Daniel Craig's First Scene In Glass Onion Was A Reshoot

When we're introduced to Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in 2019's "Knives Out," he's a shadowy figure who silently listens as the police question the unscrupulous members of the Thrombey clan about the untimely death of their pater familias. Occasionally, he taps a key on the nearby piano, allowing him to maintain an aura of mystery while casually alerting us to his eccentric nature. Blanc, whom we're told was dubbed the "last of the Gentlemen Sleuths" by The New Yorker, is a lot like the film around him: For as much as he seems to have sprung from the mind of Agatha Christie, he has an irreverent streak that's pure Rian Johnson.

When we catch up with Blanc in Johnson's 2022 sequel, "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," he's wearing a fez and sitting in a bathtub on the verge of a mental breakdown during the 2020 lockdowns, his closest friends and Zoom gaming buddies doing their best to comfort him. It's a perfect tone-setter for the film, which hews closer to the farcical tone of "Dr. Strangelove" than the quirky-meets-gothic vibe of "Knives Out." On the flip side, it's a subtly dramatic moment. As comical as Blanc looks given the circumstances, he's obviously in a bad headspace and in need of something to occupy his restless mind.

The next time we see Blanc, he's on his way to party with the billionaire tech mogul Miles Bron (Edward Norton) and his closest companions on Miles' private Greek island. Yet, while he seems back to his dapper, dandy self, there's something ... off about Blanc. It's actually his introduction in the movie, which it turns out was added during reshoots, that discreetly lets us know there's more going on with Blanc than we're privy to in the first half of "Glass Onion."

Where Blanc is clearly unimpressed with the Thrombeys, he (initially) behaves curiously out of character around Miles — like "a fanboy," as the hosts of The Filmcast podcast observed during their interview with Rian Johnson. "That was a little scary. Daniel [Craig] really leaned into that," Johnson admitted, saying he was worried viewers would be quick to assume this was merely bad writing on his part. However, he also knew he needed to really sell the idea of Blanc being entranced by Miles, so as to ensure the audience didn't immediately suspect Blanc is up to something.

In order to do that, though, Johnson eventually realized he had to show Blanc being genuinely vulnerable first. He explained:

"Actually, so the very first scene where [Blanc's] in the bathtub, that was a reshoot. We reshot that, like, we had a different introduction scene for Blanc. It was still him on the Zoom but he was in his office and the scene played a little differently. We reshot it because Blanc is playing a part in that first half and Daniel and I watching through the movie realized we needed a scene where you see his seriousness for a moment before we launch into that."

It certainly does the trick. Between Craig committing to the bit and the film's careful storytelling (whether it entails cutting away from characters mid-conversation or showing certain events from a specific point-of-view), "Glass Onion" does an excellent job of keeping its cards close to the vest until it's ready to reveal them. That Johnson and Craig didn't come up with Blanc's final introduction — which fits "Glass Onion" so perfectly one would assume it was always part of the plan — until post-production only further goes to show: Appearances truly can be deceiving.