The Last Jedi’ director says Apple won’t let villains use iPhones in films

What kind of phone would a movie villain use? Not an iPhone, because Apple reportedly doesn’t allow it.

This is according to Knives Out writer and director Rian Johnson, who shared the news in an interview with Vanity Fair (via MacRumors). 

“Apple, they let you use iPhones in films, but — and this is very pivotal if you’re watching a mystery movie — bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera,” said Johnson, who also directed Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The entire, 23-minute interview is mostly about Knives Out, and it contains a pretty big spoiler. If you want to see just the iPhone bit, it’s at around 3 minutes into the interview. (Warning: It features a screenshot of one person holding an iPhone, so you know that person isn’t a villain.)

I cannot recall seeing a movie baddie with an iPhone, but human memory is frail and unreliable. It’s worth noting that Apple’s intellectual property guidelines ask that depictions of Apple products are “shown only in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favorably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc.” Furthermore, an old 24 fan theory — which is that good guys in the series use Macs and bad guys uses PCs — eventually turned out to be true. 

In any case, if Johnson’s remark is accurate, this bit of info has the potential to spoil a lot of mystery films.