Daniel Craig and Glass Onion cast bring killer instinct to TIFF red carpet
'I’m just happy to be back in Toronto,' Kate Hudson said while promoting sequel to Knives Out
Three years later, Daniel Craig's brooding private detective is back at TIFF for a new mystery.
The powerhouse cast of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery took to a Toronto red carpet on Saturday for the premiere of their long-anticipated Netflix film — and many were thrilled to be in the big city for the occasion.
"I'm just happy to be back in Toronto," Kate Hudson told CBC's Eli Glasner. "It's so crazy — I haven't been here in so long!"
Glass Onion is a sequel to 2019's Knives Out — a whodunit in the vein of Clue or an Agatha Christie mystery. Director Rian Johnson reunited with Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc for the sequel, the eccentric private detective with a southern drawl and a killer instinct.
But you won't find any spoilers here: Johnson is famously tight-lipped about the story and characters in an attempt to preserve the mystery for excited audiences.
The only known details about the film are that it's set in Greece, where a new cast of characters are entangled in a messy crime — and it stars Craig, Hudson, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn and Jess Henwick, all of whom hit the carpet Saturday.
WATCH | Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae and Leslie Odom Jr. discuss their new whodunit:
"There's a lot of fun with an amazing cast like this and the brilliant Rian Johnson, it's just – it's a pleasure and a privilege to do," Craig said.
There was no question about working with Johnson, who directed 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi and 2012's Looper, said Leslie Odom Jr.
"He knocked it out of the park on the first one, delivering these kinds of yarns that people love," Odom Jr. said.
"For generations, people have loved this kind of storytelling; it gets the audience involved, and they're great fun. So the chance to get to build off of what Rian and Daniel have begun was a very easy yes for me."
For his part, Johnson said that he loves working with actors – and here he got the cream of the crop.
"When you get people like Kathryn Hahn and Leslie Odom Jr. and Jess Hennick, it becomes kind of like picking from a buffet that's just dessert," Johnson said.
Janelle Monae wore a layered, onion-like dress that they said was inspired by the film. Glass Onion brought them to another level as a performer, Monae added.
"I left there bolder, wiser, a better actor and a better human," said Monae. "It was just that much of an experience."
Canadian reunions and Letterkenny references
Edward Norton, donning a t-shirt with a maple leaf logo and the phrase "Furda" — a reference to his "favourite Canadian TV show" Letterkenny — said he was excited to work with Johnson on the Knives Out sequel.
"Not that I don't like homages to the old-fashioned Agatha Christie style, but I do think Rian has – by taking these things and weaving them into a modern integration, he's really given us a new great detective and a new set of themes that, I think in this one in particular, a lot of people will smile in recognition at," Norton said.
WATCH | The cast of Glass Onion talk Toronto on the TIFF red carpet:
Kathryn Hahn and Hudson were glad to be reunited in Toronto, where they began their careers together in 2003.
"We shot How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days here," said Hahn. "Some of it in New York and a lot of it was in Toronto and that was my first movie. So it was so crazy, such a crazy reunion to be back and do this all these years later to be here again with her."
Hudson expressed a similar sentiment: "To be reunited with Kathryn, it was one of the great things for me on this, because we started our careers together," she said.
Jess Henwick, best known for her roles in Games of Thrones and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, said she was a newcomer to the city.
"It's my first time in Toronto, my first time at TIFF," said Jess Henwick. She, like Odom Jr., hadn't yet seen the film — "So I'm just going to be like everyone else in there!"
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With files from Eli Glasner and Teghan Beaudette