‘Knives Out’ and Playing by Apple’s Rules

Rian Johnson is one of my favorite current filmmakers. If his style could be summed up in a sentence, Johnson excels at deconstructing popular genres.

Want a Film Noir? He’ll set the heightened drama of a noir in high school, where kids are naturally more dramatic.

The Brothers Bloom is a fresh twist on a caper film. Looper tweaks the standard tropes of Time Cop-style time travel movies.

He’s at his best when he can take a format we’re familiar with, maybe even tired of, and he’s able to throw a tiny wrench into the machine we understand.

Even his Star Wars entry is less a good Star Wars film, and more a commentary on the most popular tropes of Star Wars films. It’s a fascinating examination of a beloved franchise, even if it doesn’t quite work as an episode of the series.

Recently we saw a handful of stories relating Rian Johnson’s experiences in using Apple branded products in his films, specifically how it impacts the story for his “whodunnit” mystery comedy Knives Out.

[SPOILER WARNING: if you haven’t seen the movie yet, there will be discussion which will totally wreck some of the most fun reveals of the movie.]

In an interview with Vanity Fair, breaking down a scene from the movie, Johnson revealed what it was like to work with Apple.

“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.”

(Skip to around the 2:50 minute mark for the above quote.)

This info caused a bit of a stir around the tech community.

Apple is a dominant force in technology, and spends a huge amount of money on advertising and branding. No one expects Apple to be cavalier with how film makers might use their IP, but this seems like a silly level of control for Apple to leverage over film and TV production.

Watching Knives Out for the first time with my wife this weekend, knowing that bit about Apple branding, contributed a whole new dynamic to the movie’s narrative. Johnson is such a deft and capable film maker, Apple’s restrictions actually contributed to the mystery in a novel way.

[SPOILER WARNING: I REALLY must reiterate, if you haven’t seen the movie, here come the BIG spoilers. For reals. This is your point of no return.]

Apple mandates that “the bad guy” can’t use Apple products. Johnson, in a brilliant move of malicious compliance, absolutely made sure that the killer in his film did NOT use any Apple product.

Watching the movie as a tech fan, I found it interesting how Johnson highlights the use of technology throughout the film. Nearly every character has one significant moment where they use a gadget in an up close and visible way.

The killer doesn’t use any Apple products, but almost every character who does is an extremely unlikable person. None of the Apple-using characters are “bad guys”, but they’re almost entirely “bad” people.

Knives Out follows the aftermath of a family’s patriarch dying under unusual circumstances, and the investigation as to whether his death was suicide or a murder. Each family member recently had a falling out with the father, and a small fortune based on his mystery novels might be up for grabs.

The daughter who claims to be a self-made business woman, but only because she started her business with a million dollar loan from her father. She uses an iPhone.
The brother-in-law cheating on his wife, and making dinner speeches about USA immigration policy. Another iPhone.
The brother who wants to profit off his father’s work through licensing, instead of being a protector for his father’s property. We see his Apple Watch in several close ups.
That brother’s wife leans hard into the alt-right, and they’re raising a son who is nearly cartoonishly ripped from a story about Hitler Youth. Yup. iPhones.
The liberal daughter-in-law putting her daughter through college? While embracing multi-culturalism, she’s been stealing from the father for years. iPhone.
The police detective we see recording interviews on an iPhone is an inept spectator to these proceedings. He’s not a noble public servant protecting the public. He’s a fanboy, impressed and entertained by the salacious events of these minor celebrities.
The housekeeper is a sympathetic character, but in discovering information on a potential crime, instead of going to the police, she attempts to blackmail the person she believes to have committed the crime. She wears Airpods.

The only iPhone user we believe to be a “good” person is the detective played by Daniel Craig. In a cute moment jamming out to some music, he’s blissfully unaware that another terrible crime might be happening.

Nearly everyone using an Apple product is deceitful, disreputable, or outright insufferable. None of them are “The Killer” though.

The killer is one of the more charismatic characters in the film. The black sheep of this dysfunctional family. A likable bad boy.

When we see that Apple mandates that “the bad guy” can’t use an iPhone, we would naturally assume a film maker would put an Android phone in their hands. Johnson is smarter than that. The killer doesn’t have any close up or focused moment using a piece of technology. The killer doesn’t use any major modern brands or labels, and is only known for his love of a classic restored BMW.

This leads to a delightful red herring for the film’s protagonist.

A nurse for the family’s father, from a poor immigrant family, she uses an old cheap BLU with a busted screen. It’s not the only mis-direct, other clues throughout the film might point to the nurse as the potential killer. About halfway through the film, my wife pegged her as a potential suspect, not knowing the Apple gimmick.

The Android using Nurse is not the killer. She’s the heroine.

Rian Johnson’s career is notable for twisting conventions and breaking tropes in novel ways. Presented this “rule” by Apple, it would seem he ran with a “legal” interpretation of the rule. He followed the EXACT letter of Apple’s law, while also throwing a thumb in Apple’s eye. There’s a simmering commentary on entitlement, perfectly encapsulated by which characters ARE using Apple products.