The Knives Out movies are known for their fun twists. This is… the opposite of that for a great many fans of the franchise…
All week the all-star cast of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has been revealed one by one. Joining Daniel Craig this time around are Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), Josh O’Connor (Challengers), Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, Glenn Close, and Jeremy Renner. But it was Thursday afternoon’s reveal that many fans feel is the bad apple spoiling the whole bunch. That actor? Mila Kunis.
Yeah, it’s not a good time for Mila. She and Ashton Kutcher infamously wrote letters defending their old friend and That ’70s Show co-star Danny Masterson — letters intended to reduce his sentencing after he was convicted of drugging and raping women. It’s not a good look defending a rapist. And the bad associations don’t stop there.
Last we heard Mila was making sure her hubby kept his head down so he didn’t get pulled into the whole Diddy discourse. Yeah, apparently he and the All About The Benjamins rapper used to party hard together. Considering Diddy is also being accused of rape, as well as domestic abuse, sex trafficking, and more, it’s looking pretty grim for the couple. We mean, having one friend who turns out to be a monster is one thing…
Related: Diddy Allegedly Beat & Threatened To Kill Music Exec Who Dated Ex Kim Porter!
So naturally plenty of previously excited cinephiles suddenly found their interest in the next Knives Out draining faster than you can say ICK! In response to the initial announcement post on X (Twitter), fans immediately wrote:
“Not the rapist supporter. Dude come on we are better than this.”
“Nobody wants rapist apologist Mila Kunis in anything. Do better.”
“Booooooo”
“Whhhhy is she still working?”
“There’s still time to fire her @rianjohnson @KnivesOut”
Over on the Reddit page for the movie, it got worse. All those excited moviegoers got downright furious!
“Oh, that’s a shame. The casting was going so well.”
“Ok, now make her character a crypto grifter with an insufferable wannabe techbro partner.”
“Well, if they’re investigating a rape we know which side she’ll be on”
“Grossss”
“oh man, until now each cast announcement made me more excited for the movie”
“Wonder if they’ll have her secretly vouch for a rapist cult member in this one.”
“Sis is going to write a strongly worded letter of defense for the murderer, and then backpedal in the post credits scene.”
“Is there a way to make a petition against this? There’s no way this person should be allowed on a major film set less than a year after writing a heinous letter to defend a violent rapist. Extremely disgusted by everyone involved in this casting decision.”
“Does Mila Kunis have an agent who clawed, begged, borrowed and stole for this role, does she have a personal connection w a key figure in the project, or do studios really believe anyone wants to see or hear from this woman ever again?”
“Booooooooooooooooooooooo (ycott)”
Ooh, that last one… Will this one casting really keep viewers away? How many? Seems like a lot more than it’ll bring in, that’s for damn sure. Oof. Ouch!
Considering director Rian Johnson has cultivated a reputation as a sweet progressive, this really is surprising. And it also means it’ll disproportionately hurt his movies to cast actors with this kind of problematic baggage. Will the backlash make him change the course though? Or will he and Netflix completely ignore it?? What do YOU think??
[Image via Lionsgate/Vanity Fair/YouTube.]
