‘Glass Onion’ Director Rian Johnson Says Miles Is Not Based on Elon Musk, Despite Previous Comments
If you think Miles in Glass Onion is based on Elon Musk, you are not alone. Since the film was released on Netflix, the world has been talking. Most fans walked away from the movie assuming Miles is based on Elon Musk. Director Rian Johnson is partly to blame for that. He made comments suggesting that it might be the case. It’s all just a really strange coincidence. Well, mostly.
‘Glass Onion’s’ Netflix debut is a screaming success
Glass Onion debuted on Netflix just ahead of the Christmas holiday after a limited release in theaters. When streaming subscribers weren’t opening gifts and spending time with family, they were watching the murder mystery. Since its debut, Glass Onion has amassed over 80 million viewing hours since its debut. According to Variety, about 35 million households watched the movie in its first three days on the streaming platform.
So, what exactly is it about? In the Rian Johnson-directed movie, Miles, a technology billionaire, invites a group to his private Greek island for a murder mystery getaway. Things get serious when someone is killed for real. The party tries to figure out who actually did it. While the twisting plot and surprising ending have everyone talking, viewers can’t ignore the similarities between Miles and Elon Musk, either.
Rian Johnson discussed the ‘Glass Onion’ character similarities in a recent interview
While Rian Johnson insists Miles was not directly based on Musk, he does concede that the similarities are pretty startling. He even joked that he just did a movie on the takeover of Twitter when it was suggested for a future project. Still, he insists that the similarities are just a rather peculiar coincidence.
In an interview with Wired, Johnson admitted that a close friend suggested that it felt like the script had been written that afternoon, taking into account all that happened with Musk and his takeover of Twitter. Johnson is still amazed by it, calling the similarities a “sort of a horrible, horrible accident.” Obviously, Johnson’s project was in the works long before Musk’s surprise takeover of the microblogging social media platform.
Elon Musk, in a roundabout way, might have been an inspiration, though
While Johnson insists that Miles was not based directly on Elon Musk, it’s hard to ignore the similarities. There is a good reason for that. Rian Johnson did take key elements of certain archetypes when creating characters for Glass Onion, including Miles. Musk happens to have characteristics directly tied to the archetype that inspired Miles.
Johnson told Wired that Miles is based on the tech billionaire archetype. While Johnson’s tech billionaire is a unique character, it is an archetype that has been explored dozens upon dozens of times before. Miles is, in every way, an elevated version of the “tech bro.” Musk has many of those same characteristics because he is a part of an elite group of technology billionaires.
Johnson didn’t just pull inspiration from “Tech bros,” though. Glass Onion includes fictionalized versions of modern social media influencers, entrepreneurs, fashionistas, and politicians. The flick is just as much a murder mystery as a commentary on the modern-day social ladder and its often unexpected players.
