Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2019 and has started a huge movie series, but the Knives Out hidden details are what makes it so rewatchable. The inventive homage to classic whodunnit murder mysteries focuses on a successful author, who dies at a family gathering, and his dysfunctional relatives become the suspects. The all-star cast and witty humor make it a fun ride from beginning to end, but the brilliantly constructed mystery is what encourages the audience to brush through every scene with a fine-tooth comb.
The Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, doubles down on subverting expectations and surprising audiences, but it’s hard to outdo the spectacular originality of the original 2019 movie. Just like the sequel, Knives Out is just as much of an onion with countless layers, and each rewatch reveals something new. With plenty of wild hints and jokes, there’s a lot to get out of repeat viewings of Knives Out, and so many Knives Out hidden details even foreshadowed the ending and gave away the killer way early on.
Harlan’s Portrait Seems Different
When the movie first gives a glimpse of the Thrombey mansion, which is the main setting of the film, one of the first noticeable things is the large portrait of the family patriarch, Harlan Thrombey. The stern and stoic look of Harlan in this picture seems to suggest he is the intimidating figure overlooking everything. However, when the painting is shown near the end of the film, something has changed about it. Once Marta is cleared of all wrongdoing and takes control of the house, she goes to look at the portrait. The stern, serious look on Harlan’s face is now replaced with an approving smirk.
Different Versions Of The Same Story
When audiences are first introduced to the large Thrombey family, they don’t necessarily seem like bad people. However, their self-centered and conniving ways soon begin to shine through. Director Rian Johnson hints at this early on. When each of the Thrombey children tells their version of the night of Harlan’s birthday party, we see their version of the events with one small detail that keeps changing. Each of the children pictures themselves at Harlan’s side when the cake arrives, hinting that they are now trying to present themselves as the perfect children.
Harlan Thrombey’s Name
Though he doesn’t last long in the movie, Harlan Thrombey is an essential part of the story and the late Christopher Plummer does a great job of giving the character gravitas and warmth in the role. But even Harlan’s unusual name is one of the many Knives Out hidden details, as it seems as though Johnson was inspired by an obscure source. There was a choose-you-own-adventure novel called Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? which seems to be a clear influence on the character’s name.
Something Is Afoot
In Knives Out’s ending, Marta asks Benoit Blanc when he began suspecting she had something to do with Harlan’s death. Benoit explains that it was when he first met her, as he immediately noticed the spot of blood on her shoe. Looking back at that scene where they meet for the first time, Blanc takes an extra look at her feet. He also seems to hint at this knowledge throughout the film without Marta knowing. He continues to make comments like “Something is afoot” or “the game is afoot” directed to Marta and hinting at the major clue he has noticed.
Richard Disrespects Marta
While most of the Thrombey family is innocent of murder, that doesn’t actually make them good people. Early in the movie, the family talks often about how they like Marta and see her as one of the family. This quickly changes when Marta is made the heir to Harlan’s fortune, but there were hints even before that. During a flashback to the party, Richard calls Marta over to join their ignorant conversation about immigration. As they talk, he absent-mindedly hands Marta his dirty plate, showing that he sees her as little more than “the help” even though she is Harlan’s personal nurse.
Song Choices
Along with the movie taking the title from a Radiohead song, Johnson also used music that happened to align with a few important aspects of the mystery at hand. When Marta and Ransom are in the bar, Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” is playing, which features the lyrics, “if I find you creepin’ ’round my back stairs,” similar to Marta sneaking into the house. The movie ends with The Rolling Stones’ “Sweet Virginia,” which features the lyrics, “got to scrape that s*** right off your shoe” which speaks to the incriminating blood on Marta’s shoe.
The Baseball That Travels
With so many Knives Out hidden details, it’s easy to overlook the brilliant payoffs in some of the smaller subplots. One such subplot involves Harlan revealing to his daughter Linda that her husband Richard is having an affair. As it turns out, Richard plays a major hand in causing Linda to find out. After Richard sees the letter Harlan wrote to Linda is apparently blank, he throws Harlan’s baseball out the window. Blanc later finds the ball and throws it to the dog. The dog later brings the ball to Linda who returns it to Harlan’s office, where she finds the letter. If Richard hadn’t thrown the ball, the letter might have gone unnoticed.
The Missing Phone
One of the most interesting Knives Out hidden details was revealed by Rian Johnson himself and one that he admits could spoil many movies in the future. Most of the characters in the film are seen constantly on their phones, all of which are iPhones. One character audiences don’t see using such a phone is Ransom, who later turns out to be the real killer. Oddly enough, this was a requirement, as Apple does not allow villains in movies to use their products, therefore revealing Ransom’s evil ways.
Great Nana Wanetta’s Age
The Thrombey family is filled with interesting and hilarious characters, but the most underrated of the bunch is Great Nana Wanetta. Great Nana is an impossibly old woman who can barely hear and whose eyesight is not much better. Despite all of that, she inadvertently helps solve the case with that poor eyesight yet sharp memory. Great Nana is played by K Callan, a prolific actor who has appeared in shows like Veep and Justified. Surprisingly, though Great Nana is meant to be the mother of Harlan Thrombey, played by Christopher Plummer, Callan is actually a few years younger than Plummer.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Cameo
While there is no shortage of stars in the movie, one of its biggest names is one of the many Knives Out hidden details. Fans of Johnson’s films might have noticed the absence of one particular actor, as Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Johnson are regular collaborators, and the actor was the star of the director’s first movie, Brick. The trend was kept up in Knives Out even though it’s one of his most inconspicuous appearances. Gordon-Levitt is credited as Detective Hardrock, but it’s a voice-only role, as he’s the policeman on the crime show Marta’s sister is watching at the beginning of the movie.
Marta’s Home Country
One of the great surprises of Knives Out is that with all the eccentric members of the family, the story is really about Harlan’s nurse, Marta (a breakout role for Ana de Armas). Through Marta’s character, the film touches on interesting issues about class and race in the subtle ways the family treats Marta. Though she is constantly told she is one of the family, it’s clear no one besides Harlan actually cares enough to learn about Marta or her life. Throughout the film, members of the Thrombey family make mention of Marta’s home country, only they are naming a different South American country each time.
Ricky Jay
Johnson seems to enjoy filling his movies with talented actors who go under the radar. Sadly, one such actor was meant to appear in Knives Out but never got the chance. Ricky Jay was a great character actor known for roles in Deadwood and Boogie Nights, among many others. He was also a talented sleight-of-hand magician and consulted on Johnson’s film Brothers Bloom. Jay was originally meant to play Mr. Prufrock, the Thrombey security guard, but he passed away before filming started. Another fine character actor M. Emmett Walsh took the part, but an image of Jay appears on-screen just before Walsh first features
Frank Oz
Though there are many famous faces in the movie, even ones in Knives Out’s hidden details, one celebrity cast member might have gone unnoticed by audiences. Though his name is famous, his face isn’t often seen on screen. Frank Oz, the man behind Miss Piggy and Yoda, appears as the lawyer who presents Harlan’s will to the family. Oz met Johnson while working on Star Wars: The Last Jedi where they became friends. Johnson convinced Oz to play a small role in this film despite Oz’s dislike of appearing on camera. In fact, this marks Oz’s first film appearance in over 20 years.
The Donut Hole
Daniel Craig gets the chance to show off his funny side in Knives Out. His long, rambling way of talking can sometimes seem crazy but with shades of brilliance. One of his most memorable scenes is his epic and hilarious rant about the mystery being a donut. Though it’s hard to follow Blanc’s thinking, the analogy surprisingly makes sense. But Johnson also added a bit of fun with the ring of knives that is present in many scenes. The monument is front and center in the interrogation scenes as well as the final reveal of the killer, and when stepping back, it resembles a big donut made of knives.
Harlan’s Letter To Linda
While the big reveal at the end of the movie is Ransom’s guilt, a great Knives Out hidden detail revolves around when Linda Drysdale finds her father’s letter with the invisible ink, which details her husband’s affair. But while only Linda knew about Harlan’s secret way of communicating, there was an earlier hint. When Richard finds the seemingly empty letter in Harlan’s office, he thinks he was bluffing about exposing the truth to Linda. But there is a moment when the sunlight catches the paper and briefly reveals the letters on it.
Richard’s Punishment
With such a big Knives Out cast filled with interesting characters, Johnson not only resolves the central mystery but also several of the fun side stories as well. Audiences learn early in the movie that Richard is having an affair that Harlan threatens to expose in a letter to Linda. Though Richard finds the letter after Harlan’s death and sees that it’s blank, it’s revealed Harlan would write letters to Linda in invisible ink and the secret is discovered. The last shot of Richard shows him sporting a black eye, presumably courtesy of Linda.
Barking Dogs
Johnson found a totally new approach to the whodunnit story while also being able to have fun with the genre conventions by including tons of Knives Out hidden details. Audiences are seemingly told exactly who is responsible for Harlan’s death, but in the end, the truth is revealed that Ransom did have a hand to play in it all along. Just like any good mystery, this reveal was hinted at. One of the best examples is the barking dogs heard on the night of the murder. When Ransom first appears in the film, he is greeted by the barking dogs, telling viewers he was sneaking around the night of Harlan’s death.
Prop Knife
Johnson’s script is filled with so much fun foreshadowing and Knives Out clues that really make repeat viewings more fun. There are not only hints to Ransom being the real culprit but also to his eventual downfall. After Blanc lays out all the evidence pointing to Ransom, and Marta tricks him into admitting to Fran’s murder, Ransom tries to take his revenge. He grabs a knife from the “knife donut” and attempts to stab Marta, only to discover the knife is fake. Earlier, Harlan criticizes Ransom’s protected lifestyle saying he is unable to tell the difference between a stage prop and a real knife.
Knives Out For Marta
The image of the chair made of knives is certainly a memorable part of the movie while also resembling the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. However, as it is seen throughout the early interrogation scenes, it serves as a fitting bit of storytelling too. Though the chair is off to the side when everyone else is being interviewed, Marta is shown to be sitting as if her head is the center of the circle. It helps to show her own tension with getting found out and the family turning on her, and it also foreshadows Ransom’s attempt on her life at the end of the movie.
How Marta Plays The Game
Marta really is the heart of Knives Out and a character who is extremely easy to root for. Audiences want her to get away with covering her own incriminating tracks and want to see good things happen to her. She is a good person surrounded by selfish and dishonest people. Early in the film, Marta and Harlan are playing “Go” and Harlan says he can’t understand how she keeps beating him. She responds, “Because I’m not playing to beat you. I’m playing to build a beautiful pattern.” In the end, everyone else was trying to get what they wanted while Marta was just trying to do the right thing. And she wins again.
