Film Fact: Villains Can't Have iPhones in Movies
Depending on who you ask, Rian Johnson's Knives Out is either another fantastic addition to the talented director's stellar filmography, or it's a lucky aberration from the asshole creator of The Last Jedi who single-handedly ruined Star Wars and somehow your marriage. But no matter how you look at it, Knives Out has been a wild success, grossing well over $250 million on just a $40 million budget. And when somebody makes serious money off a movie that doesn't star Batman or Optimus Prime, they're bound to be constantly interviewed and asked to explain how they pulled off such a Herculean feat.
Johnson's latest such interrogation comes via Vanity Fair. And while most of the video clip features Johnson breaking down the Knives Out scene where Captain America is questioned about whether or not he killed Captain Von Trapp (and also Johnson being just adorable), there is one little tidbit in there that's worth exploring further.
See, Jamie Lee Curtis' character is holding an iPhone in this scene and, after saying some nice things about the wardrobe department, Johnson offers up this nugget:
"Also another funny thing, I don't know if I should say this or not ... Not cause it's like lascivious or something, but because it's going to 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 oh nooooooo, every single filmmaker that has a bad guy in their movie that's supposed to be a secret wants to murder me right now."
Woah.
If what Johnson's saying is true, he may very well have ruined every mystery movie of the past decade. Hell, he may inadvertently spoiled hundreds of upcoming films. We're now imagining the producers of No Time To Die scrambling to reshoot a scene where Q explains to James Bond that anybody who looks like they're using an iPhone is actually using a Samsung and so that shouldn't influence whether Bond assumes they're working for Blofeld or not. Oh man, could this also mean movies like Tangerine or Unsane that are filmed entirely with iPhones suggest everybody is a villain? No, probably not, but our world is reeling right now. We need to go watch every single movie since June 2007 real quick and see if this claim checks out.
Of course, it's also entirely possible this master of mystery is still messing with us to obfuscate the plot of his impending Knives Out sequel. Watch the opening scene be Benoit Blanc smashing his iPhone against the wall of a Best Buy and purchasing an Android. What could it mean?!
Jordan Breeding also writes for a whole mess of other people, the twitter, and must be a good guy because he owns an iPhone. Then again, it's a 7, so.