Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a 2022 American murder mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson, who co-produced it with Ram Bergman. The sequel to Knives Out (2019), Daniel Craig reprises his role as Benoit Blanc, a master detective taking on a new case. The film features a new ensemble cast consisting of Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista.
In March 2021, Netflix bought the rights to two sequels to Knives Out for $469 million. Filming took place on the island of Spetses, Greece between June and July 2021, and continued outside of Greece until September.
Glass Onion had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, and is scheduled to have a one-week limited theatrical release on November 23, 2022, before its streaming release on December 23, by Netflix. The film was acclaimed by critics.
==Plot==
During the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, Miles Bron, the billionaire co-founder of the technology company Alpha, decides to host a murder mystery game at his mansion, the Glass Onion, on his private island in Greece. He invites five friends: Alpha head scientist Lionel Toussaint, Connecticut governor Claire Debella, controversial fashion designer Birdie Jay, men's rights streamer Duke Cody, and Alpha cofounder and ousted ex-CEO Cassandra "Andi" Brand. Famous detective Benoit Blanc also receives an invitation and joins the group, along with Birdie's assistant Peg and Duke's girlfriend Whiskey.
Miles questions the presence of Blanc – not invited by him – but allows him to stay, assuming that another guest invited him as a joke. Blanc overhears Peg confront Miles over a PRstatement he wants Birdie to release, and sees Duke watch Whiskey in bed with Miles. Before dinner, Miles shows off the Mona Lisa, which he has on loan from the Louvre, and reveals that the Glass Onion is powered by "Klear", a hydrogen-based alternative fuel that Alpha will launch in a week, despite Lionel's and Claire's safety concerns.
Blanc solves Miles's pretend murder mystery immediately, and tensions over Andi's presence culminate in her leaving the main party room. Suddenly, Duke collapses and dies after drinking from Miles's glass; the panicking group suspects Andi. After the group discovers that Duke's pistol is missing, the power goes out and everyone splits up in the chaos. Blanc finds Andi, but an unseen assailant shoots her. Blanc gathers the rest of the group and announces that he has solved Andi's murder.
An extended flashback shows that Andi actually died, supposedly by suicide, a week before the trip, and her twin sister Helen hired Blanc to investigate her death. At Alpha, Andi had halted development of Klear due to safety concerns, and so Miles had her removed as CEO; this maneuver was supported by their friends perjuring themselves by testifying that he had single-handedly sketched out the plan for Alpha years ago on a napkin. However, Andi rediscovered the original napkin where she had written out the idea, and emailed a photo of the evidence to the group. Helen suspects that someone in the group killed Andi to avoid being discredited and to gain favor with Miles. With the news of Andi's death not yet public, Blanc proposed that Helen pose as Andi at Miles' party, helping him investigate.
Helen helps Blanc discover motives for each member of the group to protect Miles from Andi: Lionel and Claire have already staked their reputations on Klear, Miles is financially rescuing Birdie from the fallout of employing child labor, and Duke is using Whiskey to seduce Miles in exchange for a role at Alpha News. Helen also discovers that all four other guests visited Andi's home on the day of her death. Helen disrupts the party so she can search the guest rooms for Andi's napkin. When she is shot, Andi's journal in her jacket pocket stops the bullet, but Blanc tells the other guests she was killed, creating an opportunity for her to finish the search in Miles' office.
Blanc reveals his deduction that Miles was responsible for both murders. Miles killed Andi after learning she had the napkin, but Duke saw Miles's car leaving her house. When news of Andi's death was finally released online during the party, Duke realized that Miles was responsible and attempted to blackmail him in order to get on Alpha News. This prompted Miles to poison him, exploiting his allergy to pineapple, and to snatch Duke's pistol, with which he would shoot Helen. Helen locates Andi's original napkin in Miles' office, and her true identity (and survival) is revealed to the group. However, Miles burns the napkin, eliminating the evidence against him.
In cathartic anger, Helen destroys Miles' glass sculptures with Miles's friends joining in. Helen lights a bonfire and throws Klear into it, causing an explosion that destroys the Glass Onion. Helen exposes the Mona Lisa to the fire, destroying it. Realizing the painting's destruction will reveal that Klear is dangerous, ruining Miles, the group decides to testify against him for his crimes. At the beach, Helen and Blanc watch the police boats arrive.
==Cast==
*Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc
*Edward Norton as Miles Bron, a tech billionaire
*Janelle Monáe as Cassandra "Andi" Brand, a tech entrepreneur and Miles's ex-business partner.
*Kathryn Hahn as Claire Debella, the governor of Connecticut now running for the Senate
*Leslie Odom Jr. as Lionel Toussaint, a scientist who works for Miles
*Jessica Henwick as Peg, Birdie's assistant
*Madelyn Cline as Whiskey, Duke's girlfriend and YouTube channel assistant
*Kate Hudson as Birdie Jay, a former supermodel turned fashion designer
*Dave Bautista as Duke Cody, a YouTube star and men's rights activist
*Ethan Hawke as Miles's assistant and butler
*Dallas Roberts as Claire's husband
*Jackie Hoffman as Duke's mother
Additionally, Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a cameo appearance as the voice of Miles' clock. Natasha Lyonne, Hugh Grant, and Yo-Yo Ma make appearances. In their final film appearances, Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury portray themselves in a video chat.
==Production==
===Development===
The 2019 film Knives Out was a commercially successful production from MRC and Lionsgate Films. It grossed over $311 million on a budget of $40 million, making it the second-highest-grossing original movie of the year that was not based on existing intellectual property. Before its release, writer and director Rian Johnson had teased the possibility of a sequel revolving around the lead character, Detective Benoit Blanc. The sequel was officially greenlit by Lionsgate in early 2020. In March 2021, Netflix outbid Amazon and Apple at an auction to acquire the rights to the film and another sequel to Knives Out for $469 million, with Johnson returning as director, Daniel Craig set to reprise his role as Blanc, and a budget of at least $40 million for the first installment. Johnson, Craig, and producer Ram Bergman are reportedly being paid more than $100 million for their roles in both productions. A losing bidder called it an inexplicable and "mind-boggling" deal.
Craig worked with a dialect coach to regain familiarity with Blanc's Southern accent. Johnson previously considered having Blanc speak with an inexplicably different accent in each film.
===Writing===
Johnson made it clear that Glass Onion was not a continuation of its predecessor but a standalone film featuring a new story and cast, similar to the Hercule Poirot novel series by Agatha Christie. In addition to Christie novels, he took inspiration from "tropical getaway murder mysteries" like Evil Under the Sun and especially The Last of Sheila, saying: "It's structured around a group of friends, or frenemies, who all have a power dynamic with one of their successful friends. It begins with him sending an invitation for them to come and play this murder mystery game at this exotic locale. In The Last of Sheila, it's on his yacht, and everything ends up going horribly wrong. That is essentially how Glass Onion begins." Johnson wanted the film's title to refer to something hidden in plain sight. He chose "glass" because it is clear, and searched his phone for songs with the word. He landed on "Glass Onion" by the Beatles and, as a fan of the band, picked it as the title. The song is featured in the end credits of the film.
===Casting===
Johnson described casting the film as "throwing a dinner party." Dave Bautista said Johnson encouraged him to audition during an unprompted call, and Kathryn Hahn secured her role over several Zoom calls with Johnson.
===Filming===
Returning Knives Out crew members included cinematographer Steve Yedlin, editor Bob Ducsay, and composer Nathan Johnson. Filming began in Spetses, an island in Greece, on June 28, 2021. Johnson discovered the Aman Resorts' Villa 20 in Porto Heli and decided to use it as a major filming location. It also housed the cast and their families for the majority of the shoot, which Johnson described as "a summer vacation where we also made a movie." The shoot moved out of Greece on July 30, and wrapped officially on September 13, 2021.Multiple sources:
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==Music==
Rian's cousin and norm composer Nathan Johnson returned to score for Glass Onion; it marks their fifth collaboration working together after Brick (2006), The Brothers Bloom (2009), Looper (2012) and the predecessor, Knives Out (2019). The album was released by Netflix Music on November 25, 2022.
==Release==
Glass Onion premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022. It also screened at the Philadelphia Film Festival in October 2022, closed both the BFI London Film Festival on October 16, 2022 and Film Fest 919 on October 30, 2022 and screened the Miami International Film Festival as its opening night film on November 3, 2022. It will be released on Netflix on December 23, 2022. 
Netflix was reportedly considering a new release model for films like Glass Onion, which would give the film a 45-day window in theaters before being released on the streaming service. On October 6, 2022, Netflix announced that after signing deals with the three largest theater chains in the United States (AMC Theaters, Regal Cinemas, and Cinemark, the latter of whom Netflix had a pre-existing deal with), the film would see a limited one-week theatrical release (billed as a "sneak preview" release) from November 23 to 29, 2022, in roughly 600 theaters across the United States as well in other international markets, marking the first time a Netflix-distributed film would be shown in all three major theater chains in the United States.
==Reception==
===Box office===
In the United States and Canada, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will be released alongside Bones and All, Strange World, Devotion, and the wide expansion of The Fabelmans, and is projected to gross around $6–8 million from 638 theaters over its five-day opening weekend.
===Critical response===
 
Varietys Owen Gleiberman praised the film as, "a bigger, showier, even more elaborately multi-faceted shell-game mystery" than the first film.
===Accolades===
Award 	Date of ceremony 	Category 	Recipient(s) 	Result	
Toronto International Film Festival	September 18, 2022	People's Choice Award	Glass Onion 	 	
Miami International Film Festival 	November 3, 2022 	Ensemble Award 	Cast of Glass Onion	 	
==Future==
Netflix holds the film rights to at least one more Knives Out film. In September 2020, Johnson confirmed his intention to make more. Later that month, Craig and Johnson both separately stated that they will continue making additional films in the series, so long as they are both involved together.
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Films
Category:Knives Out
Category:2020s American films
Category:2020s English-language films
Category:2022 comedy films
Category:2022 crime films
Category:2020s comedy mystery films
Category:2020s crime comedy films
Category:American comedy mystery films
Category:American crime comedy films
Category:American detective films
Category:American black comedy films
Category:American comedy films
Category:American comedy thriller films
Category:American crime films
Category:American crime thriller films
Category:American mystery films
Category:American mystery thriller films
Category:American nonlinear narrative films
Category:American sequel films
Category:Films about murder
Category:Films about writers
Category:Murder mystery films
Category:Films directed by Rian Johnson
Category:Films produced by Ram Bergman
Category:Films scored by Nathan Johnson (musician)
Category:Films shot in Greece
Category:Films with screenplays by Rian Johnson
Category:Films starring Daniel Craig
Category:Films starring Edward Norton
Category:Films starring Janelle Monáe
Category:Films starring Dave Bautista
Category:Films starring Kate Hudson
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Category:Netflix original films
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