Director Rian Johnson had a charming reaction to a parody of Knives Out in the latest episode of The Simpsons. Johnson, who was previously best known for his work on Looper and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, arguably reached new levels of prominence after writing and directing 2019's Knives Out, a clever and critically-lauded Agatha-Christie-inspired murder-mystery. Now, the film is honored on the long-running animated sitcom with a brilliant parody scene.
The film, which stars Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc and features Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Christopher Plummer, Katherine Langford, Toni Collette, and LaKeith Stanfield, follows Blanc's investigation into a wealthy, dysfunctional family after the death of the family patriarch. In the most recent episode of The Simpsons, "Bart's In Jail," when Homer learns that Grampa has been scammed out of $10,000, which was supposed to be his inheritance, he has a dream that looks remarkably like a scene from Knives Out. The sequence features the Simpson family, all with modified appearances to match the characters from Knives Out, sitting around a very ornate study as a character reads out Grandpa's will.
Matt Silman, the Executive Producer of The Simpsons, recently Tweeted out a still of the scene with the caption: "Trivia time! What movie inspired this Knives-Out-type scene?" The Tweet ultimately got the attention of Knives Out director Rian Johnson, who quote-Tweeted saying: "MADE IT, MA!" with a starry-eyed happy face emoji. Check out Johnson's original Tweet below:
The Simpsons is no stranger to parodying popular movies and TV shows and has, in the past, parodied the likes of The Twilight Zone, 24, Homeland, Batman, James Bond, and The Shining, to name a few. Johnson seems thrilled to have Knives Out be among the works parodied by the long-running animated series. He is taking it very much as a badge of honor, jokingly implying that, since his work has now been featured on The Simpsons, he's finally "made it" as a filmmaker.
After the massive deal between Johnson, Craig, and Netflix, in which Netflix bought the rights to two Knives Out sequels, Johnson's popularity and success will likely continue its upward trajectory. After all, the fact that Knives Out, an original movie not based on any pre-existing intellectual property, was able to earn as much money as it did at the box office ($311.4 million, to be exact) is a monumental achievement in today's movie landscape. It's unclear if the two Knives Out sequels will earn as much at the box office as the original (or if they will be released in theaters at all). Still, suppose they can dominate the cultural conversation in the same way and earn the same critical praise as the first film. In that case, Johnson seems poised to continue his upwards trajectory and hopefully have his work be the subject of many good-hearted The Simpsons parodies to come.
Source: Rian Johnson/ Twitter