Editor’s Note: This week marks the eighth anniversary of the debut of the Forks Over Knives film. Ever wonder how Forks Over Knives got its name—and what the heck it means? Here’s the real story.
In August 2009, Brian Wendel, Lee Fulkerson, and John Corry were wrapping up shooting their new film. It was a documentary with a simple yet revolutionary message—that many chronic diseases can be controlled or even reversed by rejecting animal-based and highly processed foods. The film had in-depth interviews with world-renowned doctors and scientists. It had stories of real people who changed their lives by changing their diets. The one thing it didn’t have was a title.
Forks Meal Planner is here to help.
Kong Reviews Promise a Crowd-Pleasing MonsterVerse Smash-'Em-Up. Netflix Buys ‘Knives Out’ Sequels for $400 Million Plus, Daniel. Roger Ebert's illustrious thumb Roger Ebert, the country’s most well-known movie critic, has put out his take on the film – and I’d consider it a glowing review. I don’t really want to debate Ebert’s point of view, but I did take issues with some of the claims he makes in his review ( click here to read it in its entirety). Roger Ebert & the Movies – 2000; Ebert & Roeper and the Movies – 2000; Ebert & Roeper and the Movies – 2001. Roger’s Pick of the Best of the Year: 5 – Take Shelter 4 – Hugo 3 – The Tree of Life. 1 – Forks Over Knives. Roger’s Pick of the Worst of the Year.
“I put out an SOS to my friends,” says Forks Over Knives founder and president Brian Wendel, who created and executive produced the film. “I asked all of them to give me 10 title ideas.” Dozens of suggestions came in over the next few weeks. “Each was more ridiculous than the last,” Wendel says. Then an email arrived from Wendel’s friend Armaiti May, DVM, who had already sent a list of ideas. “One more,” May’s email began: “Fork Over Scalpel.”
For Wendel, the idea quickly morphed into Fork Over Knife and then Forks Over Knives.
“Once I had it in my head, that was it,” Wendel says. The title concisely captured the film’s central message and served as a call to action: “Fight disease by changing what you eat, and you can avoid going under a surgeon’s knife. I viewed the scalpel as a metaphor for the whole medical system.”
Not everyone shared Wendel’s enthusiasm. Friends tried to talk him out of it, concerned that audiences wouldn’t understand. Some on his filmmaking team also needed convincing, but after they saw designer Geoff Nelson’s mock-up of the logo—a fist triumphantly gripping a fork atop Forks Over Knives, with a scalpel underscoring the last word—things fell into place.
On May 6, 2011, Forks Over Knives was released in theaters, garnering national coverage and stoking conversation about the role diet plays in disease. The Los Angeles Times lauded the film’s “unflinching detail.” The New York Times said it made a “persuasive case for banishing meat and dairy from the dinner table.” Roger Ebert wrote, “Here is a film that could save your life.”
As Forks Over Knives became popular, it became clear that not everyone caught the scalpel in the logo. “People thought that Knives referred to steak knives,” Wendel says. “Or they would say something like, ‘You’re less likely to need a knife when you’re eating vegetables.’ Even several film reviewers explained the title that way.” Winamp old version.
In 2014, when Wendel commissioned a redesign of the logo, he decided to ditch the scalpel for a sleeker look. “So now, evenfewer people get the name,” Wendel says with a laugh, “but as long as they don’t have to go to the doctor as much, I’m happy.”
Roger Ebert Knives Out Cast
Want to learn more about the whole-food, plant-based diet advocated in the film Forks Over Knives? Check out our Plant-Based Primer.
Roger Ebert Knives Out Full
Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is a wildly successful mystery writer and he’s dead. His housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson) finds him with a slit throat and the knife still in his hand. It looks like suicide, but there are some questions. After all, who really slits their own throat? A couple of cops (the wonderful pair of LaKeith Stanfield and Noah Segan) come to the Thrombey estate do a small investigation, just to make sure they’re not missing anything, and the film opens with their conversations with each of the Thrombey family members. Daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a successful businesswoman with a shit husband named Richard (Don Johnson) and an awful son named Ransom (Chris Evans). Son Walt (Michael Shannon) runs the publishing side, but he’s been fighting a lot with dear old dad. Daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) is deep into self-help but has been helping herself by ripping off the old man. Finally, there’s Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), the real heroine of “Knives Out” and Harlan’s most trusted confidante. Can she help solve the case?
The case may have just been closed if not for the arrival of the famous detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, who spins a southern drawl and oversized ego into something instantly memorable. Blanc was delivered a news story about the suicide and envelope of money. So someone thinks this is fishy. Why? And who? The question of who brought in Blanc drives the narrative as much as who killed Harlan. Johnson is constantly presenting viewers with the familiar, especially fans of the mystery movie—the single palatial setting, the family of monsters, the exaggerated detective—but then he subverts them every so slightly, and it feels fresh. So while Blanc feels like a Poirot riff, Johnson and Craig avoid turning it into a caricature of something we’ve seen before.
Craig is delightful—I love the excitement in his voice when he figures things out late in the film—but some of the cast gets lost. It’s inevitable with one this big, but if you’re going to “Knives Out” for a specific actor or actress, be aware that it’s a large ensemble piece and your fave may get short shrift. Unless your favorite is Ana de Armas, who is really the heart of the movie, allowing Johnson to imbue “Knives Out” with some wonderful political commentary. The Thrombeys claim to love Marta, even if they can’t remember which South American country she comes from, and Don Johnson gets a few razor sharp scenes as the kind of guy who rants about immigration before quoting “Hamilton.” It’s not embedded in the entire piece as much as “Get Out,” but this “Out” is similar in the way it uses genre structure to say something about wealth and social inequality. And in terms of performance, the often-promising de Armas has never been handed a role this big, and she totally delivers.