Detective Benoit Blanc Is so Charming — Did He Begin His Fictional Life as a Book Character?

When it comes to cinematic whodunits, a few come to mind. If you're looking for a comedy with several chaotic endings, then look no further than 1985's Clue. It features a murder's row of actors in one of the best ensemble casts this side of the White Lotus. In the event you don't like your murder mysteries with a side of giggles, check out Se7en. Just make sure you don't eat before you watch.

On the small screen or page, we seem to have lost touch with a certain kind of crime show or novel that lets characters show off their detective work. Nowadays, it's all about the technology in procedural shows like the CSI franchise. Gone are the days when a trench coat-clad Peter Falk had "just one more thing" to say before he dropped the big hammer.

Rian Johnson brought a lot of this flavor back when he gifted us with the Knives Out movies. Is Detective Benoit Blanc based on a book character?

Daniel Craig brings a certain kind of folksy, southern charm to the character of Detective Benoit Blanc. It's a bit like Andy Griffith's Ben Matlock, but with more costume changes. Although Daniel brings all the flair to the part, the character was created by Rian.

The writer/director told Academy Art U News that he always wanted to do a whodunit, so he did.

Rian doesn't start with the characters. It all begins with the skeleton of the story, which for him was inspired by Hitchcock thrillers. He didn't want a long buildup of gathering clues, but thought if there were characters you cared about, the whodunit would be a joyful side quest.

"Once I have that, I start zooming in bit by bit," he said. "So that’s when I came up with [this] Poirot-type detective and [thought], 'What would that look like?' And that’s how I eventually got to Benoit Blanc."

When he first started shopping the script around, Rian got a lot of questions about the film's tone. "I was really clear that this was going to be fun," he said to Academy Art U News. Despite our own love of Clue, Rian emphasized Knives Out isn't a parody of a whodunit.

"This is a real attempt at the genre, which means we have to be grounded constantly through the whole thing." To do that, Rian really relied on the actors.

Rian was asked about casting people who were playing against type. The audience most associates Daniel Craig with James Bond, who is the polar opposite of Detective Benoit Blanc.

"I knew he had a great sense of humor, but if you just know him from Bond, you might think he’s a very serious, stern person that he’s not at all," said the director.

Ahead of the premiere of the second movie in the Knives Out franchise, Rian spoke a bit more about what Daniel brought to the character. Rian told Netflix that he put pressure on himself to make Detective Blanc have some kind of quirk, like a monocle or an eyepatch.

Ultimately, it was Daniel who came up with the "light Southern drawl," and whose vibe brought the character to life.