Glass Onion Director Says Edward Norton's Character Didn't Know [REDACTED] Was Dead
This post contains major spoilers for "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery."
Mystery films change when you watch them a second time. Once you have a complete picture of the puzzle, it's easier to look for the pieces. Part of that is gauging character reactions because it's easier to judge someone knowing who's innocent and who's guilty.
In "Glass Onion," Helen Brand (Janelle Monáe) seeks the help of master sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in solving the murder of her identical twin, tech entrepreneur Cassandra "Andi" (Monáe again). Helen believes the culprit is one of Andi's five ex-friends, "The Disruptors". Their leader Miles Bron (Edward Norton) is throwing an island getaway and Andi had an invitation, so Blanc and Helen (posing as her sister) use this to infiltrate and investigate the group.
Everyone is surprised to see "Andi" show up — especially Miles because it turns out he killed her. Miles' shock by Blanc's presence is totally upended when he sees "Andi" (as Blanc was banking on). He even backs off from shaking Blanc's hand so he can make sure his eyes aren't deceiving him. Miles' mouth is agape and he's stunned, when he does speak, he gulps and then sputters out "Andi, you're here."
During Rian Johnson's recent appearance on TheFilmCast, he discussed this revealing moment and what he wanted the audience to think:
"That was a delicate moment. I talked a lot with Edward about what was actually happening in Miles' head when he saw her. My hope is the first time through when you see it is the surprise is that, 'Oh she actually showed up.'"
On a second time through, you realize that Miles is shocked because he killed Andi. So, what was going through his head when he sees "Andi" has arrived on his island?
What was Miles thinking?
While the Disruptors all seem to know of Helen's existence, they don't catch on to the truth because they have no reason to assume Andi is an imposter. Miles does, though, so did he clue into who his surprise guest really was at any point? Rian Johnson says the answer is no. After all, "Glass Onion" makes Klear that Miles Bron is an idiot. Supporting this, Johnson notes that Miles is just as shocked as the other characters when they realize "Andi" is really Helen. According to him, this is what Miles was thinking:
"If you think about the method which I show in that little flashback thing of him killing her, he drugs her, it's not poison, her drugs her and he puts her in a car with the engine running to make it look like a suicide. What I imagined is that he sees her and thinks, 'Oh s***, she survived. She woke up and turned off the car or something. Oh crap, it didn't work, I have to kill her again.'"
As the flashbacks of "Glass Onion" show, Miles didn't have time to stick around and confirm Andi's death; the other Disruptors were on their way to her house too so once he staged the suicide, he hightailed it out. He even drove by Duke (Dave Bautista) on the road. When the latter gets a Google alert on Andi's death, he tries to blackmail Miles and winds up dead.
At this point, you'd assume Miles would piece together Andi is really Helen, but even after he attempts to murder her a "second" time, he still doesn't. Under pressure, he behaves like a cornered animal; he may be clever enough to survive in the short term, but he's not smart enough to fool Benoit Blanc.