, which admittedly would be very fun, but would kind of break the reality of what Blanc is.
I can see how it might take away some of the seriousness of Blanc’s past efforts if he spent a whole movie warding off Fozzie’s C- puns and Miss Piggy’s amorous advances. And while audiences might not care as much, as the character’s creator, Johnson likely doesn’t want to amend Blanc’s legacy in any ways that aren’t automatically positive. No good to make such thoughtful movies that could be upended by a clip of Craig attempting to make borscht with Swedish Chef.
It all comes down to this brilliant final sentiment, though, since it should 100% be the grand takeaway that everyone at Disney should be paying attention to. The Last Jedi director concluded with:
Which is all to say: I would just love to do a regular awesome Muppet movie!
Give this man all the money! Especially now that we’re in a good spot for in-development Muppet projects. Not only is Seth Rogen working on a new Muppet Show special for Disney+, but also Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone are teaming for a Miss Piggy movie written by Cole Escola. The sting of Muppets Mayhem‘s cancellation is still there, and likely will be until another new project fills the void.
So hopefully the above pair of projects will work out so succesfully that Disney begs Rian Johnson to tackle the next grouped-up Muppets movie. And that one of the characters will be watching a Knives Out movie, thus bringing Benoit Blanc into the mix in a way that doesn’t break canon. In the meantime, Wake Up Dead Man is currently in theaters, with a Netflix premiere date set for December 12.