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  • - Another funny thing, I don't know if

  • I should say this or not.

  • [laughs]

  • Oh, no!

  • Every single filmmaker who has a bad guy

  • in their movie that's supposed to be a secret

  • wants to murder me right now.

  • Hello, I'm Rian Johnson, I wrote and directed

  • "Knives Out," and this is "Notes on a Scene."

  • - Know you heard something.

  • Spill it!

  • - I just heard two things.

  • [Harlan and Ransom argue indistinctly in another room]

  • - [Harlan] You think I'm really changing my will?

  • - "My will," and then there was more yelling.

  • And then I heard Ransom say, "I'm warning you."

  • - [Linda] Ransom?

  • - So this is one of the first scenes

  • where Chris Evans' character, Ransom,

  • has just shown up, and it's right before

  • the family's gonna read the will,

  • and Chris has breezed into it and kind of

  • thrown everybody into chaos.

  • So this was also kinda the first scene

  • where we actually had everybody on set at once.

  • And with these actors coming together

  • to play in an ensemble, it was so much fun,

  • it was, because everyone showed up just ready to play.

  • The way it feels in the movie,

  • that everyone's kinda having fun,

  • that's genuinely the way it was on set.

  • So Jamie Lee Curtis, who I love so much,

  • she and Daniel and some of the other actors,

  • everybody was kind of setting the tone on set.

  • The fact that when all of these people came together,

  • I'll be honest, I had no idea it was

  • a bunch of movie stars, most of whom I've never,

  • all of whom I've never worked with before.

  • I had no idea how it was gonna go on set,

  • and whether it was gonna be a nightmare.

  • I had no clue.

  • But you get good people on set, like Jamie,

  • and you show up on set and there's just this warm,

  • inviting atmosphere, and everybody's

  • playing with each other, and everybody's having fun,

  • instantly, everybody just kind of gels.

  • And actors like Jamie, besides being fantastic on screen,

  • that's one of the great things she brings to it.

  • Hoo, boy, this frame is actually a good example

  • of one thing I tried to do a lot,

  • which is, you can see there's kind of a triangular

  • shape to it, in terms of Jamie here in the center,

  • Michael on the left, and then Don on the right,

  • with Ransom in the background,

  • but it creates, it gives the frame depth,

  • and there's always several layers of people

  • to look at in the scene at any given time.

  • Also, a little shout-out to the props department,

  • and know that any time a clock or a phone is in set,

  • somebody has paid very close attention to the time

  • and has made sure, has asked me what time

  • it's supposed to be in the actual scene.

  • The will reading, we said, is gonna be, like,

  • it's at 10:30 or 11 or something,

  • and so it made sense that at this moment

  • in the story, it was 10:15 in the morning.

  • Thank you, props.

  • Also, another funny thing, I don't know

  • if I should say this or not.

  • [laughs]

  • Not 'cause it's lascivious or something,

  • but because it's gonna screw me on the next

  • mystery movie that I write.

  • But forget it, I'll say it, it's very interesting.

  • Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies, but,

  • and this is very pivotal, if you're ever watching

  • a mystery movie, bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera.

  • So, there you, oh, no!

  • Every single filmmaker who has a bad guy

  • in their movie that's supposed to be a secret

  • wants to murder me right now.

  • Let's see what Jamie's saying.

  • - Know you heard something.

  • Spill it!

  • - Jaeden Martell, who plays Jacob,

  • first of all, he's just insanely kind

  • and so smart, and also such a cool kid.

  • I've been going to premieres and seeing him,

  • and going to different press things,

  • and he always shows up and he just

  • looks like he's stepped off the cover of a magazine.

  • He's always wearing the coolest stuff.

  • I think Jaeden actually wins the sweater game here

  • with the pink shirt and the lines.

  • It all lines up.

  • - I just heard two things.

  • [Harlan and Ransom argue indistinctly in another room]

  • - [Harlan] You think I'm really changing my will?

  • - "My will," and then there was--

  • - Again, always looking for ways, composition-wise,

  • to get more than one actor, depth-wise, into the frame.

  • So you have a couple things.

  • You have Blanc, who is absorbing all this.

  • You've got Marta, who is watching Blanc,

  • because she's very nervous, she's trying to,

  • at this point in the story, kind of fool him.

  • And then, deep background, you've got Noah Segan,

  • which, it's always fun to have Noah Segan in the frame,

  • and then, Harlan looking over it all as the portrait.

  • A little technical thing, when we started

  • shooting the movie, we didn't have the painting.

  • It wasn't done yet.

  • We had done a bunch of revisions to it,

  • and we just didn't have artwork that we were happy with yet.

  • So, when we actually shot this and every single shot

  • that you see in the movie that has

  • the painting in it was a green screen.

  • We just had green inside the frame.

  • And we had some amazing effects guys

  • who went in there and comped, we took

  • a high-quality photo of the painting

  • and then they comped it in for every shot.

  • Isn't that crazy?

  • [laughs]

  • Also, Daniel Craig wasn't there for the entire shoot.

  • He just did all of his stuff

  • [woman laughs] on a green screen stage

  • in one day, no, that's not true.

  • Daniel was so dialed-in.

  • It's funny that in this scene he's not talking at all,

  • 'cause I'm about to talk about

  • the last 30 minutes of the movie,

  • where he just talks the entire time.

  • And Daniel showed up to shoot those last 30 pages,

  • and had the whole thing memorized

  • like it was a stage play.

  • He just had it down.

  • He could've done, I ended up throwing out

  • all my little shots and going for longer

  • and longer takes so that I could just

  • give him runway so that he could just keep going.

  • 'Cause he had it down, and the longer

  • you gave him, the better it got.

  • And Ana de Armas as Marta, who, again,

  • is mostly listening for this scene,

  • but, you know, Ana has done great work before,

  • and she's been working for a while,

  • but compared to how high-profile

  • most of the other actors were in this movie,

  • she was one of the lesser-known actors

  • who were showing up.

  • And she is, again, really the center of the film,

  • and for Ana to step into the center of the movie

  • with the confidence that she had,

  • and really carry the film to the extent she did,

  • I just think she's extraordinary.

  • - Was more yelling.

  • And then I heard Ransom say, "I'm warning you."

  • - So this is a good example of Michael Shannon

  • being, you would not maybe expect this,

  • but he was the funniest person on set.

  • And so, this little football goal gesture

  • that he does, which cracked me up on the day,

  • that was entirely just him coming up with that.

  • But there were a lot of lines,

  • we're gonna get to a line down the road,

  • which were some of the funniest things in the movie

  • that Michael just came up with on the day.

  • [Rian laughs giddily]

  • This cookie right here!

  • Inside his mouth!

  • [crew member laughs] I'm so happy I have this pen.

  • You would never know this,

  • so I'll get the, mmm, oh, yum!

  • Look at those cookies!

  • Delicious! [crew members laugh]

  • These were these Belgian cookies, right here,

  • and, actually, when we screened the movie

  • at the Ghent Film Festival in Belgium,

  • everyone was so excited that we had

  • the cookies in there, 'cause they

  • were like, "Belgian cookies!"

  • They're very buttery, and I picked them just 'cause I

  • thought they looked cool, and then, poor Chris.

  • Any time you see an actor eating food in a scene,

  • pity that actor, because they've had

  • to eat that food all day long.

  • And these cookies, you eat, like, two of them,

  • and you feel like your throat is coated in butter.

  • And Chris was pounding these all day long.

  • So I feel very bad for him.

  • - Ransom?

  • What's that mean?

  • - This is all about blocking, and blocking,

  • or staging, was kinda my big lesson in this movie.

  • Any time there is multiple people in the frame,

  • especially, trying to figure out how

  • to line up your shots, first of all,

  • so there's depth, so that it's not just

  • kind of a police lineup with everyone in the same frame,

  • but then, also, so there is kind of a shape to it

  • and multiple things to look at, so you're getting value

  • out of all of these amazing actors

  • in the same frame at the same time.

  • - I think it means our father finally

  • came to his senses and cut this worthless

  • little brat out of his will.

  • So I guess you're gonna have to sell the Beamer

  • and give your notice at the country club--

  • - Michael Shannon, who is one of my

  • favorite actors working today.

  • I was excited that he wanted to do this part,

  • because usually, when Shannon shows up on screen,

  • he can be playing very intimidating characters.

  • He's incredibly good at kinda playing heavies

  • and bringing kind of a menace or bringing

  • a strength to the screen, and the idea of seeing

  • what he would do with a part that's kind of

  • supposed to be the weaker brother who's kind of trying

  • to compensate for that by acting tough,

  • but is not really there, that, to me,

  • seemed really, really interesting.

  • And he's also hilarious.

  • After working with him, I think he's gonna do more comedy.

  • Michael Shannon for "SNL," please.

  • - And kick whatever fashion drug you're on,

  • because if you think--

  • - This scarf!

  • I just wanted to call out this scarf.

  • Jenny Eagan, who was our costume designer,

  • I gave her the note that I wanted Ransom

  • to be wearing incredibly nice clothes

  • that he obviously didn't take care of.

  • And so, that's why he's wearing beautiful sweaters

  • throughout the movie that have holes in them.

  • And he's wearing, you barely see them,

  • he's wearing these Gucci loafers,

  • but they're completely worn out, and he's stamped

  • the heel back on them and kind of ruined them.

  • But this scarf, when she put that on him,

  • I was just like, "Ah, yeah, that's awesome!"

  • - [Walt] If you think that after all the bridges you burned,

  • after all the shit you said, after everything

  • that you put this family through--

  • - Riki Lindhome is a comedian, singer, and writer,

  • and she's in this singing duo, comedy duo,

  • called Garfunkel and Oates, and I've known Riki for years.

  • She had an amazing scene with Daniel's character,

  • with Benoit Blanc, that is one of two scenes

  • that ended up getting cut from the theatrical version

  • of the movie, and they are both extras on the home video,

  • so you'll finally be able to see her great work

  • in this scene with Daniel, which I'm really happy with.

  • And then, Katherine Langford is awesome.

  • She is, along with Toni, Katherine's also an Aussie,

  • and she's so good at accents.

  • I slowly realized when you're just talking to her

  • in between takes, depending on who she's talking to,

  • she will adjust her natural accent to match yours.

  • And so, when she was talking to me,

  • she was talking in an American accent.

  • Talking to Toni, she's back into

  • her Australian accent.

  • Daniel, I swear it starts to lilting English.

  • It's just she's just so skilled at it,

  • it's just like, she's not messing with you,

  • it's just second nature to her.

  • And she's been working so much internationally, also.

  • She's like, every single movie she does,

  • she's in a different country, so it's possible

  • her brain is just not sure at this point

  • what accent she [laughs] actually is.

  • But she was lovely.

  • And Toni Collette!

  • The thing that I had seen that she had done before,

  • that, oh, she's working constantly, but obviously,

  • her amazing performance in "Hereditary"

  • was so intense, and I think it was fun for her

  • to bust out this California lifestyle guru thing

  • and kind of get into a bit of a,

  • you know, a little bit lighter than "Hereditary."

  • Just a little.

  • - You put this family through for the last 10 years,

  • that any of us are gonna support you,

  • that any of us are gonna give you,

  • like Dad liked to say, a single red dime, you're nuts!

  • - Story-wise, Ransom, who is kind of

  • a very main character in the movie,

  • I'm not sure how far we are into the movie here,

  • probably about 40 minutes or so,

  • 45, maybe in a little bit more.

  • And deciding to wait until then to have him show up.

  • One of my favorite movie statistics

  • is that Han Solo doesn't show up in "Star Wars"

  • until 45 minutes into "A New Hope."

  • And there's something about the energy

  • of what Ransom means to the story.

  • It's like a fresh breeze coming into the movie,

  • just when you kind of feel like you have a handle

  • of all the chess pieces that are on the board,

  • and to mix two metaphors, it kind of

  • refreshes things in a nice little way.

  • [Ransom silently mouths]

  • - Don Johnson, ladies and gentlemen.

  • My less-attractive younger brother Don Johnson.

  • Because Don has done his TV show, first of all,

  • he, obviously, working on "Miami Vice,"

  • but also "Nash Bridges," 'cause he's done it

  • for so many years, he's a director's actor.

  • He's very aware of the technical elements of shooting.

  • And so, he's aware of what you're doing with the camera,

  • and why, and he's very good at playing to that.

  • He's got an incredible skill, and he's an incredible pro.

  • And I think he's quite funny in the movie.

  • - Son.

  • - Father?

  • - [exhales sharply] Did Harlan tell you

  • he was gonna cut you out of the will?

  • [Ransom's hands fall to lap]

  • - Yup!

  • [Walt pops lips]

  • - I love Michael Shannon just doing

  • that little [pops lips] thing, which,

  • why do I feel like we shot Shannon's thing first,

  • so he, I don't know how he knew it

  • to even [laugh] do that.

  • - Well, then, he's done what none of us

  • were strong enough to do.

  • Maybe this might finally make you grow up.

  • - This might be the best thing

  • that could ever happen to you.

  • - Thank you.

  • My mother, ladies and gentlemen.

  • - There's all these crazy, I mean,

  • we've been kind of in close-ups for a while here,

  • but you can always watch the movie, if/when you get bored,

  • you can always just look at the background,

  • and David Schlesinger, who was our set decorator,

  • he filled this place up with all

  • of this incredible stuff back there.

  • There's always something to look at,

  • whether it's the paintings on the wall

  • or the knickknacks on the table or what have you,

  • all of that stuff is David.

  • David Crank was our production designer,

  • and he and Schlesinger just really went to town on this.

  • - Look, this is not gonna be easy for you.

  • - So with Ransom here, there was that other angle

  • which was kind of 45 degrees off to the right of this,

  • and then there's this angle, and we have

  • two cameras on him getting them both simultaneously.

  • Which is really useful because of eye lines,

  • which is an absolute nightmare anyway,

  • and in that situation, it is a beast.

  • Essentially, the deal is, right here,

  • Chris is looking left to right, he's looking this way,

  • at Toni, who is talking to him.

  • And the reason for that is because on Toni's shots,

  • if I can get back here, she's looking right to left,

  • she's looking that way.

  • So the characters are essentially,

  • you feel like they're looking at each other,

  • it creates that illusion.

  • Basically, the reason we have that other coverage on him

  • is because there are other characters

  • who have the opposite orientation,

  • like Don is looking [click] that way at him,

  • so this would feel like they were

  • looking across from each other.

  • If Chris' chair is here, and Chris is sitting

  • in the chair right here, this is Chris,

  • essentially, the camera you're looking at

  • is low and here, and Blanc is back here,

  • and the other camera for the other angle is over here.

  • And so, this simultaneously covers,

  • if he's looking at Toni, who's over here,

  • so his eye line is this way, so,

  • well, you can see with this other camera,

  • he'd be looking left to right, not right to left,

  • but with this camera, because Don, he's over here,

  • this camera covers for when he's

  • looking at these other characters.

  • So, anyway, and we did that a lot,

  • we figured out how to use multiple cameras

  • to cover eye lines.

  • Very occasionally, there'll be situations

  • where we'll use two cameras and get

  • kind of a wider shot and a closer shot.

  • Usually not, though.

  • Usually, if we're using two cameras,

  • it's a similar size on the same person,

  • and that's because of lighting.

  • If you take a look at the lighting on Chris,

  • there's this beautiful shaped lighting

  • that Steve has done, where this side of his face

  • is kind of shadowy, you have bright here,

  • and there's all of this equipment,

  • there's probably, right off screen here,

  • a massive lit-up flag that's kind of creating that shape.

  • And so that's, a lot of times where,

  • if somebody is in a wide shot, you just can't

  • light their face with the same amount of detail,

  • and so, it doesn't behoove you to shoot both at once.

  • You're gonna be sacrificing one or the other.

  • [pen clicks]

  • The other thing I like, again,

  • even though this is, for all intents and purposes,

  • a close-up, the fact that you still have

  • some depth back behind him, that you have

  • [taps screen] Blanc kind of lingering over one shoulder,

  • and [taps screen] Harlan over the other shoulder,

  • which I quite like.

  • [taps screen] And that's one thing,

  • especially when you're shooting in close-ups,

  • especially when you're shooting anything with an actor,

  • always trying to figure out when you're doing the blocking,

  • geography-wise, having part of your brain thinking,

  • "Is there a depth back behind them?"

  • It's always gonna be prettier than if they're

  • just up against a wall.

  • Sometimes it's unavoidable, but, and it can get tough,

  • 'cause this was a real location, this was

  • a real living room, actually, in a real house.

  • And it can be tough, because that means you're

  • usually kind of scrunched in, and it can be a battle.

  • And a lot of times, it's incredible

  • what you'll end up cheating, and what

  • you can get away with in terms of cheating.

  • Not in this shot, in this shot, it kind of worked out,

  • but very often, you'll have something where,

  • let's say if in the space of the room,

  • the chair that they're sitting in

  • is actually literally right up against the wall,

  • and you have to be shooting in this direction.

  • You'll be amazed, especially in a shot like this,

  • where it's sort of a longer lens and the background

  • is kind of out of focus, very often,

  • I mean, usually, we'll pull the chair out

  • an absurd amount, sometimes even halfway into the room,

  • and find that when you shoot it,

  • you can get away with the cheat,

  • and it just ends up looking a little prettier.

  • - It'll be good.

  • Nothing good is ever easy.

  • - Up your ass, Joni.

  • You've had your teeth on this family's tit for a

  • long time-- - Up your ass?

  • Oh, very nice. - Oh my God,

  • Ransom! - Matter of fact, eat shit.

  • - The original line, actually, as written in the script,

  • it was "[beep] you," instead of [laughs] "Eat shit."

  • And so he was like, "[beep] you, [beep] you,

  • "[beep] you, [beep] you," and that was gonna be it.

  • But essentially, I changed it right

  • before shooting because I realized

  • [taps table] that would have given us an R rating,

  • and a big thing with this movie

  • [taps table] for me was remembering back

  • to the Agatha Christie movies that I

  • grew up watching with my family

  • when I was 10 to 13 years old, in that range,

  • remembering how much fun those movies were,

  • the whole family sitting down and watching 'em together,

  • and I realized before shooting,

  • "You know what, I want this movie to be PG-13."

  • So I went through, there were actually

  • a ton of F-bombs in the movie,

  • I ended up taking all of them out,

  • except for two, I think.

  • We got away with two.

  • We had cast Chris at that point, so we were

  • riffing, like, "What should he say besides, '[beep] you'?"

  • And, yeah, Chris was like, "I think

  • "a good 'eat shit' always works."

  • And I'm like, "Oh, yeah, that sounds, I trust you."

  • - Oh no. - What?

  • - [Ransom] How's that?

  • - One of the nice things about the house

  • was the natural light.

  • It was a beautiful, beautiful set,

  • and when we first walked through,

  • my cinematographer, Steve Yedlin, and I,

  • we just noticed how gorgeous the light was.

  • This is the first movie that we've shot entirely digital.

  • We didn't shoot on film for this,

  • even though I love film and I wanted a filmic look,

  • and Steve did all of this crazy color science

  • and added grain and added gate weave and added

  • all the stuff you need to make it look like film.

  • One of the benefits of shooting digital was,

  • if you shoot film, you just need more light,

  • and so, generally, with something like this,

  • we would have big light fixtures outside the windows

  • pumping in lots of light, and then we would

  • be getting fill light inside also.

  • With digital, one of the advantages

  • is we could just let the natural light

  • light the scene and match to that.

  • And in this and in a lot of the stuff in the house,

  • that ended up being a big advantage.

  • - In fact-- - Please do not use

  • that word in front of my son!

  • - Eat shit, eat shit-- - If I wasn't

  • practicing-- - Eat shit--

  • - You entitled prick!

  • Don't talk to-- - I would slap that--

  • - Okay, so this is is actually an example

  • of where we break the eye line,

  • and it doesn't really matter because

  • he's talking to the other people.

  • But I wanna show you this so you can see,

  • if this were in a dialogue situation,

  • it would be a problem.

  • So, in this, this is his eye line from when he's

  • talking to Toni, so he's moving left to right.

  • If he was talking to Don, and then we cut to Don,

  • you can see there would be a disconnect there,

  • 'cause it looks like they're both looking

  • at the same direction, and it doesn't

  • feel like they're looking at each other.

  • That's why you pay attention to eye lines on set.

  • - You entitled prick!

  • Don't-- - I would slap--

  • - [laughs] Also, maybe, yeah, just for a second,

  • just, 'cause Don is yelling, but watch Jamie's reaction.

  • Watch what Jamie's doing.

  • - You entitled prick!

  • Don't talk to-- - I would slap--

  • - [giggles] She goes, "Oh!"

  • I just love it.

  • [giggles]

  • - Eat shit.

  • - You entitled prick!

  • Don't talk to-- - I would slap

  • that smug smile-- your mother that way!

  • Ransom! - Definitely, you eat shit.

  • [arguing intensifies] Eat shit.

  • You can all eat shit!

  • - [Walt] Ransom!

  • - This little toss of the baseball,

  • besides giving him just a little bit of business to do,

  • it guides us into the next scene.

  • Anything you can do to kinda do this,

  • in terms of the action of the scene.

  • The next scene, the baseball is gonna play

  • a big part, 'cause the dog is gonna come up

  • and want the baseball, and he throws it,

  • and that's how he gets the clue,

  • So I'm using this to kinda dovetail into what's coming next.

  • [indistinct arguing]

  • - [Walt] I'm not eating one iota of shit!

  • - "I'm not eating one iota of shit"

  • is a Mike Shannon special.

  • That's [laughs] another one that he just came up with.

  • And here, you can kind of see the layout

  • of the room, and you can also see,

  • it's a big room for a room in a house.

  • It's not a big room to stage a bunch of actors in,

  • especially once you get the camera in there.

  • You also have to kind of realize

  • that getting the camera in is not just

  • like a camera on a tripod, you usually

  • have a dolly and you usually have track laid

  • for the dolly, so the camera equipment itself

  • can feel like it's taking up half the room.

  • So once you're dealing with real-world spaces,

  • you're a lot more hemmed-in than you think.

  • You can actually see, the tiny little detail,

  • but this is the sort of thing that,

  • when we're talking about color management

  • and what Steve does to make it look like film.

  • So film does this thing called halation,

  • and if you look at the bright edge

  • between the window, between the darkness

  • of the window and where it's flaring out outside,

  • you can kinda see, if you look up close,

  • there's kind of a rainbowy sort of glow to it.

  • And that's something you get with film,

  • and you get it on the edge of it,

  • there's an actual lamp or a light on the set,

  • or if there's an example like this,

  • you'll get that halation effect

  • that you don't get on digital.

  • And so, Steve actually wrote a script,

  • it's such a tiny detail, but he wrote a thing

  • that created that, and he would apply that

  • to every shot where it would make sense.

  • It's almost like a subconscious thing

  • you would never even look twice or think about,

  • but it just adds to kind of the soup

  • of stuff that we look at and we say,

  • "Oh, yeah, that feels filmic."

  • I think we've covered it.

  • That was an extensive breakdown of the

  • "eat shit" scene from "Knives Out,"

  • so thank you so much, Vanity Fair,

  • [smacks table] and for letting me do this,

  • and thank you guys for joining.

- Another funny thing, I don't know if

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