A Denver Priest, a Hollywood Director and a Bowl of Fettuccine: Father Scott Bailey Advises on Catholic Life for New ‘Knives Out’ Film

Through his work with director Rian Johnson and actor Josh O'Connor on the new Knives Out film, Father Scott Bailey created opportunities for understanding, even evangelizing, the Catholic faith.

Father Scott Bailey, pastor of Risen Christ Parish in Denver, with Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery producers Ram Bergman, Leopold Hughes and Nikos Karamigios. (Photo courtesy of Father Scott Bailey)

By Jay Sorgi

Sometimes, God uses big meals with fettuccine alfredo to open doors for encounter, wisdom and subtle evangelization.

Father Scott Bailey, pastor of Risen Christ Parish in Denver, created that opportunity in guiding and consulting for a top Hollywood film writer, producer and director who happens to be the nephew of one of his parishioners.

“It was crazy to me,” said Father Bailey about how Rian Johnson, the writer and director of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, hired him to make the setting within the plot of his comedic mystery an authentic presentation of the Catholic faith. The movie has been released in theaters and will be available on Netflix starting December 12.

“I've known for years that Kristin and Starck Johnson, my parishioners, are related to Rian Johnson, who has directed these Knives Out movies. He did Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He did some episodes of Breaking Bad, Looper and Brothers Bloom. He’s had a career in movies for at least 20 years,” Father Bailey continued.

Rian, who is not Catholic, was coming home to Colorado to celebrate his birthday in late 2023.

“Usually, we first find out about the movie through the script. He'll send us a script,” said Starck. “But this one, he wanted us involved a little earlier. He wanted to pick our brains. We said, ‘We'll do you one better. We'll have a bunch of priests over and let you talk to the real source.’”

“Starck came into the sacristy after Mass one day and said, ‘We'd love to have you over for dinner, get to meet him and then maybe he can pick your brain, maybe invite some other priests over,’” Father Bailey remembered.

So, on a December evening, Rian met up with Aunt Kristin, Uncle Starck, Father Bailey and Fathers Nathan Goebel, Trevor Lontine, Jacob Machado and Peter Mussett. They dove deep into a six-hour pasta-fest that educated a Hollywood filmmaker on the Catholic faith — a catechesis he needed to understand to make his film feel authentic.

“It was such an engaging conversation. We talked philosophy, politics, theology, literature, movies, everything. Rian is incredibly well-versed in a lot of writers and thinkers, and of course, you've got a room full of guys who studied as well, so it made for some really deep conversation pretty fast,” said Father Bailey. “He had a lot of questions about our life as priests. Some of the dynamics between priests was kind of an interesting thing. He walked away from that meeting with a greater sense of the direction and the feel of what a priest's life is like, and it was probably good for him to experience some hopefully normal priests from this little group of us.”

In April, director Rian Johnson (second from left) screened Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery for several Denver priests and local family and friends. Here, Johnson and Nathan Johnson, the film's composer, are pictured with Father Joe McLagan, Father Randy Dollins, Father Peter Mussett, Father Scott Bailey, Father Jacob Machado, Father Daniel Ciucci and Father Paul Htut. (Photo courtesy of Father Scott Bailey)

That night of warmth and discovery on an unseasonably warm night in Denver led to a subsequent phone call during Holy Week 2024, and a relationship that is leading to a credit for Father Bailey in a major motion picture, the role of “Catholic Technical Consultant.”

“He asked if I'd be willing to read the script and then give him some thoughts. His big question was, ‘Are there glaring issues that are completely inconsistent with Catholic life?’ He wanted to get the priesthood thing feeling accurate,” said Father Bailey, who was a bit occupied in the days to come. “I was like, ‘It is Holy Week! It's kind of my busiest week of the year. Give me a week after Easter.”

Father Bailey, who studied theater, advised him on three different levels of recommendations, including some critical ones that were important for believability within the film.

“He called me up after that and asked if I'd be willing to consult and work with his production team to get a lot of the details right,” he recalled. “I became the Catholic Technical Consultant, as is my title in the credits.”

Rian went to England to film the movie, which stars Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin and Mila Kunis. Father Bailey began getting a litany of transatlantic calls and Zoom meetings.

“I had an hour-long conversation with the costume designer. She had done a ton of research already. I was actually really impressed with how much she knew, but she was waiting for me to give the thumbs up on a number of things so she could start rolling,” Father Bailey said. “A crime happens during the Good Friday liturgy. The tabernacle is wide open and empty. That's a detail that you're not going to find in a church 364 days a year. It was interesting to work with the set director and the people in charge of making props, because there are liturgical things that are really unique on Good Friday. How are things laid out in the sanctuary? What does the sacristy look like? That stuff's important.”

Father Bailey also advised O’Connor, who, in the movie, plays a priest who becomes a central aspect of the plot. That advice went far beyond the movie's plot.

“He and I were doing Zoom meetings to find out a little bit about my life, trying to get into the head of a priest who's trying to hold together a community that's split over political issues, self-centered and not very Christ-centered in general,” he said. “How do you bring Christ into that? We had a lot of conversations about that. It was beautiful because, he would admit, we got into a lot of his spiritual life. We had some really beautiful conversations just about the Lord and his own upbringing in the Catholic faith, where he is with God now, what it means to pray and what it means to be with people and their suffering. And it was a really, really interesting evangelization opportunity.”

The movie itself wasn’t written to evangelize, but he believes the accurate portrayal of the Catholic faith as the backdrop of the movie brings even more door-opening opportunities to share the faith, with an ending that he says has a deeply spiritual element — all with a very believable priest as the driving character of the story.

“The thing I'm most excited about is to see a really well-portrayed priest on screen who doesn't feel one-dimensional,” said Father Bailey. “He's got normal shortcomings and failures as anybody else. He's got a past like anybody else. And yet he's a compelling, believable priest.”

Editor’s Note: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is rated PG-13 and contains content not suitable for children. Viewer discretion is advised.