Janelle Monáe Reveals How She Kept Her ‘Glass Onion’ Characters Straight
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery made its debut on Netflix on December 23, 2022, taking viewers on a wild ride. The movie followed Daniel Craig’s character, Detective Benoit Blanc, to a Greek island where a murder mystery game goes wrong. Glass Onion relied heavily on Janelle Monáe’s different characters. Monáe said she used notebooks to keep her characters straight.
Janelle Monáe pulled triple duty on Glass Onion
Monáe starred in Glass Onion, playing three characters. When viewers first meet her, she is staring at a wooden box in a poorly lit room. While the rest of the characters figure out the clues needed to open the box, Monáe’s character grabs a hammer and smashes it to pieces. It is then revealed that she and the other characters, who identify as “The Disruptors” have a sour past together.
As the film unfolds, we see Monáe’s character, Andi Brand, confront the Disruptors on the parts they played in her downfall. However, it isn’t until halfway through the film that viewers learn that the character Monáe had played so far wasn’t actually Andi but her twin sister Helen, who approached Blanc to help identify Andi’s killer.
The revelation means that Monáe wasn’t only playing Helen and Andi but also playing Helen pretending to be Andi. Given how much the film kept jumping back and forth between her characters, Monáe had to find a way to keep up with herself on screen, so she decided to write them down.
In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Monáe said, “I kept different notebooks with all of Helen’s lines and Andi’s lines. I would walk in on a Monday and from 9 in the morning to noon I was Andi. From 1 to 4 I could have been Helen pretending to be Andi and Andi later on into the middle of the night.”
The actor said juggling all these characters took “great precision” but admitted she had fun taking on such a challenging role.
‘Glass Onion’ and Janelle Monáe received positive reviews
Since its release, the film has received positive reviews from fans and critics alike. As of this writing, Glass Onion holds a 92% score based on 386 reviews on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
The critics consensus reads, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery brings back Benoit Blanc for another wildly entertaining mystery rounded out by an outstanding ensemble cast.” As star-studded as the cast was, Monáe received a lot of praise for her performance as Helen and Andi Brand.
Empire wrote, “You could pick a different favorite each time you think about it. But particular praise must go to Janelle Monáe. Showing versatile comedy chops for the first time in a complex role that requires both drunken pratfalls and if looks could kill stares.”
Looper echoes this praise, saying “With a cast of effortlessly talented dramatic and comedic performances- Janelle Monáe, steals the show and never looks back.”
The ironic ending of ‘Glass Onion’ explained
When Helen sets foot on Miles Bron’s island, she takes it upon herself to ensure she comes out with any evidence necessary to prove her sister’s suicide was a murder. Although she finds evidence that the company was Andi’s idea, she makes the mistake of showing it to the group, and Miles burns it.
However, Blanc gives her a piece of his Klear fuel, and after breaking things, she starts a fire and throws the Klear piece into it, burning the entire house down, including the Mona Lisa, which he’d borrowed from the Louvre.
This act ensures that although Miles won’t go down for murder or stealing a company, his reputation will be sullied since he destroyed a famous painting with fuel he was responsible for pushing. Helen reminds Miles that his earlier wish to be remembered in the same breath as the Mona Lisa will come true.
