Silver Spring Native Nominated for Oscar for Knives Out

The 92nd Academy Awards on Sunday will have a slight local touch.

Silver Spring native Rian Johnson, 46, was nominated for an Oscar for writing Knives Out, which he also directed. The movie – part mystery, part whodunit and part comedy – was nominated for Writing (Original Screenplay).

Johnson was born in Silver Spring but moved to Colorado at a young age with his family then to California where he now lives. He had previously written and directed Brick, Looper, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Johnson also directed three episodes of the television drama Breaking Bad.

The other nominations in the Original Screenplay category are Marriage Story, 1917, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Parasite. The Oscars will be broadcast on ABC this Sunday at 8 pm.

Last Sunday at the BAFTAs (England’s equivalent to the Oscars), Johnson was nominated in the original screenplay category but did not win. But it was not for a lack of trying. Johnson’s not-as-lucky-as-he-had-hoped Knives Out cuff links did not quite do the trick.

Oh they’re OUT. @BAFTA time! pic.twitter.com/LmqOl9hhMt

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) February 2, 2020

About Joe Yasharoff

Joe Yasharoff is MCM's Director of Content and Operations. He is also an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Maryland. Previously, Joe was the Managing Editor at NBC Sports Washington and Executive Sports Producer at FOX5 (WTTG-TV). He hosts the MoCo's Most Famous podcast for MCM.

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