Daniel Craig has teamed with director Rian Johnson for a new murder mystery titled Knives Out. The project came out of nowhere and will be financed via a new production company that Johnson has formed with his longtime producing partner Ram Bergman. The project will be hitting the market in search of a distributor at the Toronto International Film Festival this week and it's expected to be a very competitive auction.

The project came out of nowhere because the timing just happened to work out. Rian Johnson penned the script and wanted Daniel Craig for the lead role, who will be a detective trying to solve a murder in a contemporary setting. It had looked as though Craig would be busy with James Bond 25, but with Danny Boyle exiting the director's chair recently, that freed up some time for him as that project needs to do some regrouping behind the scenes. Daniel Craig agreed to star in Knives Out as a result before suiting back up as Bond. Johnson had this to say in a statement.

"I have been a huge fan and always wanted to work with him and as I worked on the script, trying to get it right, Ram and I were wringing our hands over who could be the detective. Then, serendipitously, we heard Daniel might have a small window, and it worked out. He's an actor of extraordinary range, and we are looking forward to the fun of finding that modern detective, and collaborating with Daniel on creating a new Poirot."

This will be the first movie that Rian Johnson will helm following last year's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which grossed $1.3 billion worldwide but wound up being incredibly divisive. Despite that, Johnson is still working on a new trilogy of movies set within a galaxy far, far away for Lucasfilm, but he's squeezing this in before diving head first into that endeavor. Glen Basner's CAA Finance and FilmNation are helping Johnson and Ram Bergman with the auction, who previously worked with them on Brick, Looper and The Brothers Bloom. Bergman had this to say.

"Glen sold all of Rian's movies with the exception of Star Wars. We went to Cannes with Looper and watched it sell very well. This is a different time in the business, but we are excited to come in as the financiers and producers. Our priority is to find the best distributor in each territory, and to spend time with the buyers figuring out what's best for the film."

Filming on Knives Out, which doesn't have an official synopsis yet but is described as a modern day murder mystery in the classic whodunit style, is set to commence in November. At the present time, there is no word on who else will join Daniel Craig on screen. We could be hearing more following the auction at TIFF. We'll be sure to keep you up to date as more detail are made available. This news originated over at Deadline.