The 69th BFI London Film Festival opened this evening with a lively screening of Rian Johnson’s third film At loggerheads movie, Wake up dead manat the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre.
Johnson was in attendance with most of her many cast members, including Kerry Washington, Cailee Spaeny, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis and Andrew Scott.
The crowd inside the Southbank Center was just as star-studded, with groups of familiar faces entering the theater to witness Johnson’s murder mystery trifecta.
High-profile attendees included billions of dollars barbie filmmaker Greta Gerwig, who made a surprise appearance at the screening, where she sat alongside him Narnia actress Emma Mackey. Stage vet Andrew Lloyd Webber snuck out just before the screening, as did Running Man filmmaker and BFI regular Edgar Wright.
Greta Gerwig attends the ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ Opening Gala during the 69th BFI London Film Festival at the Royal Festival Hall on October 8, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for BFI)
Also starring Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close and Jeremy Renner, Wake up dead man follows Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc as he arrives at the scene of a murder in a rural church. Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Brolin) has been killed and his deputy, a young priest named Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor), is the prime suspect. Blanc and Duplenticy join forces to solve the crime.
In his TIFF review, Deadline’s Damon Wise said fans shouldn’t worry about Johnson switching genders for the latest. At loggerheads film, as Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc and a new cast of all-star characters make the project entertaining: “Don’t take this to mean that all the fun has been sucked out, far from it. As one character said, ‘There’s obviously some Scooby-Doo shit going on here.’ And wouldn’t you know it, that very much is the case.
Wake Up Dead Man: A knife-edge mystery is set to hit select theaters on November 26 before its streaming debut on Netflix on December 12.
LFF takes place from October 8 to 19.
