Can you believe there was almost a world where Don Johnson’s character in Knives Out was played by Thomas Haden Church? Well, believe it, because it’s true.
Sitting down with DECIDER to talk about his role in Season 2 of Netflix’s Tires, Haden Church disclosed that while he is soon set to grace screens in the third installment of the franchise, Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, due out on Netflix in December, he came close to starring in Rian Johnson’s first movie in the series.
According to the Spider-Man: No Way Home alum, he nearly portrayed Johnson’s Richard Drysdale, the husband of Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is discovered to have been cheating on his wife. The first movie follows Benoit Blanc’s (Daniel Craig) investigation into the death of Linda’s beloved father, Harlan Thombey (Christopher Plummer), a mystery novelist whose passing is marked with suspicion.
“I almost did the first one, I came very, very close on the first one, [it was] between me and Don Johnson to do the first one,” Haden Church said while speaking about his relationship with Netflix. “And I met and had a really great interview with Rian back then. And he told me, he said, ‘I’m going to keep my eye out for you.’ And sure enough, it was like a year ago in April, they were just like, ‘Hey, Rian Johnson wants to talk to you.'”
“We jumped on a Zoom and had a great meeting and I had already read the script which was high-security. And then we got on and had a great talk about the script and the character and just the whole interface of the characters, and he just was like, ‘Why don’t you come over to London and do it? Let’s have some fun,'” he added.
And fun was had, Haden Church says, thanks in no small part to the all-star cast including Josh O’Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Darryl McCormack, Glenn Close, and Josh Brolin, just to name a few. Additionally, the Tires actor said that jumping into the project with the cast was one o the easiest and most organic jobs he’s ever worked on.
Of course, along with the cast of newcomers for the sequel to Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is Craig, who reprises his role as the incredibly astute and incredibly southern detective. As for what type of crime he will be investigating, that is still under wraps. Netflix only recently released the first look and a release date for the movie, which will debut in December.
All in all, Haden Church told DECIDER that even after decades in the business of entertaining people on TV and in movies, it feels good to know a role and a project can excite and surprise him. Oh, and those are two words he would absolutely use to describe the movie.
“I’m very proud of it. Very, very proud of it. It’s an intriguing story, an intriguing character, it’s not like anything I’ve ever done, that’s for sure,” he elaborated. “That was really a wonderful, wonderful experience with Rian Johnson. And that was a tremendous experience. For these things to come along, we’re fixing to turn 65. And for these things to come along, you know, fairly sort of later in my career, it’s a treasure. They’re treasures.”
Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery hits Netflix on December 12.