Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan Try to Solve a Murder in the Trailer for Whodunnit 'See How They Run'

Here's an easy recipe for a movie, and a TV show as well: take a bunch of famous faces, throw them into the same space, knock off one of their characters and let a couple of them get sleuthing, pointing the finger at everyone else. It worked for Knives Out, gloriously so. It's made Only Murders in the Building a treat across not one but two seasons. And while it hasn't really hit the mark in recent Agatha Christie adaptations Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile — especially the later — the same setup remains intact in both flicks.

The next film to give the premise a whirl is new whodunnit See How They Run, which definitely has the star-studded cast part taken care of. As seen in the just-dropped trailer, Sam Rockwell (Richard Jewell) plays veteran detective Inspector Stoppard, while Saoirse Ronan (The French Dispatch) steps into the shoes of enthusiastic newcomer Constable Stalker.

And, the case they're tasked with looking into also brings Adrien Brody (Succession), Ruth Wilson (His Dark Materials), Reece Shearsmith (Venom: Let There Be Carnage), Harris Dickinson (The Souvenir: Part II), Shirley Henderson (Stan & Ollie) and David Oyelowo (Chaos Walking) into the mix  — and more.

Set in 1950s London, and in the West End to be precise, the movie follows the aftermath of a big-name death — a Hollywood director who was set to turn a smash-hit play into a film. Cue Stoppard and Stalker entering the sometimes-glamorous, sometimes-unseemly theatre world, trying to work out who's the killer.

Slated to hit cinemas at the end of September, the flick hails from first-time feature director Tom George (TV's Defending the Guilty and This Country), with Mark Chappell (Flaked and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret) on scripting duties.

Then mood: jaunty. The tone: comic. Yes, it's firmly murder-mystery comedy.

That's another regular part of the whodunnit equation, of course — turning a shock death and the investigation that follows into an amusing picture, that is.

Check out the trailer for See How They Run below:

See How They Run opens in cinemas Down under on September 29.

Images: Parisa Taghizadeh. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.