Rian Johnson discusses Angela Lansbury’s Glass Onion cameo, says nice things about Netflix

Last week, everyone who has already had the privilege of seeing Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel Glass Onion politely informed the internet that both Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim make cameos in the film as themselves, with this being the final onscreen appearance from Lansbury after her death (it’s also Sondheim’s final onscreen appearance, but he wasn’t really known for being “onscreen” anyway). This weekend, during the London Film Festival, Johnson spoke a bit about those cameos and how they happened.

As reported by Deadline, Johnson said both Lansbury and Sondheim were “so kind and so generous,” and though he didn’t think they’d be able to get either of them to agree to do the film, they were both “so cool” about it. They apparently filmed Lansbury’s bit at her home, and Johnson said Lansbury “didn’t understand much of the script” but got him to “coach her through.” He added that it was an honor to have them appear in Glass Onion and to have the chance to tell them what their work meant to him, with Johnson noting that he told Lansbury that Bedknobs And Broomsticks was his favorite movie.

The specifics of the cameos are being kept under wraps, unless you just ask someone who has seen the movie already, but they’re at least partially a payoff to a gag in Knives Out when Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc uses a moment of downtime to pop in his headphones and listen to—and sing along with—Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind.” It’s a bit of a jump to go from that to “Benoit Blanc actually knows Stephen Sondheim,” but he is supposed to be sort of famous in this universe (it’s a plot point in the first movie that The New Yorker published a piece about him, and then knowing who has or has not read it is a clue to the mystery!).

Also at the London Film Festival press conference, Johnson mentioned that Netflix—which paid $450 million for two Knives Out sequels—has made no creative interference on Glass Onion. That’s probably a good sign, and it would be weird to pay a shitload of money for a thing and then to not trust the guy making the thing. He’s also “thrilled” that Netflix was able to work out some kind of deal with theater chains, even if 600 screens in the whole country isn’t very many and some people might be three hours away from the closest theater that will be showing Glass Onion this Thanksgiving… but hey, a hearty “good for you” to everybody living in a major city. For the rest of us, Glass Onion will be on Netflix on December 23.