Daniel Craig returned as Benoit Blanc for the international premiere of Rian Johnson's third Knives Out mystery, which opened the 69th BFI London Film Festival on the South Bank.
Daniel Craig, who played James Bond in five films, returned as the detective Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out mystery. It opened the 69th BFI London Film Festival at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank on Wednesday 8 October 2025.
Craig was born in Chester in 1968 and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1991. The BBC serial Our Friends in the North made his name in 1996, and Casino Royale, his first Bond film, followed ten years later.
Wake Up Dead Man takes Blanc to an upstate New York parish, where a death and a missing inheritance draw in Josh O’Connor as a young priest. Glenn Close and Josh Brolin lead the ensemble of suspects. Johnson called it the most personal film of the three.
The series has a history with the Festival. Knives Out screened as its American Express Gala in 2019, and Glass Onion closed the 2022 edition. This third film had its international premiere here, ahead of its Netflix release on 12 December.
Andrew Scott, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Cailee Spaeny and Daryl McCormack joined Johnson and Craig on the carpet.