The whodunit’s writer-director and dynamic cast talk Glass Onion, and the script that has earned Johnson an Oscar nomination.
When it came to revisiting the world of his wildly successful 2019 whodunit Knives Out and its beloved detective Benoit Blanc, so memorably played by Daniel Craig, filmmaker Rian Johnson did not know what to expect. The writer-director, whose previous work includes Brick, The Brothers Bloom, and Looper, had never made a sequel to one of his films before, but he’d always liked the idea of fashioning more than one mystery for Blanc to solve. “We talked about it during Knives Out, but you’re in the hands of the film gods, really,” says Johnson. “You’re thinking, Well, this is a really great experience, we’d love to repeat this. But who knows how this film’s going to do? But it worked out brilliantly. And that was really when the serious conversation started about where we were going to go.”
Where it went was Greece, specifically the turquoise oceans and blazing sun of a private island just off the coast, where an eccentric, egomaniac entrepreneur gathers his circle of opportunistic friends for a weekend of frivolity that turns fatal. That haute summer setting helps distinguish Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery from its predecessor, which unfolded in autumnal New England, though the follow-up retained all the wit and charm that made Knives Out so popular. By placing Blanc at the center of the mystery rather than just having him brought in to solve it, Johnson created a bigger, twistier tale that riffed on modern culture, and offered intriguing new insights into Blanc’s private life. “I’m playing around with levels in this movie,” explains Craig. “It’s great writing, so that makes life so much easier.”
Now nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at this year’s 95th Academy Awards, Johnson’s Glass Onion script is littered with larger-than-life characters — joining Craig on the island is a star-studded troupe that includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista — and a delicious mix of comedic and dramatic elements. “The reality is that what makes something successful is a story, and that’s true of whodunits as well,” explains Johnson, who previously received an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for Knives Out. “Are there characters that you care about? Are you pulled through emotionally? Are you on a ride with them with this story?”
Here, the filmmaker and his on- and offscreen collaborators share their memories of writing and making Glass Onion.
Peg (Jessica Henwick) and Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig)
On Approaching a Sequel:
“It was similar to Knives Out, in that the first thing that I came up with was a very conceptual, story-based structure of, Huh, it would be interesting to try a murder mystery where this happened, and then this happened, and thus it had this effect on the audience, in a very wonky, structural, theoretical type way. Then, at the same time, similar to the first movie, I had been turning stuff over in my head that I was thinking about in the news and in the world.”
— Rian Johnson, writer-director of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
“I just trust [Rian] and trust his taste. I trust his instincts. I trust that he’s going to want to elevate what we did last time. We had a wonderful chance to make another one; we had to kind of up the ante. He wouldn’t have it any other way, and neither would I.”
— Daniel Craig, who plays Benoit Blanc
“This is the first time I’ve ever written not only with an actor in a part, but also with an established character. I found I had to, in a way, flush my memory from watching Knives Out a thousand times and making it [with] Daniel out of my head, so I didn’t start writing a caricature of Benoit Blanc.”
— Rian Johnson, writer-director of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
“The phrase I kept coming back to when talking about the first movie is, ‘It’s a roller coaster and not a crossword puzzle.’ It’s a common mistake in writing whodunits, thinking that you’re making a crossword puzzle, and that the fun is that the audience is actually going to analyze all this and figure it out. I know when I’m reading or watching a whodunit, I always let go of the notion of figuring it out about a third of the way through.”
— Rian Johnson, writer-director of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
“It’s hard to be surprised in films sometimes. I feel like the language of movies, when it’s reinvented well, works so brilliantly, because people are surprised. And that, I think, is what we’ve been aiming for with this. Rian’s done a pretty great job on that.”
— Daniel Craig, who plays Benoit Blanc
Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), Miles Bron (Edward Norton), Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), Peg (Jessica Henwick), Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), and Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.)
On Johnson’s Unique Genius:
“Because Rian is such a good writer, he balances a contemporary satire of social dynamics that are happening in the world without bludgeoning you with anything.”
— Edward Norton, who plays Miles Bron
“There’s the fun and the exuberance and the wish fulfillment of the location, but underneath is a really interesting story about power dynamics between people and how we all vie for that sense of control and power. Each character is a puzzle in and of themselves, almost like the theme of the film, which is so great. Everybody has something to reveal.”
— Kate Hudson, who plays Birdie Jay
“The universe must have heard me saying how much I really wanted to work with Rian Johnson. I had seen a film he made called Looper that really left an impression on me. It had me thinking about what I would do if my past self had to go and kill my future self. That concept really inspired me as a writer and as a storyteller and made me want to work with Rian whenever I had the opportunity.”
— Janelle Monáe, who plays Andi and Helen Brand
“If you ever get invited to a space that Rian Johnson is in charge of populating, just say yes.”
— Leslie Odom Jr., plays Lionel Toussaint
“The great thing about Rian is that he’s very visual — he references things that we’re all familiar with. Rian’s doing things that are both in plain sight, and you think that’s what this is all about, and then he’s saying ‘Well, actually no, it’s more layered than that. It’s more nuanced and you’ve got to hang in there and follow this.’”
— Rick Heinrichs, production designer
“There’s something special about Rian. He knows this genre so well, but it can be difficult, in my position, to come in because you feel like he’s told that story visually in his own mind already. So you’re trying to dig deep. But what is so special about him, and in the most amazing way, is even though it’s very much on the page and specific, he really gives kudos and credit and space to explore.”
— Jenny Eagan, costume designer
“I absolutely love mystery movies, but Rian’s obsession is a whole extra level. He has such an intricate understanding of how they work and how to make this perfect Swiss watch of a screenplay to draw people in while sometimes subverting the conventions and tropes of the murder mystery, but often really honoring them, as well.”
— Bob Ducsay, editor
Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), Peg (Jessica Henwick), Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), and Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig)
On Keeping It Current:
“One thing about Knives Out and about the series going forward is that they’re always set in the current moment. So there will always be an element of them that’s engaging with the culture. That means whatever’s on everyone’s mind right now is also what these movies are going to be engaging with as well as what’s bubbling in my head. It’s when the concept of the structure, what’s emotionally resonant to me, and the idea for a specific mystery fuse together — then you’re off to the races.”
— Rian Johnson, writer-director of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
On Johnson’s Multifaceted Characters:
“Rian is so smart and writes in ways that when you’re about to settle into a reductive view of a character, he opens up a door and shows you a little piece of it to widen the view.”
— Edward Norton, who plays Miles Bron
“Rian is such a brilliant director and writer so I know that he knew very well what he was doing. I think for Birdie, she was really on the page. My hope was that my character would honor what it read like. Because she really was just so hilarious throughout this piece, while also being such a complicated character.”
— Kate Hudson, who plays Birdie Jay
“When I first sat down to read the script, I was like, ‘Okay, I know who this is. I’ve met this girl a million times.’ And then, as I got to reading, I realized Rian wanted there to be nuance and he wrote her with nuance.”
— Madelyn Cline, who plays Whiskey
“All the characters in this are such instruments. They play such specific notes. That’s what I love to do the most as an actor, to do all of these different things in one fell swoop and to have a playground on which to do it, which was the script.”
— Kathryn Hahn, who plays Claire Debella
