Rian Johnson on 'Knives Out 2' and Making Benoit Blanc's Sexuality 'Fact'

In Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery viewers will have the chance to not only see a new murder mystery unfold, they will also get a glimpse into detective Benoit Blanc's personal life, which Rian Johnson told Newsweek was something that needed to be revealed.

The Netflix film, which premieres on December 23, confirms that Benoit is gay and is living happily with his partner Phillip in London— we won't reveal who plays him to avoid spoiling the surprise.

When this was first revealed in October, there were some that claimed it was an example of "rainbow capitalism," but that wasn't the case for Johnson, who spoke to Newsweek about the film, alongside his long-time producer, Ram Bergman.

Rian Johnson on 'Knives Out 2' and Making Benoit Blanc's Sexuality 'Fact'

For Johnson it was important not to be indecisive over Blanc's personal life in the movie, because it is something, he said, that happens all too often in cinema.

"I feel like there's oftentimes, especially with Hollywood movies, this weird dithering like maybe they are maybe they're not," Johnson said. "It's a fact, [Benoit Blanc is] gay in the movies."

Going on to share his thoughts on casting Benoit's partner, the director went on: "In terms of who he's with in the movie, I just tried to imagine the person that would bring me the most joy to have Benoit Blanc be with.

"The number one person on that list agreed to come and do it, so it made me very happy."

Glass Onion sees Benoit Blanc travel to Greece after he is invited to a murder mystery party on the private island of tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), only for things to take a grisly turn shortly after the festivities begin.

Knives Out was a huge box office success, and when Johnson began working on the sequel for Netflix there was one thing that influenced the next chapter in Benoit's detective stories: the COVID pandemic.

"I wrote this movie in 2020, during the lockdown, and so I think a lot of us were dreaming about being on a private island in Greece around that time, so [it was] wish fulfilment, I guess," he joked.

Dreaming of travelling aside, the Last Jedi director was also keen to channel classic writers like Agatha Christie, by making a story that felt completely new to the last film.

"When I sat down to write this after making the first one, one of the things for me was kind of planting a flag, planting a flag really clearly for the audience that each one of these movies is going to be different," Johnson explained. "And each one is going to have its own identity, its own reason for being.

"It's not going to be continuing the last story, it's going to be like a new Agatha Christie novel, and so that was one element.

"The first one was cosy New England [and] to blow this one up and set it in Greece felt like a big, obvious, 'this is going to be a new deal' statement."

They filmed on location in the Summer of 2021 from June to September, Bergman said: "It was great, we were cooped in the house for so long so being in Greece was a gorgeous place. It was hot, but it was a great experience."

Johnson added: "I felt bad for [the actors], a lot of those costumes the actors are wearing like Kate [Hudson]'s wearing different costumes that look very breezy but in reality they're a bit like the tin foil that you tend to [put on] turkey.

"[For] a lot of the actors it was a physically demanding shoot, even though it's gorgeous."

Building the Mystery of 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'

Johnson new film, similar to its namesake, is like an onion, peel back the layers and you will find twist after twist that will shock and amaze.

For the Brick director the process of building the mystery is "very much" more about having fun than it is about trying to subvert viewers' expectations.

"It's interesting, the phrase subverting expectations, because it comes into play but hopefully always in the interest of engaging the audience, and ultimately with these movies they're also, I hope, still fundamentally traditional whodunnits," he said.

"No matter what twists and turns we do, and no matter how we turn things on their head, at the end of it we're trying to give the audience a satisfying payoff, that's very faithful to the genre.

"And, to me, playing the chess game of things not happening the way you'd expect them to happen is all in the interest of making you lean in, hopefully, so that the payoff of it is even more genuinely fulfilling, I think. So, it's all in the soup."

Part of that "soup," as it were, was the stellar cast that joins Craig, including Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick and Madelyn Cline.

The actors were able to bring a lot to the table, Johnson said, so much so that he felt he'd "be a fool to not" give them the space to add nuances to their characters.

"It's the same with any movie, you get an actor into a part and suddenly that actor becomes the part. They breathe and bring things you never could have imagined, that's part of the joy of doing it.

"And with this one, especially, you have people like Kathryn Hahn and you get Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr. you'd be a fool to not let them play.

"These movies, they're a jigsaw puzzle, it's not like we can just go off book and riff you do have to kind of stick to the script, but within that we found room to to find some really fun stuff. I felt like a kid in a candy store, I was just giggling behind the monitor."

Monáe especially impressed Johnson with her performance in the film as Andi Brand, the former business partner of Bron who the group turned their backs on, but who will force them to face their darkest secrets.

"She just stunned me," Johnson said of Monáe. "I had been a fan of hers and I had loved her onscreen before, but the amount of thoughtful work that she put into this part I feel like I, especially once I put the whole film together and really watched her performance front to back, realized how much thought she had put into into it.

"She really just knocked out the park, I felt pretty lucky we got her in this movie."

Reflecting on building the twists and turns surrounding Andi with Monáe, Johnson said: "It's all kind of laid out in the script and then it's just conversations, answering questions for her, figuring out how to play the different layers of it, like an onion.

"But, really, so much of it was her just putting the work in herself and her just breaking it down and really figuring out how to make this very complicated part click on screen.

"And, so, it was a collaboration, but I just give all the credit to her. She just worked her a** off and really pulled it off."

"Also she has to do comedy, she has to do some very heavy scenes, she has to do a lot of physicality in the movie," he went on. "Basically, anything you can ask an actor to do Janelle has had to do in this movie, and I just am so proud of her performance."

Johnson added that Glass Onion is a murder mystery designed to be seen more than once because there are clues scattered throughout that viewers will take note of in their second watch.

"I'm excited for people to see it, it is almost constructed more to be watched a second time than the first time!" Johnson joked. "And you'll see, I think if you watch really closely, we play very, very fair with the audience in the first half [of he film]. So I'm excited for people to discover that."

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery premieres on Netflix on Friday, December 23.