In news that will potentially destroy any murder-mystery that you’ll ever watch from now on, Knives Out director, Rian Johnson, has just revealed a huge industry secret. Evidently, Apple is okay with iPhones being used in movies, as long as the baddies aren’t using them.
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Literally, I still can’t believe it. He begins his spiel by saying, “Funny thing, I don’t know if I should say this or not… because it’s going to screw me in the next mystery movie that I write… but, forget it, I’ll say it, it’s very interesting.” He continues, “Apple… they let you use iPhones in movies, but – and this is very pivotal, if you’re ever watching a mystery movie – bad guys can not have iPhones on camera. So…Oh no! Every single filmmaker who has a bad guy in their movie – and it’s supposed to be a secret – wants to murder me right now.”
I simply can not handle this information, I have so many questions. Like, it makes sense. Of course, you would only want your product being associated with characters that reflect the brand values of the company. Evidently, for Apple, all that means is the character needs to be good!
It brings me to my next question, does Samsung also have this policy? Or is it then a dead giveaway if most of the characters are using an iPhone and there’s one member of the squad that’s just chilling on a Galaxy?
This news takes me back to the Nickelodeon family-friendly sitcom days, where iCarly, Zoey101 and Victorious characters would be using Pear electronics (instead of Apple), presumably for copyright reasons. Maybe they didn’t get the copyright, maybe they just didn’t ask, they were certainly good at imitating the Apple branding…
Also, we need to talk about, what on earth constitutes a “good” character. Sure, superhero flicks and whodunits have obvious evil tropes, but what about drama films and rom-coms. Even the “baddie” in those movies end up having some redeeming qualities for the sake of seeming somewhat relatable. I demand an official statement from Apple now.
Johnson also spoke about the use of the Apple iPhone as a mode of story-telling in his film, Knives Out. He said, “A little shout out to the props department… know that anytime a clock or a phone is inset, somebody has placed very close attention to the time and has made sure, has like asked me what time it’s supposed to be in the actual scene… Thank you props!”
Tea was spilt! Apple, feel free to elaborate on this news. Rian Johnson, thanks for giving us the key to working out the villain in your next whodunit.
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