In an 11.17.19 email to Rian Johnson, HE passes along reaction to to Knives Out: “It’s actually fairly sharp and clever and funny. The most efficiently assembled, nimble-footed Rian Johnson film ever. Amusingly acted & tightly written. Slick & crafty…nice!
“Daniel Craig is in good shape, but he looks too old to be playing 007. And yet he is.
“The teasing and misdirection moves are very well handled. I had a much better time with it than anticipated.
“Yes, I think it does have a shot at Best Screenplay laurels.
“I’d heard earlier that Chris Evans is the bad guy, but it was still a bit surprising when I realized this was the actual shot.
“Ana de Armas is fine, but seemed to mostly concentrate on looking innocent, pretty, doe-eyed and fetching.
“And yet I HATED the cut of her pants cuffs, riding three or four inches above the sneaker line! Only hipster assholes wear pants that are cut like that — are you telling me that a Paraguayan woman who lives on a modest salary with her family in a grubby, smallish apartment is going to wear HIGH-CUFF HIPSTER PANTS?”
Johnson reply: “So happy you dug it, man. There goes our shot at a BEST PANTS nom!”