In a film already packed with jaw-dropping set pieces, Rian Johnson reveals that Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery‘s first reveal scene required a magical take to pull off. The whodunnit sequel saw Daniel Craig’s eccentric private detective Benoit Blanc joining a weekend Greek getaway hosted by tech billionaire Miles Bron, where a murder mystery game quickly becomes very real. Once again featuring an ensemble cast, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery scored widespread critical acclaim, namely for Johnson’s script and direction, which needed a little bit of luck to make happen.
A few months after the film first hit theaters and Netflix, The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Rian Johnson to break down the script for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery‘s first reveal scene. The writer/director revealed how the scene required a magical take to pull off in order to capture the moment in which the fake arrow hits Edward Norton’s Miles Bron. Check out what Johnson shared below:
When our amazing effects guys rigged up the blood, and when our prop master Kris Peck rigged the arrow popping up, we got kind of a magical take. That was the only take we did. Everyone on set just started applauding, because that’s just the luck of the draw.
How Glass Onion Again Subverted Audience Expectations
The first Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery scene was not only a humorous, if unintentional, tête-à-tête between Craig’s Benoit and Norton’s Bron, but also a major tone setter for the film as a whole. Up to this point, everything seemed pretty straightforward for the film’s mystery, with Blanc’s invite not actually coming from Bron, but rather a mysterious second party, and all of his party guests having genuine motives for a real murder. Despite the build-up, the reveal scene ultimately defused some tension for the faux mystery at hand, with Blanc figuring it out right away, and thus wiping the slate clean.
Much like its predecessor, however, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery didn’t let its reveal scene slow it down. Shortly after Blanc’s game-ruining monologue, Dave Bautista’s Duke met his demise from a drink made with pineapple juice, for which he’s allergic, and Janelle Monáe’s “Andi” was seemingly shot and killed. Before audiences could learn of the identity of the ultimate killer, audiences then learned that the Monáe character shot was Andi’s twin sister Helen, who had hired Blanc and gone disguised as her sister to find her murderer among the group of old friends.
While utilizing a somewhat similar formula to the original film of Blanc partnering with the young woman at the heart of its mystery, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery still managed to be chock-full of surprises. Bron, the true killer of both Andi and Duke, was not brought down by evidence collected, but instead by alienating his friends into finally confessing the truth of his misdeeds, all while Blanc excitedly watched from a distance in the explosive finale. With Johnson looking to do something different with each new installment, it will be interesting to see how he once again shakes up his formula heading into Knives Out 3.
Source: THR