Hearing Bridget Everett talk on the phone takes your breath away after watching (or listening to) her steal the show with a single phone call as Louise in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Rian Johnson’s latest Benoit Blanc mystery investigates the murder of the longtime monsignor of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Father Jud (Josh O’Connor), the optimistic young priest who immediately upon arrival clashes with Wicks, soon emerges as Chief of Police Geraldine Scott’s (Mila Kunis) primary suspect.
Enter Louise, an employee at the construction company that opens Wicks’s family crypt. Jud dials her business to see who scheduled the opening, clawing his way through her endless small talk to get an answer that may absolve his name. But when Louise learns that Jud’s a priest, she steers the silly exchange straight off a tonal cliff, quietly asking, “Can you pray for me?” A slog of an exchange with customer service turns divine.
Wake Up Dead Man is Everett’s first role since 2022’s Emmy-winning Somebody Somewhere, her unlike-anything-on-TV series that’s equal parts ballsy and tender. When Everett got the call about Wake Up Dead Man, she was shocked. “My agent texted me, which she never does,” says Everett. “I was like, ‘You sure they got the right person?’ I had always hoped to work with Rian one day. I never have thoughts like that. But I did, randomly.”
Everett and Jud talk their way through the dark, ultimately shifting from slapstick silliness to the film’s most raw themes. Louise’s mom, with whom she has a strained relationship, is sick, and Louise opens her heart to Jud for the salve of faith. “I wouldn’t even say hope, but he offers her comfort,” Everett says. Johnson adds that this meaning-making goes both ways: “Jud finds himself getting swept up in Blanc’s game. ‘Let’s sort the guilty from the innocent, let’s solve the crime,’ ” he says. “Until he gets this unexpected moment with Louise, and all of that is suddenly shattered. He remembers that his purpose as a priest is not to punish the guilty, but to serve them. He’s got to focus his energies back on being a good priest.”
Everett adds, “Father Jud has a gift, and she reminds him of that. When you look at the movie and when you look at the world, [this moment] makes him and the movie so relatable.”
In O’Connor, Everett found a gentle and warm scene partner. “Josh and I ended up spending more of the day together talking about gardening. He understood that it’s not easy to slide into a big production like that,” she says. “I can see why he’s such a star. He has an openness, and there’s something so truthful about him that is really special.”
Everett and O’Connor were on set together but shot the scene from separate rooms; just like their characters, they were at once distant and in sacred communion. “I was in another room, sitting at a desk that’s used in another scene, speaking very quietly,” she describes. “I could talk to him like I was sitting in my own apartment by myself.”
The scene may be brief, but its influence on the rest of the film is colossal. “The scene gives a necessary balance. It grounds the movie, gives it so much more meaning, and helps us understand Jud better,” she says. “As an actress, I didn’t care that my face wasn’t on the screen. I was really absorbed in what the scene was doing for him. It was really wonderful.”
Everett’s performance is spellbinding, and her humor and openheartedness make the exchange powerful: “I just tried to put myself where she was presently,” she says. “She’s asking a stranger to pray for her. Jud gave her a sense of peace and understanding. It’s not something that we take a lot of time for.”
Audiences — from fans on Reddit and Letterboxd to major critics and even priests — have been mesmerized by Everett’s performance. The actor understands why. “In the world today, so many people are driven by, ‘How’s this going to affect me?’ It’s wonderful to see somebody [like Jud] who’s not driven by that,” she says. “If you look at some of the characters as metaphors for what’s going on right now, a lot of us are looking for a Father Jud.”
Louise makes an indelible impression, and when asked what she thinks happens to Louise, Everett responds, “She’s just going about her day. She’s a survivor, and she’s doing it, and she’s just waiting for another friendly phone call.”
Watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, now streaming on Netflix.
