During a press conference at the London Film Festival, Rian Johnson confirms the sexuality of Benoit Blanc when addressing a scene in the sequel suggesting that the detective is 'living with a man.'
- October 17, 2022
AceShowbiz - Benoit Blanc is coming out of the closet, thanks to "Knives Out" director Rian Johnson. The director has confirmed the sexuality of Daniel Craig's character ahead of the release of the sequel, "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery".
During a press conference at the London Film Festival on Sunday morning, October 16, Johnson confirmed that Blanc is queer. According to Insider, a scene in the upcoming film indicates that the ascot-loving detective has a male live-in lover.
Asked if the scene means Blanc is queer, Johnson replied, "Yes, he obviously is." Another news outlet reported that the "whole room went wild" upon Johnson's "emphatic" answer.
During the press conference, Johnson also expressed his joy in the choice of actor who cameos as Blanc's lover. "There's nobody in the world I can imagine in bringing me more joy for Benoit Blanc to be with," he gushed.
Craig himself then chimed in as saying, "No spoilers [but] who wouldn't want to live with that person?"
The actor who makes cameo as Blanc's lover is still kept under wraps, but "Glass Onion" features appearance from Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim, who both died since filming the movie. The film marks the final onscreen appearances of the actress and the composer, whom Johnson described as "so kind and so generous."
"We thought, my God, would either of them ever do it? We didn't think they would. And both of them were so cool," he said, according to Deadline. "For both of them, besides just the honor of having them in the movie, personally just being able to have 10 minutes with each of them to tell them what their work has meant to me was really special."
Both Lansbury and Sondheim are credited as themselves in "Glass Onion". The "Knives Out" sequel also has Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Ethan Hawke and Jackie Hoffman in the star-studded cast.
The plot follows tech billionaire Miles Bron as he invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case. The murder mystery film is slated to hit U.S. theaters on November 23, before streaming on Netflix a month later.
