Director Rian Johnson has admitted that making Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery scared him a lot more than making Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Back in 2017, Rian Johnson’s film Star Wars: The Last Jedi hit theaters worldwide. The movie was incredibly divisive among fans but was praised by critics and went on to become the second highest-grossing installment in the franchise. Before the film was even released the director signed on to create a new Star Wars trilogy which is still in development. At the moment, however, the director is still busy with his Knives Out films.
Following the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rain Johnson opted to make a smaller murder mystery film titled Knives Out. The film went on to become a critical and financial success and the director opted to move ahead with a sequel with Netflix. The film, eventually titled Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was, however, a far more daunting prospect for the director.
An Entirely New Story
While speaking to the LA Times, The Last Jedi director admitted that the idea of making a Knives Out sequel was one that terrified him a lot more than making the previous Star Wars film:
“No, it’s a very different animal for a couple reasons. First of all, Last Jedi was actually a proper sequel, continuing the events from a movie that I didn’t write. With this, first of all, it’s not even really a sequel, it’s kind of like another book, basically another mystery with the same detective. If anything, going into it was a little scarier even than the Star Wars movie, because the first one, when we made it, it was in such a vacuum and we had no idea if people would be into this kind of thing. Genuinely, it was just something that I really loved, a genre I loved, and I’m like, ‘Let’s try this.’
And then the fact that people enjoyed it and the fact that it was popular — when you put something out there, this happens anyway, but especially, I think, in this case — it becomes something outside of you and you kind of forget how you made it. And so, it was scary. I’ve never experienced nerves quite like actually sitting down to write something. I also spent 10 years planning Knives Out, whereas this, I was kind of starting from scratch.”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available on all home media formats while Rain Johnson’s next film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will be available on Netflix on December 23rd, 2022. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the future of both franchises and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
