Rian Johnson had long been fascinated with mystery films like Sleuth, The Last of Sheila, Something’s Afoot, The Private Eyes, and Clue (among many others). Because of this, he had been interested in making a mystery film of his own for quite some time that would combine all of his favorite elements from those films - from violence to murder to intrigue to political subtext.
Drawing from the aforementioned films and the works of Agatha Christie like Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, Johnson came up with the basic concept of the film in 2005, shortly after the release of his stylish neo-noir thriller Brick. He didn’t, however, return to the concept until 2010, when he expressed interest in making a mystery film yet again.
Johnson didn’t actually begin writing the script until 2017, though (directly after the press tour for his film Star Wars: The Last Jedi). Johnson wrote and rewrote the script for seven months before Knives Out began to film, a process which took almost three months from start to finish before the film’s ultimate release in 2019.
