Credit: Lionsgate

If you’re dying to watch Knives Out sans major spoilers, we suggest not reading any further and if you’re a mystery film fanatic, we apologise for the forthcoming information. In a new interview with Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out director, Rian Johnson, the acclaimed filmmaker revealed that Apple has strict controls on its presence in film, including that all villains must not use its products.

Speaking with Vanity Fair he coyly said, “Apple… they let you use iPhones in movies but — and this is very pivotal if you’re ever watching a mystery movie — bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera,” before mentioning the information could spoil future mystery films for viewers with a keen eye for detail. “Every single filmmaker that has a bad guy in their movie that’s supposed to be a secret wants to murder me right now,” he joked.

Supporting this claim, MacRumours also pointed out that the tech giant has previously stated in its trademark and copyright policies that all products should only be shown “in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favourably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc.”

It appears that this has long been a requirement of Apple following a 2002 article from Wired that drew attention to all ‘good guys’ in 24 using Macs, while the ‘bad guys’ used Windows PC. 

We’ll be right back. Watching every mystery film with iPhone use in it.