The latest “Knives Out” movie may be another whodunit but the expanding franchise’s creator insists he also wanted to confront the current US political climate with the star-studded film.

“It’s hard for it not to be in your mind,” writer and director Rian Johnson told AFP as “Wake Up Dead Man” opened the London Film Festival on Wednesday after premiering in Toronto last month.

“We tried to not shy away from that,” he added, noting his latest Daniel Craig-led murder mystery was “unapologetically set and tuned into this moment” in the United States.

The film, showing for the first time outside North America, features a charismatic tyrannical monsignor, played by Josh Brolin, holding sway over a devoted and dysfunctional congregation.

He is challenged by another priest (Josh O’Connor), wh

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