Knives Out Movie Musical?

Interview with Nathan Johnson, Knives Out film score composer and cousin of the film’s director Rian. Any thoughts or ideas?

Going into the next Benoit Blanc mystery, what can we expect from your score? And can I push for it to be a musical?

Nathan Johnson: That would be amazing! It would be amazing to have our musical actually take place in the Knives Out world. The honest answer is: I don’t know. But that’s what feels super exciting. I mean, it’s not like I plan these scores with Rian before we know what the movie is going to be. So right now, Rian is coming up with a story. This is maybe something worth mentioning… when Rian sends me the script, I’m not thinking about the music. I am like a kid on Christmas morning, getting to read a new book by his favorite author. Rian sends over the script and it’ll often just appear in my inbox without warning. Then it’s like, “Clear the rest of the day!” I’m just going to read this as a fan.

That might sound obvious or dumb but I do think it speaks to the way that we approach these films. I never think about “What music can I write for this?” I’m always thinking about, “What is the story?” After that, we kind of start talking, and it’s really about me picking Rian’s brain. Then I start to think about how I can interpret that musically. So, right now, I don’t know as I’m in the same place as you – I’m just waiting with bated breath to see what the next story is going to be about. Then we’ll start figuring out how we can crop up a score to best help tell that story.

https://discussingfilm.net/2022/12/24/composer-nathan-johnson-talks-glass-onion-score-subverting-expectations-teases-musical-exclusive-interview/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ

I remember in an interview once, Sondheim said that of all the genres, murder mysteries are the hardest to musicalize. His reasoning was that songs are generally emotionally charged moments, and the 'reveal' of a murder mystery is usually an intellectually charged moment. It makes sense that in all the murder-mystery musicals (all two that I know of: Curtains and Murder For Two) don't musicalize the climax.

That being said, if there's anyone working in film smart enough to crack the code, it's Rian Johnson. Knives Out and Glass Onion are two of the smartest scripts I've seen in a long time.

Why is everyone insisting on existing properties being turned into musicals? How often do those succeed? I mean like yes The Lion King, but how many other movies, TV shows, books need to be adapted for the stage? How often do they succeed? Look at Almost Famous. Look at Mean Girls (it had a good run, but didn't really have good word of mouth especially when Cameron Dallas joined the company). Maybe you could say Legally Blonde, Beetlejuice-eh, it did come back so it could kind of be a semi-success story. But why do producers keep insisting on this?

gleek4114 said: "hearthemsing22 said: "Why is everyone insisting on existing properties being turned into musicals? How often do those succeed? I mean like yes The Lion King, but how many other movies, TV shows, books need to be adapted for the stage? How often do they succeed? Look at Almost Famous. Look at Mean Girls (it had a good run, but didn't really have good word of mouth especially when Cameron Dallas joined the company). Maybe you could say Legally Blonde, Beetlejuice-eh, it did come back so it could kind of be a semi-success story. But why do producers keep insisting on this?"

This is literally not what the discussion is about. The discussion is about the possibility of the third theatrical film installment of Knives Out being an original movie musical. No one is talking about bringing Knives Out to the stage. Not trying to be catty but please read closer before posting a complaint about something totally irrelevant."

That said, I wouldn't be opposed to someone bringing Benoit Blanc to the stage...

I never fall asleep watching movies. I fell asleep watching Knives Out. Maybe musical numbers could keep me awake.

I ended up enjoying Glass Onion after a clunky start.

But the “behind the scenes” mystery was just done (very well I thought) in See How They Run, and was not a huge success. And it seems season 3 of Only Murders in the Building will also be a “behind the scenes” mystery.