"Glass Onion" Is A Meticulous Masterpiece, And Here Are 19 Fascinating Details To Prove It

    Long story short, Miles Bron is stupid AF.

    Sam Cleal
    by Sam Cleal

    BuzzFeed Staff

    I daresay many of us have watched the second instalment in the Knives Out franchise by now.

    John Wilson/Netflix

    The movie dropped on Netflix on 23 December here in the UK, and has amassed over 207 million hours of viewing time globally, becoming the streamer's third most-watched film of all time.

    Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Glass Onion – like its predecessor – is meticulously crafted and full of interesting details and easter eggs. Let's take a look at some, shall we?

    🚨 Needless to say, this post includes HELLA spoilers for Glass Onion. 🚨

    1. The film's title pays homage to The Beatles, and one of their songs in particular.

    Bettmann Archive / Via Getty Images

    Beatles fans may've clocked that the movie borrows its title from a track on the band's White Album. According to Netflix's Tudum website, Rian wanted to use glass as an extended metaphor in the movie to refer to something hidden in plain sight.

    So, as the story goes, Rian literally got his phone out and searched through his music library for songs with "glass" in their title. "The first thing that came up, because I'm a huge Beatles fan, [was] 'Glass Onion'", he revealed. The track also plays over the credits.

    2. And many of the items on display in Miles' mansion are inspired by images in the song.

    Netflix/Genius

    "Glass Onion" is full of unusual imagery and nonsense, which Rian wanted to represent in the glass sculptures and tchotchkes Miles Bron owns.

    3. Joseph Gordon-Levitt voices the "hourly dong" that sounds in the film.

    Sam Cleal 🍂 @sam_cleal

    I'd like hourly dong from Joseph Gordon-Levitt #GlassOnion

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    From Hugh Grant to Serena Williams to Yo-Yo Ma, there are A LOT of cameos in the film. But none is more random than Joseph voicing the loud "dong" noise that Miles' house makes on the hour, every hour.

    4. Noah Segan AKA "Troop-uh Wagn-uh" makes a reappearance as a different character.

    Netflix/Lionsgate

    Oh no, wait... Noah Segan appearing as Derol – a pot-smoking hippy who hangs around Miles' island – is more random! Noah played Trooper Wagner, a police officer already on the case when Benoit Blanc arrives in the first Knives Out film.

    5. In Serena's cameo, she's reading Gravity's Rainbow, which is also a reference featured in the first movie.

    Netflix/Lionsgate

    In Knives Out, Benoit mentions the Thomas Pynchon novel to Marta and tells her no one has ever read it... Well, in theory, Serena's read at least some of it!

    6. Benoit Blanc is a big ol' homo!

    Netflix

    When we first encounter Benoit Blanc in the movie, he's having a bath upstairs and playing Among Us over Zoom with Stephen Sondheim, Angela Lansbury, Natasha Lyonne, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – as you do. So, when the doorbell rings, it's a man called Phillip who answers the door, played by Hugh Grant.

    Hugh's cameo prompted journalists at a press conference at the London Film Festival to ask whether Benoit is "queer", to which Rian replied, "Yes, he obviously is". Here's hoping Hugh has a bigger part in Knives Out 3, and we get to see the couple on screen together!

    7. Speaking of Among Us, the game actually foreshadows the film's plot.

    Netflix

    As many of us will know, Among Us is a game where players have to figure out who the killer is within their group. This kind of set up can also be seen in the fact that there is a killer in the midst of main cast of Glass Onion.

    8. The chess board game in the stereogram is set up for the quickest possible checkmate in chess.

    Netflix

    In chess, the "fool's mate" is a checkmate that can be obtained in the fewest possible moves. It only works if one's opponent makes an extreme error in judgement, and moves two of their pawns forward, leaving their king vulnerable to be taken by the queen. By including this, Rian hints that not only are Miles' puzzles super easy, he's also just a chronic idiot.

    9. Miles asks his guests if they have any dietary restrictions, which is the information he later uses to murder Duke.

    Netflix

    With his household staff away, Miles is in charge of shopping for and preparing food. As we know, Duke is allergic to pineapple, which Miles adds to his drink in the form of juice ultimately killing him.

    10. In the first Knives Out film, Benoit Blanc sings a tune from Follies by Stephen Sondheim, who appears in Glass Onion.

    Lionsgate

    Evidently a big fan, it makes sense why Benoit would invite Stephen to a game of Among Us!

    11. The film samples Danny Elfman's score from Batman, signifying a comparison between Benoit and the famous fictional superhero.

    Netflix

    Initially, in a conversation with Helen, Benoit says he is not Batman. But later, when he starts to piece together a plan to catch Miles, the score for this scene morphs to resemble a piece of music Elfman scored for the 1989 Batman film. The suggestion being that maybe Benoit IS like Batman, AKA "the world's greatest detective".

    12. A book called Cain's Jawbone appears in the movie, which hints at the film's non-linear structure.

    Netflix/Unbound

    Glass Onion features numerous flashbacks and jumps back and forth in time. This is also a feature of the mystery puzzle book Cain's Jawbone, as seen on the floor by Benoit's bathtub.

    13. In the flashback scenes, Miles is dressed exactly like Tom Cruise's character in Magnolia.

    New Line Cinema/Netflix

    Miles actor Edward Norton and costume designer Jenny Eagan mutually decided on this one. Their thinking was that Miles is wholly unoriginal, and would copy someone's look just as easily as he would steal a business idea from someone!

    14. There's a Mark Rothko painting hanging upside down in Miles' house.

    Netflix/Mark Rothko

    In a conversation with rogerebert.com, Rian revealed that he had the abstract painting turned upside down, thereby implying that Miles is too foolish to know or appreciate the art he owns.

    15. Miles' portrait of himself shirtless is actually Edward Norton's face on Brad Pitt's body!

    Painted in the style of Francis Bacon, the portrait intriguingly borrows from both Fight Club actors, which is a fun little detail.

    16. There's also a portrait of Kanye West as a Roman senator in a toga for some reason.

    Netflix

    I guess ego recognises ego? Edward actually revealed this was his favourite element of the set, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I've been amazed that nobody seems to be noticing that the Roman Senator over the dinner table is Kanye in a toga."

    17. Miles tells Benoit he got thriller novelist Gillian Flynn to pen his murder mystery for the weekend, but he mispronounces her name, once again demonstrating his lack of intelligence.

    Netflix

    Yeah, the guy is dumb. He also initially takes credit for crafting the mystery, which is classic Miles too!

    18. Andi's full name is Cassandra, which is an allusion to the tragic Greek myth of Cassandra the oracle.

    Getty/Netflix

    As the myth goes, Cassandra was given the gift of divination, but then cursed so that no one would ever believe her prophecies. So it is with Andi, who tells people that Klear is dangerous, but no one will listen to her.

    19. And finally, Glass Onion actors Kathryn Hahn and Kate Hudson have worked together before, as have Daniel Craig and Dave Bautista!

    Paramount Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing

    Kathryn played one of Kate's mates in the iconic 2003 rom-com How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and Dave appeared in the 2015 Bond film Spectre as one of the main henchman.

    Did any of these stand out to you? Have we missed anything out? Let us know in the comments below!