Glass Onion's Rian Johnson Claims Benoit Blanc Has No Official Backstory
With the upcoming "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," Daniel Craig is reprising his role as Benoit Blanc, the master detective who solved the murder of famous crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) in 2019's "Knives Out."
Written and directed by Rian Johnson (who earned an Oscar nod for best original screenplay for "Knives Out"), the standalone sequel follows a new set of characters who become suspects after a mysterious murder occurs. In this case, the murder happens at a "murder mystery party" hosted by tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) on his private Greek island. Benoit Blanc, initially there as a guest, soon becomes enveloped in solving the case.
Benoit Blanc may be the only character who appears in both films, but that doesn't mean that we get to learn much more about the elusive detective (besides the fact that Benoit is queer — a detail that was confirmed by Johnson himself). But if you find yourself wanting to find out more about Benoit and his backstory, it turns out that you may be left wondering, as Johnson has recently revealed that the character doesn't actually have any official backstory.
Rian Johnson says Benoit's backstory is not the point of the films
At a presser attended by Looper, writer-director Rian Johnson was asked if he provides character bibles to the actors to convey any character backstory or if they rely just on what he puts on the page. Johnson revealed that he doesn't write up character bibles but that he'll work with actors who want to dig deeper into their character's pasts. Johnson said, "It's all about what do [the actors] need. But for me, the characters are very much created in the context of the story that's on the page." The filmmaker then lightheartedly added, "Anything [an actor] needs beyond [what's in the script], I'm happy to make s*** up."
Johnson then explained that he maintains this philosophy even for the films' center character, Benoit Blanc, revealing that he and Daniel Craig work without any sort of character bible. Beyond that, he doesn't think that viewers need a backstory of Benoit because who he is as a person is not the focus of the films, nor why they're found enjoyable by viewers.
Johnson continued, "The movie is not interesting because you want to know more about Benoit Blanc. The movie is interesting because of the mystery and the ensemble."
"Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" will be released to limited theaters on November 23 before being available to stream on Netflix on December 23, 2022.