Digging into ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ with Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman
The Business
KCRW
4.5 • 697 Ratings
🗓️ 28 November 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Kim Masters talks to writer-director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman about their latest Knives Out installment, Wake Up Dead Man. Johnson opens up about leaning on his producer when he panics during the writing process—and why, oddly enough, he never hit that wall on The Last Jedi. Bergman explains why he and Johnson prefer to bankroll early development themselves rather than put up with studio input. And they dive into the Netflix of it all: a global megaphone for Benoit Blanc mysteries, but not much of a run in theaters.
Plus, in a truly baffling twist, Paramount is set to distribute Rush Hour 4—with the once-canceled Brett Ratner back in the director’s chair. Even stranger, reporting from Semafor suggests President Donald Trump pushed Larry Ellison to revive the Jackie Chan–Chris Tucker franchise. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni attempt to make sense of the latest happenings at Paramount.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is The Business. |
| 0:05.4 | Writer director Ryan Johnson and his producing partner, Ron Bergman, have revived the |
| 0:09.8 | who-done it for a modern audience with the Knives Out series. But Johnson says that first |
| 0:14.4 | Benoit Blanc case wasn't an easy sell. When we pitched it around, you know, it was at that time |
| 0:19.4 | kind of a musty-old genre, and I was coming right off of Star Wars. And I had even friends who were like, are you sure this is what you want to spend your Star Wars credit on right now? And it had been something I had been kicking around. And they're just like, well, let's see if we can get away with one. Johnson opens up about leaning on his producer when he panics over the writing, and why, oddly |
| 0:39.5 | enough, he never hit that wall on The Last Jedi. |
| 0:42.8 | Bergman lays out why he and Johnson preferred a bankroll early development themselves rather |
| 0:47.2 | than put up with studio input, and they dive into the Netflix of it all, a global megaphone |
| 0:52.2 | for Benoit Blanc mysteries, and not much of a run in theaters. |
| 0:56.2 | But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW. |
| 1:01.5 | I am joined by my partner in banter, Matt Bellany. Hello, Matt. |
| 1:05.4 | Hi there. Well, so you had a thing that you read about for Puck a few days ago saying that Donald Trump had talked to Larry Ellison about making Rush Hour 4 with Brett Ratner, the at least formerly canceled director. |
| 1:23.1 | And I was very skeptical because I thought, first of all, maybe he said it to Larry and David, |
| 1:30.0 | because I couldn't see Larry Ellison wanting to start messing around greenlighting movies. |
| 1:35.6 | That is his son's prerogative, I will note. |
| 1:37.6 | But it just seemed like also such a bad idea. |
| 1:42.8 | I mean, I don't even understand how the concept works because Chris Tucker, |
| 1:47.5 | I can't remember the last movie he made. Jackie Chan is 71. And yet, now we are told that this is |
| 1:56.1 | something the Paramount is going to do. Yes. Well, first of all, it's distributing the movie. They've agreed to |
| 2:01.5 | distribute it. The financing is coming from elsewhere. There's a producer financier named |
| 2:05.9 | Turok Ben Amar that has been putting together this project for years now, it seems like. And so, yes, |
| 2:12.4 | they are going to distribute this film. So they see that as a big distinction. They say they're not developing or |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KCRW, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of KCRW and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.