Rian Johnson discusses Angela Lansbury’s Glass Onion cameo, says nice things about Netflix
Angela Lansbury died last week, with her cameo in the Knives Out sequel being one of her final onscreen roles
Aux News Rian Johnson
Last week, everyone who has already had the privilege of seeing Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel Glass Onion politely informed the internet that both Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim make cameos in the film as themselves, with this being the final onscreen appearance from Lansbury after her death (it’s also Sondheim’s final onscreen appearance, but he wasn’t really known for being “onscreen” anyway). This weekend, during the London Film Festival, Johnson spoke a bit about those cameos and how they happened.
As reported by Deadline, Johnson said both Lansbury and Sondheim were “so kind and so generous,” and though he didn’t think they’d be able to get either of them to agree to do the film, they were both “so cool” about it. They apparently filmed Lansbury’s bit at her home, and Johnson said Lansbury “didn’t understand much of the script” but got him to “coach her through.” He added that it was an honor to have them appear in Glass Onion and to have the chance to tell them what their work meant to him, with Johnson noting that he told Lansbury that Bedknobs And Broomsticks was his favorite movie.
The specifics of the cameos are being kept under wraps, unless you just ask someone who has seen the movie already, but they’re at least partially a payoff to a gag in Knives Out when Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc uses a moment of downtime to pop in his headphones and listen to—and sing along with—Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind.” It’s a bit of a jump to go from that to “Benoit Blanc actually knows Stephen Sondheim,” but he is supposed to be sort of famous in this universe (it’s a plot point in the first movie that The New Yorker published a piece about him, and then knowing who has or has not read it is a clue to the mystery!).
Also at the London Film Festival press conference, Johnson mentioned that Netflix—which paid $450 million for two Knives Out sequels—has made no creative interference on Glass Onion. That’s probably a good sign, and it would be weird to pay a shitload of money for a thing and then to not trust the guy making the thing. He’s also “thrilled” that Netflix was able to work out some kind of deal with theater chains, even if 600 screens in the whole country isn’t very many and some people might be three hours away from the closest theater that will be showing Glass Onion this Thanksgiving… but hey, a hearty “good for you” to everybody living in a major city. For the rest of us, Glass Onion will be on Netflix on December 23.
11 Comments
it would be weird to pay a shitload of money for a thing and then to not trust the guy making the thing.Nice Star Wars subtweet there.
Johnson got zero interference making The Last Jedi
Johnson himself is a walking, talking shitstorm of narcissism. He will say whatever is necessary to make himself look good – posing as some revelatory progressive while sucking up to Devin Faraci, Harry Knowles, Tim League and god knows who else.His actions speak louder than his words. To make very clear the chronology of the abuses that occurred under League’s watch and Johnson’s failure to speak honestly about League, here is a breakdown.- In 2016, it was announced that Faraci would leave after a sexual assault allegation came to light. League reached out to the survivor, Caroline, and told her that he had removed Faraci from the company.- In 2017, it was revealed League secretly rehired Faraci anyway … or maybe Faraci never left. As Caroline put it, “so, I was lied to and brought into what was essentially a PR scheme … since I never asked for devin to be fired to begin with, or demanded an apology or boycott, I’m just EXASPERATED at how sloppy this is”. League apologised for letting women down.- In 2017, a woman, Jasmine Baker, said Harry Knowles assaulted her on two separate occasions (in 1999 and 2000) and, when informed, The Alamo Drafthouse did nothing. My understanding is that she said something about it at the time and it was ignored, so she mentioned it again. Johnson was a longtime supporter of League and Knowles’ Butt-Numb-A-Thon film marathon and even recorded sounds from the marathon’s 2016 edition for use in VIII as a synergy marketing gimmick.- In 2018, a report from Splinter found that Alamo Drafthouse had allegedly minimized sexual assault and harassment made towards both patrons and employees. Rian Johnson performed a mass deletion of his Tweets.- In 2019, Johnson performed marketing for the Alamo Drafthouse, recording this advertisement and crafting a programme for them.- In 2020, a further expose (this time from The Pitch) alleged abuses perpetrated by both the management at the chain’s Kansas City locations and corporate brass across the business. These include sexual harassment and abuse, racist profiling of customers, unsafe (and often illegal) work environments and even financial irregularities involving ticket sales. “The Pitch reports that despite promises from co-founder Tim League, who embarked on a listening tour of various locations in the wake of the 2017 allegations, little has changed within the company.”Rian Johnson has failed to challenge a notorious company on their practices and abuses.Racial and sexual abuse is the last thing any corporation wants to associate their brand with, yet Johnson chose to be the poster boy for a toxic culture.
You forgot Shane Carruth.
lol seek therapy
Holy shit, touch some grass you basement dweller
“It was an honor to have Dame Lansbury on board to play the movie’s surprise killer. Oh wait, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that.”
If that had been true I’d kinda love that. Even more so if Julie Andrews was the murder victim. The ultimate Knives Out fan fiction.
Also the ultimate Murder, She Wrote fanfiction.WE KNEW IT WAS JESSICA MURDERIN’ THOSE PEOPLE ALL ALONG! NO ONE SUSPECTS THE SWEET LIL OL’ LADY.
Rian Johnson really is a smug hack fraud. Goddamn I hate him!(USER IS NOT A STAR WARS FAN ON ANY LEVEL)
I just saw the film and their cameos were interesting. The film is really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it.