In 2019, writer and director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out spun a modern flair on the classic whodunit with an ensemble cast of stars, including Daniel Craig as the distinguished southern Detective Benoit Blanc. Now, Johnson returns to the universe that earned the filmmaker an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, introducing a whole new stacked cast of suspects when tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites his wealthy friends to his Greek island for a puzzling competition.

Blanc is back, and when someone on the island winds up truly dead the New Money crew are forced to forfeit their fun. Alongside Craig and Norton, Glass Onion features Kate Hudson as influencer and superstar model Birdie Jay, Kathryn Hahn as politician and hopeful-governor Claire Debella, as well as Dave Bautista as Twitch streamer Duke Cody, Leslie Odom Jr. as the engineer Lionel Toussaint, and Janelle Monáe as Bron’s former business partner Andi Brand. Also attending the revelry are Madelyn Cline as Whiskey, Duke Cody’s girlfriend, and Jessica Henwick as Peg, Birdie’s devoted assistant.
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY
Ahead of Glass Onion’s Netflix premiere on December 23, Collider’s Steve Weintraub sat down with Hudson and Hahn to discuss the movie. During their interview, both revealed how they landed parts in Johnson’s sequel and what drew them to the film. Hudson discusses why she was impressed by the script, Hahn shares which Rian Johnson film sparked her interest to work with the director, and they both share the scenes they were most looking forward to filming. You can watch the interview in the video above, or read the full transcript below.

COLLIDER: I’m just going to start with congratulations. It must be a very tough day when everyone walks into a room loving a movie, and you have to talk about it.

KATE HUDSON: It’s so fun. And you know, we’ve done enough of these where you know it’s always like, “Wait, how are the kids?”

“They’re great. The kids are great. Ryder’s in college.” We’re not going to talk about the movie.

HAHN: We’re not talking about the movie.

Image via Netflix

But I am going to talk about the movie.

HUDSON: Great.

When Rian [Johnson] first approached you, did he tell you what the story was going to be, and the script and everything? Or did he say, “Hey, I’m interested in you working with you. Here’s the script. Tell me what you think.”

HUDSON: Well, I had a different… So for me, I was “slipped the script”, which was very not okay.

HAHN: I love it.

HUDSON: And I went after Rian. So I read it and was like, “I need to meet Rian.” And then I met Rian.

HAHN: Oh my gosh.

HUDSON: So for me, I went after Birdie.

HAHN: And thank Goddess that you did. Because there was no one else in the world.

HUDSON: When I read it, I was like, this script– it was so interesting. Because the first thing I thought was my expectation of, how’s he going to get out of New England? What’s that going to look like? And within five, six pages of the script, you were so already so invested in all of the characters, and in a completely new environment, and totally new world of people. You were right in there. Like the experience, I would think, of seeing it for the first time.

HAHN: Yeah, I was a huge fan of the first film. I love Rian Johnson’s movies. My son had just showed Looper to us and we were like, “What?!” So already, Rian Johnson had just been in the world in our house.

We met on Zoom, and then I read the script. And so I had to pitch myself, basically, pretty hard to Rian Johnson. And I just wanted in so badly. Also, because I just love fricking actors so much. And having seen the first one, it just looked like it would be so fun to be a part of an old-school ensemble like that. Because it just looked so bouncy and so deliciously carved out, each character. I just wanted to be in a world like that, where every character was, not to reference Clue, because I know that’s a big thing, but that it just looked so specific that I just really, really wanted into that world-building environment that was funny and suspenseful. And I’d just never done a genre like this before, and with this kind of group of actors. So yeah, I definitely pitched myself pretty hard.

Image via Netflix

HUDSON: Which apparently we’re good at pitching.

HAHN: Yeah.

HUDSON: So that’s something we learned about ourselves. We pitched ourselves well.

HAHN: We pitched ourselves well.

When you were looking at the schedule and you saw what you had to shoot, which was the day for each of you that you had circled? “I cannot wait to do this.”

HUDSON: Oh, great question. Honestly, I had a couple of those days for Birdie. One of them is the bedroom scene. The pool, that whole pool section, to me, was just, it was like, “Let’s go.” I’d say those two, but really all of them. I just couldn’t get wait to get into Birdie. I was like her body, everything, every day I just wanted to be Birdie.

HAHN: Yes.

HUDSON: You?

HAHN: Yeah. Yeah, there’s a couple of scenes for me. It was definitely the… I don’t even want to spoil it.

HUDSON: You can’t even say it.

HAHN: I can’t even say it. But there was a bunch of big group scenes that I couldn’t wait to get into.

HUDSON: Was it like the midway, a midway group scene?

HAHN: Yes.

HUDSON: Yeah, I know exactly which one you’re talking about.

When people watch the movie, they’ll understand.

HUDSON: Yeah.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is in theaters now, and will premiere on Netflix on December 23. For more, check out Collider’s interview with Daniel Craig and Rian Johnson below: