Rian Johnson is a cinch when it comes to creating modern mysteries, with none fitting the bill better than his star-studded thriller, Knives Out. This meant, of course, that fans would be clamoring for more of Benoit Blanc (James Bond himself, Daniel Craig) solving the tedious crimes of the modern idle rich, which he’s set to do again in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Netflix's followup to Knives Out will bow in select theaters early but globally join the streamer on December 23rd of this year, and they’ve offered a look-see at the upcoming film. This time the mystery is set on the private Greek island of a tech billionaire played by Edward Norton, per a release from Netflix's own site.
When it comes to gathering a great cast—think Knives Out's eclectic mix of Chris Evans, Jamie Leigh Curtis, Don Johnson, Ana de Armas, and the late, great Christopher Plummer as but a slice of the casting pie—Johnson knows what he’s doing. Per the director, he describes his angle on casting as “throwing a dinner party.” What this means is that he picks people he likes and would like to work with, and it looks like Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is set to fill the same tall order. Pictured around the table are MCU vets Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, and WandaVision star Katherine Hahn alongside Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, and Kate Hudson.
The movie will feature Craig's Benoit Blanc in a more centralized role instead of taking a backseat to the action and popping up last minute to wrap everything in a neat little bow as happened in Knives Out. Says Johnson, “You definitely get to know him a little bit better… in this one, Blanc gets an invitation to come to this murder mystery on this island. We’re very much meeting these people and getting into this world through his eyes.” As for that far out title? “I'm always fishing for something fun that Blanc can grab onto as an overwrought metaphor that he can beat to death,” Johnson says. “This is all in plain sight from the very start. So, the idea of glass came to me, something that's clear.” A brief search on his phone and the lifelong Beatles fan found the band’s song of the same name, a track from 1968, and had his title.
Inspired by films like The Last of Sheila (A 1973 murder mystery written by no less than Stephen Sondheim and Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins) as well as Agatha Christie's own Hercule Poirot novels, particularly her tropical adventures like Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, Johnson wanted to change up the look and feel. That doesn’t mean that Johnson wants fans to sit there puzzling out Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery instead of letting it soak in like the warm Grecian sun.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will be released on Netflix on December 23rd, 2022.
Source: Netflix Tudum