By JAKE COYLE

TORONTO (AP) — The morning after Rian Johnson premiered his latest whodunit “Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” he and one of his stars, Glenn Close, were debating billing.

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Not among the main cast, which considering all the stars in “Wake Up, Dead Man” — Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, to name a few — would be a headache for any filmmaker to sort. But for an uncredited one: Close’s dog, Pip, who very briefly appears in the movie.

“And he’s got a pain in the butt for an agent,” chuckles Johnson.

In each “Knives Out” movie, Johnson has assembled some of his favorite actors and managed to give nearly all of them a moment to shine. “Wake Up, Dead Man” is no different; there are numerous standout performances. But one of them, most definitely, is Close’s, whose connections to Johnson’s film run deeper than her Havanese’s cameo.

“When Rian called, it was so thrilling,” Close says. “I had heard about what a good guy he was before I talked to him. And to be on set with him was really something. It’s such a delicate chemistry when you’re putting a cast together.”

In “Wake Up, Dead Man,” Johnson, drawing on G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown mysteries, shifts from the Greek isles of “Glass Onion” to an upstate New York church. A young priest named Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor) has been sent to aid a flagging church led by Brolin’s monsignor, a charismatic but tyrannical figure. Much of the cast make up his loyal flock, with Close’s Martha Delacroix as his most devout follower.

“Knives Out” has forged its own community. When “Wake Up, Dead Man” premiered over the weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was the third of the three movies to launch here, and the most eagerly anticipated film of the festival. The movie, which Netflix will release in theaters Nov. 26 before it streams two weeks later, has plenty of the comic elements of the first two “Knives Out” films. But it’s less satirical when it comes to questions of faith and belief.

“For me, that’s where this whole thing came from,” Johnson says. “I grew up Protestant and what we’d now term evangelical. I was very Christian growing up and not just my parents dragging me to church. Through my early 20s, I really was entirely in it and framed the world around through my relationship with Christ. It was a big, big part of my life. And it’s not anymore. But anyone who is a lapsed Christian, you still carry so much with you.”

And it’s this backdrop of sincere reckoning with religion that makes “Wake Up, Dead Man” more than a simple part for the 78-year-old Close. When Close was 7, her parents moved from Greenwich, Connecticut, to join with Moral Re-Armament, a religious movement Close has called a cult. For years, it dictated much of her life, including what she wore and said. Close later joined with an outgrowth of that movement, the conservative performance troupe Up With People, before quitting at age 22. Acting, she has said, saved her.

Glenn Close arrives on the red carpet to promote the film “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

“I just think religion has been responsible for most of the horrible things human beings have done to each other,” Close says. “It’s very hard for me not to look at religion as a way of controlling people. It’s more political for me. I do think there’s something in the human psyche that we don’t know who we are, where we came from and where we’re going. I think we’re tribal creatures and the comfort you can get from a community, whether religious or not, is palpable.”

When Johnson decided to reach out to Close for the role, he was aware of her history. But his reasons were simpler. He hoped to cast Close, he says, because “she’s one of the best actors of our generation.”

“The truth is, it’s a part that calls for somebody who can both have fun with a certain degree of archness with it but ultimately can land the real emotional truth,” says Johnson. “And that’s a very, very tall order.”

The less said, the better is generally the case with the narratives of the “Knives Out” movies. But it’s fair to say that Close, after making an impeccably timed entrance, fills Martha with an uncommon amount of depth in a performance ranging from comic to tragic.

“I love characters that have this crazy belief that others can look from the outside and say, ‘Whoa, that’s over the top.’ But it’s real,” says Close, whose celebrated career has included films like “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Fatal Attraction.”

From the first “Knives Out,” Johnson set out to draw Agatha Christie-style mysteries — usually quaint period pieces — into the present day. Though “Wake Up, Dead Man” doesn’t sharpen its knives for Christianity quite the way the previous films did for MAGA hat-wearers in “Knives Out” or tech bros in “Glass Onion,” it doesn’t ignore political connections, either. There’s a DOGE mention, among other references.

“When you talk about Christianity in America today, it’s hard not to talk about politics,” says Johnson. “For me, growing up in the evangelical church, right into the rise of Reaganism, it was kind of the crucible of the Christian right. I obviously have a lot of thoughts about that, but I also grew up with a very personal relationship with Christ. I also have a deep feeling about the stuff I took from Christianity that’s positive, which is largely just the stuff Jesus actually said, is exactly what the world most needs right now. And that’s the irony of it.”

Johnson adds: “You’re trying to thread the needle in terms of having an actual conversation about this, instead of just wagging your finger and saying ‘How could you think this, or how can you think that?’ on both sides.”

Murder mysteries ultimately deal in justice and meting out moral determinations. But “Wake Up, Dead Man” makes room, also, for understanding and grace in a way that, in many ways, goes against whodunit conventions.

“I really believe the hardest thing for a human being to do is to forgive,” Close says. “And I’m not even talking in a religious context. Especially now. It goes so against our basest instincts. When you forgive, you stop the circle.”

Now that “Knives Out” has become a trilogy, or, rather, a trinity, it’s natural to wonder if “Wake Up, Dead Man” is also closing a loop for Johnson. The writer-director has begun writing something original outside of the series, but, he says, that doesn’t mean he’s moving on.

Daniel Craig attends the premiere of “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” at the Princess of Wales Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

“Three is the smallest number where you can establish and then break a pattern. For me, it was largely about showing how these movies can be anything,” Johnson says. “It’s not so much the closing of a chapter, so much as the promise, hopefully, that as long as Daniel and I can keep getting ourselves excited about these things, we can keep making them.”

“Wake Up, Dead Man,” of course, also brings some parts of Close’s life full circle. When Martha’s big moment comes in a dramatic scene inside the church, Close says, “the thing that was kind of a surprise was how real it became.”

“To go into new territory, that’s what it’s all about for me,” says Close. “And Martha is certainly new territory. New old territory.”

By ISABELLA VOLMERT, Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge dismissed criminal charges Tuesday against a group of people who were accused of attempting to falsely certifying President Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election in the battleground state, a major blow to prosecutors as similar cases in four other states have been muddied with setbacks.

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District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons said in a court hearing that the 15 Republicans accused will not face trial. The case has dragged through the courts since Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced the charges over two years ago.

Simmons said she saw no intent to commit fraud in the defendants’ actions. Whether they were “right, wrong or indifferent,” they “seriously believed” there were problems with the election, the judge said.

“I believe they were executing their constitutional right to seek redress,” Simmons said.

Each member of the group, which included a few high profile members of the Republican Party in Michigan, faced eight charges of forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery. The top felony charges carried a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Supporters, friends and family crowded in the hallway outside the courtroom cheered when the judge said the cases would be dismissed. Defendants leaving the courtroom cried and hugged friends and family. One woman wept as she hugged another and said, “We did it.”

Investigators said the group met at the Michigan GOP headquarters in December of 2020 and signed a document falsely stating they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors.” President Joe Biden won Michigan by nearly 155,000 votes, a result confirmed by a GOP-led state Senate investigation in 2021.

Electors are part of the 538-member Electoral College that officially elects the president of the United States. In 48 states, electors vote for the candidate who won the popular vote. In Nebraska and Maine, elector votes are awarded based on congressional district and statewide results.

One man accused in the Michigan case had the charges against him dropped after he agreed to cooperate with the state attorney general’s office in October 2023. The other 15 defendants pleaded not guilty and have maintained that their actions were not illegal.

Prominent Michigan MAGA activist and former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock was one of the accused. Her attorney, Nicholas Somberg, told reporters after the hearing that the case brought by the attorney general’s office was a waste of money and a “malicious prosecution.”

“There needs to be major consequences for the people who brought this,” he said.

Simmons, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, took nearly a year to say whether there was sufficient evidence to bring the cases to trial following a series of lengthy preliminary hearings. In her remarks Tuesday, Simmons said the case was not about who won the 2020 election, but about the intent of the people charged.

“This is not an election interference case,” she said.

Prosecutors in Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona have also filed criminal charges related to the fake electors scheme. None of the cases have neared the trial stage and many have been bogged down by procedural and appellate delays.

In Nevada, the state attorney general revived a case against a group of allegedly fake electors last year, while a judge in Arizona ordered a similar case back to a grand jury in May. In Wisconsin last month, a judge declined to dismiss felony charges against three Trump allies connected to a plan to falsely cast electoral ballots for Trump even though Biden won the state in 2020.

The Georgia prosecution is essentially on hold while Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Atlanta, who brought the charges against President Trump and others appeals her removal from the case. Technically, Trump is still a defendant in the case, but as the sitting president, it is highly unlikely that any prosecution against him could proceed while he’s in office.

The effort to secure fake electors was central to the federal indictment against Trump that was abandoned earlier this year shortly before Trump took office for his second term.

By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

My 18-month-old grandson doesn’t have the biggest vocabulary, but like most toddlers, he makes what he wants known pretty clearly.

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That’s especially true when it comes to his favorite foods, which these days is pretty much anything he can stuff into his mouth unassisted.

His most practiced phrase is “Eat, eat!” followed by a gesture he learned at daycare — tapping his thumbs and fingers together in a flat “O” to make the American Sign Language sign for “more.”

All kids love cookies, crackers and string cheese, of course. Their parents do, too. But perhaps none is more beloved among the rugrat set than goldfish crackers, which Pepperidge Farm launched in the U.S. in 1962 — surprisingly — as a bar snack for adults.

The fish-shaped crackers were invented in 1958 by Swiss manufacturer Oscar J. Kambly as a birthday present for his wife, whose zodiac sign was Pisces. After the smiley face was added in 1997, It didn’t take long for the crunchy treats to become a children’s favorite. Today, The Campbell’s Company production line in Willard, Ohio, produces some 50 million of the cheerful little whole-grain fishies every day — more than 785 miles if you lined them all up head to tail.

Kids tend to find animal crackers, which are even older, just as addictive. Nabisco first tucked the tiny zoo- and circus-animal shaped cookies into its iconic red-and-yellow circus wagon box in 1902.

Bakers have been shaping cookies to resemble animals since at least the 6th or 7th century, when they were used for a pre-Christian Germanic/Nordic midwinter festival known as Julfest. Poor people couldn’t afford to sacrifice animals to the gods, so they made biscuits or cookies shaped like them as offerings. The practice of eating animal crackers gained popularity in Victorian England, and in the 1870s, Stauffer’s Biscuit Company started producing a menagerie of lion, giraffe and other animal shapes for commercial sale in York, Pa. Nabisco followed in 1902, and over the years has created at least 50 playful shapes.

Kids love them because they’re tasty; parents appreciate the fact they are easy to portion, relatively wholesome when compared to other sugary treats and easy to find at grocery stores and big club warehouses in a variety of flavors.

As I discovered when my three other grandkids were in town earlier this month, animal- and fish-shaped crackers are also incredibly easy to make at home with just a few simple ingredients.

If little hands pitch in with the rolling and cutting, making them is a fun way to spend quality time together in the kitchen while developing fine motor skills. Baking also teaches practical skills every child should know like measuring, counting and following instructions.

And when the last tray of cookies has cooled and is ready to be gobbled, do you eat head or tail first? Both treats are perfect for anytime snacking and also can be packed into lunch boxes or scooped into bags as party favors.

Theo couldn’t get enough of them. Plenty of grown-ups will like ’em, too.

Homemade Goldfish Crackers

PG tested

To make gluten-free goldfish, substitute an equal amount of your favorite gluten-free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. Be sure to chill the dough (it makes the crackers flaky) and flour the work surface. (The dough will roll easier.)

I found a mini goldfish cutter on Amazon, but they’re also available at baking supply stores and Walmart.

3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 8 ounces)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 kosher salt

6 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into 1/2 -inch pieces

1-2 tablespoons cold water

Flaky sea salt, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, combine cheese, flour, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and salt.

Pulse until the cheese mixes into the flour. Add butter and pulse until the mix clumps together to form pea-size balls. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together and forms a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and form into a ball. Divide the dough in half.

Working with one section at a time, roll the dough as thin as you can, about a 1/4 -inch thick. Cut into “goldfish” or 1/2 -inch squares. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Carefully transfer the cutouts to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them a 1/2 inch apart. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if desired.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Makes about 5 cups of goldfish.

— halfbakedharvest.com

Homemade Animal Crackers

PG tested

The thinner you roll the dough, the crisper the cracker; aim for between 1/8 – and 1/4 -inch thick. You can reroll the scraps as you go, but you’ll need to chill it again if it gets too soft.

Cookie cutters with plunger stamps provide the best detail. Whether or not to glaze the finished crackers after cooling depends on personal preference; I left mine naked.

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and honey until well combined.

Add egg and vanilla, and continue to whisk until smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and cinnamon, then mix this into your butter mixture. You might need to get in there with your hands and knead it just until it comes together.

Shape the dough into a flattened disc, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (You can use it right away, but it’s a little easier to roll when it has chilled for a bit.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. (Keep the remaining dough covered and in the refrigerator to stay cold until you are ready to roll it.)

Use animal cookie cutters (or any cookie cutters) to cut out the dough into shapes. Place the crackers 1/2 inch apart onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around the edges.

Let cool for at least 5 minutes on the baking sheets before enjoying. Stored cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.

— adapted from biggerbolderbaking.com

©2025 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Redd Brown, Bloomberg News

Creatine is shedding its gym-bro reputation, unlocking lucrative new markets as women and older Americans get wise to the benefits of the long-stigmatized supplement. Sales are booming as a result.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic put health and wellbeing front and center for many Americans, creatine started riding the same wave that pushed up demand for anything from high-protein food products and weight-loss drugs to an interest in weight lifting, among other lifestyle changes.

Vitamin- and supplement-seller GNC, which has over 4,000 locations across the US, has seen creatine sales surge 75% from 2020. “Creatine is now in more baskets than almost any other supplement we carry,” said Mark Butera, GNC’s vice president of merchandising.

Consumer demographics are changing too. Women now account for 30% of all creatine purchases at the retailer, up from 18% in 2020, while buyers’ average age has risen to 35 years from 30.

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound produced by the body for energy production — indirectly contributing to muscle growth by enabling more training. It’s different from protein, which supplies the materials for actual tissue growth.

Research into creatine — first discovered and isolated in 1832 — has largely focused on adult male athletes with new inquiries increasingly focusing on the benefits beyond muscle building, including on bone and cognitive health across all ages and genders.

“It’s something to consider for likely anybody on the planet in some way or another,” according to Darren Candow, a professor at the University of Regina focusing on exercise physiology, nutrition and aging.

Academic research on creatine supplementation has grown steadily, with papers published rising 7.2% on average over the last five years, according to data compiled by PubMed, a division of the US Department of Health Human Services. AlzChem Group AG, the most prominent creatine producer outside China, is a major funder of such research, supporting studies of over 30 scientists in female health, longevity and cognitive performance, it said in written comments.

AlzChem doubled its production capacity in 2022 amid “exceptionally strong” demand, with another expansion planned this year and a further increase currently being evaluated.

Enthusiasm aside, creatine supplements alone won’t result in the rapid body transformations touted online.

“Creatine is both underrated because there’s a lot of people that are still kind of fearful of creatine and there’s so many benefits to it, but I also think it’s one of the most overrated supplements as well,” said Scott Forbes, an associate professor at Brandon University studying creatine’s effectiveness on athletic performance and brain health.

Stigmatization

Creatine’s growing popularity is overcoming decades of stigmatization through associations with performance-enhancing drugs.

It first garnered mainstream attention during the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics when British athletes controversially used the little-known supplement, including Linford Christie, who went on to win the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter race. Creatine’s reputation was further tarnished during Major League Baseball’s so-called “steroid era.”

“Turns out that everyone in the MLB that was taking steroids was also taking creatine and so in the hearts and minds of the American consumer creatine was, therefore, a steroid,” said Dan McCormick, co-founder and chief executive officer of Create Wellness, which sells flavored creatine gummies.

Lingering misconceptions about side effects ranging from hair loss and kidney damage have contributed to its reputation, casting it into obscurity in niche bodybuilding and athletic communities.

In reality, creatine is among the most well-studied, efficacious and safe supplements in sports science, University of Regina’s Candow said.

Healthfluencers

Creatine’s budding popularity cuts against slowing growth within the supplement market at large. Church & Dwight Co., which sells vitamins under its Vitafusion brand, is considering selling the division amid flagging growth and heightened competition. GNC, for its part, could also use the boost five years after filing for bankruptcy.

Compare that to trends of creatine sales on Amazon.com Inc.’s online market place. The category is projected to grow 13% to more than $400 million this year, according to Jungle Scout data. In June, sales jumped 31% to $41 million alone.

Online “wellness translators” — such as podcast hosts Andrew Huberman, Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss — helped drive demand, translating scientific research for listeners “in a way that’s applicable to their lives,” McCormick said.

After launching Create in 2022, sales grew to $5 million in 2023, before ballooning to $20 million the next year. Now, Create, which will be launching its products in Target Corp. stores nationwide in October, should generate sales between $40 million and $80 million by year-end, according to McCormick.

Globally, the creatine market is seen quadrupling from 2024 levels to $4.2 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research. At an annual growth rate of 25%, that’s well ahead of the projected 6.4% for the wider supplement market.

Applications of creatine have expanded to helping women mitigate some symptoms of menopause, including brain fog and — alongside semi-regular weightlifting sessions — improved bone integrity which declines with age.

Uses could increase in the future as researchers aim to study its impact on women during pregnancy, cancer prevention and healthier aging, said Candow. Further research shows signs the supplement may improve symptoms with some of the most pernicious, degenerative brain diseases as well.

“One study on Alzheimer’s disease that showed that if they supplement with creatine they can actually increase the creatine stores within the brain and they also improved cognitive function,” Brandon University’s Forbes said.

©2025 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.