Rian Johnson, director of Knives Out and The Last Jedi, tucked a fascinating bit of Apple trivia into a recent video breakdown of a scene from his megahit mystery movie.
Speaking with Vanity Fair in a video published this week, Johnson—while giving fans some insight on a crucial Knives Out moment—revealed that Apple has some specific rules in place when it comes to fictional characters putting iPhones to use.
"Also, another funny thing, I don't know if I should say this or not," Johnson said around the 2:50 mark in the video above. "Not 'cause it's lascivious or something but because it's gonna screw me on the next mystery movie that I write. But, forget it. I'll say it. It's very interesting. Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies but—and this is very pivotal if you're watching a mystery movie—bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera."
Johnson then joked that, due to his revealing of this Apple rule, "every single filmmaker who has a bad guy in their movie that's supposed to be a secret wants to murder me right now."
Though it's not clear whether iPhones will play a key part in the story, a sequel to Knives Out was confirmed earlier this month to be moving forward. According to a Deadlinereport citing a Lionsgate earnings call, production kickoff is "imminent" for the sequel. Earlier this year, Johnson hinted at his desire to continue with more Knives Out stories, though he pointed out that he must first finish up a script.
