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.
