EXCLUSIVE: Director Rian Johnson Talks Bringing to Life Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery hits Netflix tomorrow, December 23, and we got the chance to hear from the mastermind behind the new movie, Director Rian Johnson. Johnson directed the first film in the series, Knives Out, which was released in 2019.
In the chat, Johnson talks creating the new movie, the cast, their chemistry, introducing new audiences to the murder mystery genre, and so much more. Check out what he had to say below.
On creating a sequel to Knives Out: “It was challenging, but it was also when Daniel [Craig] and I were making the first one, even when we were on set, we were just having such a good time. We said, if this does even moderately well, it’d be really fun to keep making these. But the mode in which we were thinking to keep making them was always not to continue the story of the first one, but to treat them the way Agatha Christie treated her books and to do an entirely new mystery every time, a new location, new rogues gallery of characters. And something Agatha Christie did is she really shook it up book to book. It’s not just a change of whodunit. She was mixing genres. She was throwing crazy narrative spins that had never been done in whodunits before. She was really keeping the audience on their toes. And every single book had a whole new reason for being. So, sitting down to write this one, that was kind of the marching orders. Let’s not just turn the crank and do another, let’s come up with something that’s truly different and that actually is going to make audiences say, ‘Oh, wow. I’m getting the same pleasure I did from the first one, but I’ve never seen this before.’ And that’s kind of the exciting thing.”
On choosing the Greek Islands at the film’s next location: “First of all, like I mentioned, I wanted this to be a whole different movie and signaling to the audience really clearly up front. So, trading the browns of New England for the blue and yellows of Greece felt like a really obvious kind of ‘Oh, we’re in a whole new deal here.’ Also, as much as there’s a rich tradition of murder mysteries in, like, cozy English, or in our case, New English countryside houses, there’s very much a rich vein of tradition of destination murders. Evil Under the Sun, Death on the Nile, The Last of Sheila, which is one of my favorite films. There’s something to draw from in terms of the vacation mystery and so tapping into that. Also, I wrote the script in 2020 in the middle of lockdown. So, like a lot of us, I was sitting at home, kind of wishing I was on a Greek island. So that might have had something to do with it.”
On how he landed his A-list cast: “It is kind of as simple as trying to get the best actors you can possibly get. And we got really lucky that we did that with this. I mean, just my head spins when I think about the fact that we were able to get this group together. There’s also the added elements of it’s a little bit like throwing a dinner party in that it is an ensemble. We know we’re going to be on location together and all be kind of stuck together for a while. So, you’re also just trying to cast cool people who are hopefully going to get along and have a good time together.”
On the cast’s amazing chemistry: “It was the right gang of people, it was the right gang of people. And also the supportiveness, it was people just clapping for each other after they did their monologues and people just truly supporting. And with a group of actors, all of whom can and have carried their own films, to come together as a true ensemble and to come together, not just so it works on the screen, but so that spirit is really infused on set. That’s that word grace, I mean, all these people have it. It was really fun to be a part of.
On whether or not learning more about Benoit Blanc’s backstory in the film was intentional: “Not really, no. I mean, I think we probably all had conversations kind of separately. To me, it’s all just about what do they need. But for me, the characters are very much created in the context of the story that’s on the page, and anything anyone needs beyond that, I’m happy to make shit up. And the same with Benoit Blanc, I mean, you know, it’s not like Daniel and I have a whole backstory bible. And in fact, we kind of purposefully try to remind ourselves with these movies that the movie is not interesting because you wanna know more about Benoit Blanc. The movie’s interesting because of the mystery and the ensemble, and the detective plays his role in the center of that, in solving it. But the notion of doing, like, some backstory for him or something, yeah, it’s all about the mystery.”
On finding gem moments during the large ensemble scenes: “I feel like you could always cut to anybody in this room. I will say, a couple, first of all, Maddy [Cline] always was doing something hilarious in the background of every single shot. And then after I was editing and staring at this footage for, like, months, I would realize, there’s like a whole thought and intent. She’s playing a whole joke that’s a whole other screenplay in the background. It’s incredible. It’s amazing. Also, though, I love Kate’s [Hudson] reaction shots also because you had the best descriptor of how you played your part, which is, you said Birdie understands every third word. “
On introducing a new audience to the murder mystery genre: “I feel like we’ve kind of rode a beautiful wave of, like, people rediscovering these, which has been really nice with a lot of other great filmmakers bringing them to life. As a whodunit junkie myself, it makes me really happy. And then what makes me the happiest, I guess, is, you know, I mentioned Agatha Christie’s books, but those movies that were based on her books in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when I was a kid watching those with my family, just remembering how big of an impact they had. And now the coolest thing for me is talking to friends who have kids around that age, and seeing them get into these movies, and recognizing, oh, that’s kind of what we made these for. And it’s super, super-cool that they can inspire whoever’s going to, 30 years from now, do their own version of it. That makes me really happy.”
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery premieres on Netflix tomorrow, December 23.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Photo credit: Eric Charbonneau/Netflix