‘Glass Onion’ Director Rian Johnson Finds This Character’s Backstory ‘Uninteresting’
The Knives Out sequel Glass Onion arrived on Netflix at the end of 2022 to the delight of anyone who loves Agatha Christie-style murder mysteries and jokes at the expense of delusional billionaires. Daniel Craig’s ridiculous southern detective Benoit Blanc returns to solve the crime amid a cast of tangentially connected characters on a Greek island. Blanc is the sole constant in the ongoing Knives Out franchise, but his prominence doesn’t mean viewers get to learn any more about who he is when he’s not working a case.
That lack of information is intentional. In a recent interview, writer and director Rian Johnson explained why he thinks it’s best to leave Benoit’s personal life as blank and unexplored as possible.
Rian Johnson doesn’t see the point in exploring Benoit Blanc’s backstory
As Glass Onion sets the stage for its central story, we get our first glimpse of Benoit Blanc’s life at home. The movie is set during the early stages of the pandemic, and the detective has resorted to playing Among Us during bath time to satisfy his need to investigate. (What he lacks in mobility during this time, he more than makes up for by having a cooler Zoom lineup than any of us could imagine.) Johnson doesn’t dwell on this moment, and when discussing the film for GQ, the filmmaker explained why his lead character’s backstory isn’t something he plans on sketching out.
Johnson’s reasoning is that the detective should not be the protagonist of a mystery movie and is better used as a “God-like figure who floats above it all, and who guides it and solves [the crime].” To get the audience engrossed in the action and not dissecting the evidence themselves, the suspects have to be the most interesting part of the scenario.
Johnson doesn’t entirely adhere to this rule. The director revealed that Benoit is gay during a press conference at the London Film Festival and one of Glass Onion’s many cameos shows that the detective is doing pretty well for himself romantically. But these are still just fragments, and as long as Johnson is making these movies, fragments are all we’ll get.
“It’s fun to get little glimpses of Benoit Blanc’s life. It’s fun to get a little glimpse of his home life in this movie, but the idea of building out the mythology of him, of exploring his backstory, of finding out where he came from? Completely uninteresting I think,” he concludes.
‘Glass Onion’ is a timely and entertaining satire of the rich and powerful
Blanc breaks out of his funk after getting invited to the private Greek island owned by Miles Bron (Edward Norton), an alleged tech genius in the vein of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who corrals his cadre of college buddies for their annual reunion.
The group of friends are happy to let Benoit tag along, but he’s not supposed to be there. Neither Miles nor his guests know who invited him, heightening the intrigue before Miles can show off his pricey art collection. The detective isn’t the only shocking arrival to the island. Cassandra “Andi” Brand (Janelle Monae) has also come to the party for the first time in years, despite her intense business breakup with Miles that left her adrift from the rest of the crew.
The collective unease reaches a fever pitch after one of the guests suddenly dies and Blanc has to work out who has the motive for murder and who would be brazen enough to do such a thing in plain sight.
While Knives Out placed its crime within a family drama intensified by modern political discourse, the deaths that spark Glass Onion are a gateway for Johnson to roast the most powerful people in society for their misplaced savior complexes and general incompetence. The movie has been well-reviewed, with many highlighting its fun twists and potent message about the immaturity powering most of the men who want to control the direction of the world.
Netflix spent a lot of money to control the ‘Knives Out’ franchise
Knives Out was a surprising hit at the box office in 2019, earning over $300 million during its theatrical run. Its success was refreshing for those worried about the movie industry’s focus on mining established IPs rather than trusting creatives to come up with something new, and Netflix reportedly spent $469 million to make the franchise synonymous with their platform.
Making Glass Onion a streaming exclusive caused some controversy. It was released to some theaters for one week and made so much money that many wondered how much more cash was left on the table by not letting the movie stay on the big screen for longer.
Whatever issues people had with the release strategy for Glass Onion will have a second chance in a few years. Netflix’s deal includes the film rights to at least one more Knives Out sequel.
