How to tell who dunnit
Apple won’t let film-makers show baddies using iPhones
According to director Rian Johnson, there’s an easy way to tell heroes and villains apart at the movies: look at what kind of phone they’re using.
If a character is using an iPhone, there’s no chance they’re going to end up being evil, as Apple will only allow good characters to use their devices in movies and TV.
Stringent product placement guidelines from the tech giant place tight restrictions on who can use an iPhone on screen - not great for hiding a killer in a mystery.
‘I don’t know if I should say this or not,’ said Johnson - whose credits include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper and Knives Out. ‘Because it’s going to screw me on the next mystery I write. But I’ll say it, it’s very interesting. Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies but bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera.'
Johnson cites a key scene in his whodunnit Knives Out, where Linda Drysdale, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, holds an iPhone.
In the scene, a will reading is happening following the murder of a rich novelist ( Christopher Plummer) and Curtis's character is seen holding an iPhone - meaning there is no way she could be the killer, as Apple rules forbid it.
Johnson let the insider secret out as he was taking viewers through the anatomy of a scene in the movie - which also stars Daniel Craig and Toni Collette.
Over the last decade, Apple had more product placements in studio movies than any other brand but the company always wants its products to 'be the hero'.
According to brand tracking company Concave, an Apple product appears in one form or another in most TV shows taking place in the modern world.
They found there was 13 minutes of air time for Apple in the second season of Nicole Kidman-fronted Big Little Lies, also staring Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep.
In 2012, Apple’s Phil Schiller said the company ‘would love to see our products used by the stars,’ but the philosophy would always be to show ‘the product as hero.’
In guidelines on how its products should be depicted by developers promoting an app or accessory, Apple says the product must be ‘shown only in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favourably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc.’
Sharp-eyed audiences caught on to the fact that Apple products always indicated heroes at work as far back as 2001, when the television show 24 showed only its hero characters using Apple computers while villains were stuck with PCs.
Apple isn't alone in ensuring its products are seen in the best possible light when used by characters in film and television.
'All brands have stipulations for how they want to be used and seen on screen,' Darryl Collis, product placement specialist at Seesaw Media said.
'It is common for some brands not to want to be associated with a bad guy, or for an alcohol or car brand not to want be linked with characters being drunk.'