As Netflix revealed the trailer for their highly anticipated murder-mystery Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, a particular element stood out: the beachy setting and summer attire that all characters sport. The Greece setting had already been revealed in previous news, but now director and screenwriter Rian Johnson came forward to reveal why he decided to make such a drastic change in setting: 2019’s Knives Out took place during a cold winter in Massachusetts.
In an official statement, Johnson revealed that his creative decision was less rooted in exploring possibilities for his main character and detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), and more about his frustration while he was coming up with the story: “I was writing [Glass Onion] during the lockdown of 2020, and I wanted to be on a beach vacation more than anything.”
However, that frustration led Johnson to reflect on the nature of a murder-mystery film. The first movie’s immense popularity — it grossed over $300 million worldwide against a $40 million budget — came due to the fact that Knives Out subverted whodunit tropes from the get-go, and it looks like Johnson is ready to do it again with Glass Onion:
“The phrase I kept coming back to and talking about the first movie is, ‘It's a roller coaster and not a crossword puzzle.' It's a common mistake in writing whodunits, thinking that you're making a crossword puzzle, and that the fun is that the audience is actually going to analyze all this and figure it out. I know when I'm reading or watching a whodunit, I always let go of the notion of figuring it out about a third of the way through it."
Considering the acclaimed director’s approach to mystery and the intriguing trailer that Netflix unveiled today, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery sure sounds and looks as fun as the first one, and with a vacation setting that invites us in – that is, until somebody gets killed and everyone is a suspect. But we’re not the only ones who get to have fun: Johnson also admitted that he couldn’t keep doing the Knives Out franchise – which has already scored a threequel at Netflix – if he couldn’t have any fun with it:
“So much of why I'm so into making these is that they just do bring me an intense amount of joy. Working with Daniel [Craig] in this genre and having fun with it and the humor, getting to work with a new group of actors every time, everything about it just brings me happiness.”
Aside from Craig, the ensemble cast of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery also features Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, Ethan Hawke, and Dave Bautista.
Netflix premieres Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery on December 23. You can watch the trailer below: