There’s no doubt about the success ofRian Johnson’s newest murder mystery filmGlass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, following its blistering one-week run in theaters over the week of Thanksgiving, the film has seen record success on Netflix over its December streaming debut. However, what might be surprising to some of the film’s fans is the cameo appearance of the two now-late legendsStephen SondheimandAngela Lansburyas members of detective Benoit Blanc’s virtual gaming group. And apparently, their decision to appear in the film, albeit in cameo form, was quite a shock to Johnson himself as well.
While speaking withThe New York Times,Johnson revealed just how he was able to nab the two legends for his most recent film. The scene was actually filmed during the film’s editing process and came together quite quickly. The scene shows Blanc, played byDaniel Craig, sitting in his bathtub playing the 2018 gameAmong Us, a social deduction game in which players try and find the betrayer in the group. The game was a smash hit during the early days of COVID for its ability to let players connect virtually. The scene shows Blanc failing, quite miserably, in the game and interacting with his fellow players, which include Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury, over a video chat.
Lansbury’s cameo was actually filmed in theMurder, She Wrotestar’s Los Angeles home. Johnson said that Lansbury, “couldn’t have been lovelier and more generous.” However, her knowledge of online gaming was pretty thin. Johnson noted that “[s]he was very patient in letting me describe the rules ofAmong Us, up to a point. At which point she just said, ‘You know what? Just tell me what the lines are. I’ll trust you.'” Apparently, Lansbury, the legend of film, television, and stage was “not a gamer.”
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In terms of Sondheim’s inclusion in the cameo, reaching him was apparently quite the accomplishment, according to Johnson’s producing partnerRam Bergman. According to Bergman they had to “[work] every connection they had.” Bergman said he “…wasn’t really sure how to get to him. But then I was on a call withBryan Lourd, our agent, and it somehow came up.” He continued by saying that he mentioned to Lourd that “‘We really would love Stephen to do this.’ And I swear, five minutes later, he emailed me: He’s going to do it.”
Apparently, Johnson “…was in heaven” when he heard the news of Sondheim’s decision to cameo inGlass Onion. Of the two cameos by Sondheim and Lansbury Johnson said, “[o]ne thing I’ve learned is that every moment you get with somebody that you respect, savor that time and put yourself in that situation as often as possible.”
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mysteryis now available to stream on Netflix. Watch our interview with Johnson below:
