“Glass Onion”: Rian Johnson annoyed by title addition

“Glass Onions”
Rian Johnson annoyed by title addition

Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion.

©John Wilson/Netflix

Rian Johnson follows up on his hit with Daniel Craig with “Glass Onion”. But the reference to “Knives Out” in the title annoys him.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” with Daniel Craig (54) has been running on Netflix since December 23, 2023. But if Rian Johnson (49) had his way, the subtitle could have been dispensed with. The director is annoyed that Netflix apparently doesn’t trust his new film to stand on its own two feet. Instead, it is advertised with the title of its successful predecessor “Knives Out” (2019).

“Serial narratives have the power of a thousand suns”

“Honestly, I’m pissed that we have ‘A Knives Out Mystery’ in the title,” said Rian Johnson in an interview with “The Atlantic”. “I wanted it to just be called ‘Glass Onion'”. Of course, the filmmaker understands the marketing strategy. He also wants everyone to know right away that “Glass Onion” is the sequel to “Knives Out”. “But for me, the appeal also lies in the fact that I can always pull a new novel off the shelf,” he said. “But serial narratives have the pull of a thousand suns right now.”

Rian Johnson calls the currently dominant desire of production companies to set up franchises “toxic”. These aspirations have “completely seeped into the bedrock of storytelling.” “Everyone just thinks: ‘How can we exploit it further?'” complains the director. He himself prefers an ending “where you burn the Viking boat in the sea”.

In “Glass Onion” Daniel Craig embodies the detective Benoit Blanc as in “Knives Out”. Otherwise there is no connection to the predecessor. There is a new cast and a new setting. Instead of cold Massachusetts, the sequel takes place on a Greek island. “Knives Out” became a surprise hit in 2019, reinvigorating the supposedly dead genre of the classic “whodunit” crime thriller.

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