Why Rian Johnson Ended ‘Poker Face’ Episode With a Paul McCartney Song
Paul McCartney’s music has been used in plenty of mediums. Movies and TV shows will often have scenes or montages that feature a Beatles or McCartney song playing over it. Director Rian Johnson has publicly expressed his love for The Beatles and Paul McCartney and has incorporated their music into a few of his projects, such as Glass Onion. An episode of his latest series, Poker Face, ends with a McCartney song that sets the tone for the show.
‘Poker Face’ is a murder mystery series from Rian Johnson
Johnson has a unique directing career that includes episodes of Breaking Bad and sci-fi blockbusters such as Looper and Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi. Recently, he has become known for his subversive murder mystery series Knives Out, which recently had a sequel in Glass Onion. In 2023, he is taking his murder mystery expertise to television with Poker Face.
Poker Face premiered on Peacock in January 2023 and stars Natasha Lyonne as a casino worker with an innate ability to read liars who becomes involved in “case-of-the-week”-style murder investigations. Alongside Lyonne, the series has several recurring characters and guest roles played by Adrien Brody, Ron Perlman, Benjamin Bratt, Hong Chau, and Lil Rel Howery.
Rian Johnson ended the first episode with a Paul McCartney song
Rian Johnson has been going through a Paul McCartney and The Beatles phase as songs from both have appeared in his recent projects. The first episode of Poker Face ends with “Junior’s Farm.” “Junior’s Farm” is a single by Paul McCartney and Wings released in 1976. The song was a hit, reaching No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
In an interview with Movie Maker, Johnson said he had “Junior’s Farm” in his head while writing the Poker Face script and used it in the end credits to set the tone for the adventure head.
“I’m always going through a Paul McCartney and Beatles phase. I had ‘Junior’s Farm’ in my head since I wrote the script, and I don’t know why,” Johnson shared. “I think maybe because it’s a great tune that is a little bit of a deep cut, and he mentioned poker in it. So that’s enough for me. But also, I wanted the energy of the end to propel us forward. I wanted it to be, ‘Okay, here we go off on an adventure.’ And the song has that tonally.”
Johnson got the title ‘Glass Onion’ from a Beatles song
Rian Johnson’s love for Paul McCartney and The Beatles was also expressed with the Glass Onion title. Glass Onion is one of the more meta tracks by The Beatles as it mocks fans who try to analyze every lyric from past Beatles songs. Songs like “I Am the Walrus” and “Lady Madonna” get mentioned in the track.
In an interview with Deadline, Johnson said he wanted the billionaire (Edward Norton) in the Knives Out sequel to have a distinct glass structure on his island. He couldn’t decide what it would be until he saw “Glass Onion” in his music app on his phone. The director was surprised many people didn’t understand the reference when they read the script.
“I was always surprised, when I was showing the script around, how many people didn’t know it was a Beatles song,” Johnson stated. “I thought everybody knew ‘Glass Onion’, but I guess they don’t.”
