Rian Johnson reveals the ‘Glass Onion’ scene he found the hardest to write

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is one of Netflix’s most successful films to date. But a successful show doesn’t come easy. The film’s screenwriter, producer, and director, Rian Johnson, shared the scene that was the hardest to write, and looking back at the film, he has a point.

In an interview with Variety, Johnson described writing the balcony scene between Helen and Blanc as “a beast.” He claimed that the scene had “so many moving parts,” but it was very important to get it right since it’s “the lynchpin” of the film.

“The scene between Blanc and Helen on Blanc’s New York apartment balcony is the lynchpin of the movie. It’s the scene where we reveal the structure of the entire film, showing our hand, and also where we introduce the main character, Helen.”

“It had so many moving parts. The scene has to not only orient the audience as it flips what they think they’ve been watching on its head, but it also has to introduce a new character and have us like her, get on her side, and then clearly define her mission that will carry the second half of the movie.”

To recap this scene, Helen goes to Blanc for help after she learned that her sister, Cassandra, is dead. She alleges that Miles Bron or any of the “Disruptors” were the ones behind it after she found an email her sister sent to them. All of this is done through a static conversation on the balcony with a few flashbacks here and there. But the scene is mostly just Helen and Blanc talking. Johnson said that this scene is where “the danger of the pace flagging is at its highest,” and he had to do multiple rewrites just to get it right.

“All of this [happens] in a long static conversation at a table at the exact midpoint of the movie, where the danger of the pace flagging is at its highest. I was rewriting that scene up to the last moment, and then shaping it drastically in the edit.”

Glass Onion is the sequel to Knives Out, with Daniel Craig reprising his role as Benoit Blanc. The film had a limited theatrical release and has earned over $13 million worldwide at the box office. The film will receive a third installment, with Craig returning to the film once more, and is scheduled to be released sometime in 2024.

Knives Out and Glass Onion are both now available to stream on Netflix.