From A Death On The Nile To A Shiny Onion: Agatha Christie's Influence On Hollywood
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The coined phrase “Cozy Murder Mystery” is synonymous with the literary icon Agatha Christie. Her work is as relevant for today’s contemporary audiences as it was in the late 1920s when her novels first arrived on the scene. Many of those novels have been adapted for television and film over the last century. In addition to her specific stories being brought to life for audiences to enjoy, many of the murder mysteries brought to the screen are influenced by Ms. Christie’s work as well. This includes Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies.
Film School Rejects recently chatted with Johnson about Detective Benoit Blanc and some of the inspiration that led to the first movie as well as its sequels. It is the oddballs and weirdos that Rian celebrated the most when it came to writing his screenplays with the whodunnit equation that Christie herself is known for. In the interview, Johnson stated that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is probably his favorite Christie novel. Interestingly, Ackroyd is a wealthy widower who throws a large dinner party in much the same fashion as fans see in the Knives Out franchise. One cannot help but notice the similarities between Hercule Poirot and Benoit Blanc as well.
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There has been speculation centered on the author herself when Christie suddenly went missing for 11 days in 1926. Sounds like it came out of one of her stories, doesn’t it, or that someone somewhere did a movie with that plot, right? Well, it is a true mystery that no one ever solves. She lived a long life afterward, yet no one knows what she did or where she went during that time.
Christie’s works have been a part of cinematic history since the first film adaptation of The Passing of Mr. Quinn came out in 1928. Murder on the Orient Express debuted in 1974 with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot. Death on the Nile came out in 1978, starring Peter Ustinov in the leading role of Poirot. Evil Under the Sun had Ustinov reprising the role of the beloved retired Detective Poirot in 1982. We all know Angela Lansbury from Murder She Wrote, which was arguably inspired by Christie herself. Lansbury landed the role after her performance as Miss Marple in the 1980 film, The Mirror Crack’d.
BBC would hold a murder mystery series titled Miss Marple, which adapted all twelve of the Miss Marple novels, starring Joan Hickson, and ran from 1984-1992. ITV breathed new life into the popular Miss Marple character in the U. K. with a successful series based on the titular character from 2004-2013. In 1989, Christie’s popular character, Detective Hercule Poirot, was the star of Poirot on ITV in the UK. It ran for almost 25 years in 200 countries.
In 2017, viewers went on another train ride in the revival of Murder on the Orient Express, which was both directed by and starred Kenneth Branagh. The ensemble cast included Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judy Dench, and Penelope Cruz. Other Christie adaptations that came out during the same time period included And then There Were None (2015), The Witness for the Prosecution (2016), and Crooked House (2017). The series The ABC Murders premiered on BBC One in the U. K. around Christmas 2018 and was made available on Amazon Prime Video in the U. S. in February 2019.
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Most recently, 2022 has seen a return to Egypt via Death on the Nile, with Branagh reprising his role as Poirot. Fans can feel the suspense as he races the clock to find a murderer on board a river steamer before time runs out. The movie came out in February of this year and boasts an all-star cast, including Tom Bateman, four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright.
Hugh Laurie, known for his work on the hit hospital drama House, wrote and directed the miniseries Why Didn’t They Ask Evans in 2022, starring Will Poulter and Lucy Boynton. The mystery revolves around a man asking that question just before his death from falling off a cliff. Poulter and Boynton’s characters become amateur sleuths as they investigate the title question surrounding the man’s death.
The most recent film adaptation currently in production is A Haunting in Venice (slated for a 2023 premiere), based on Christie’s supernatural thriller titled Hallowe’en Party. The cast will again include Branagh’s Poirot alongside Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Michelle Yeoh. Kenneth Branagh discusses the film and his character:
“[It is] a fantastic development of the character Hercule Poirot, as well as the Agatha Christie franchise. Based on a complex, little-known tale of mystery set at Halloween in a pictorially ravishing city, it is an amazing opportunity for us, as filmmakers, and we are relishing the chance to deliver something truly spine-chilling for our loyal movie audiences.”
Many have loved and enjoyed Agatha Christie’s works for over a hundred years. She is as relevant today in the murder mystery genre as she was then.
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