Daniel Craig on his gay Knives Out character: ‘It’s normal’
"You are supposed to reflect life. And that [gay] relationship reflects people in my life," the James Bond actor says.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery star Daniel Craig, is commenting further on his queer character, Benoit Blanc.
Much has been made of Blanc’s sexuality in the run-up to Glass Onion‘s release. One scene in particular, which shows Blanc with a partner, has garnered attention (no spoilers here!)
Speaking to The Sunday Times recently, Daniel says, “You are supposed to reflect life. And that [gay] relationship reflects people in my life. It’s normal. But we don’t make a song and dance out of it. It just feels right.”
Glass Onion director, Rian Johnson, adds: “It just made sense to Daniel and me. We didn’t want to be coy or cute about it. We just wanted it to be a fact of the character.”
Benoit Blanc was confirmed to “obviously” be gay by Johnson in October at the BFI London Film Festival. Asked about the aforementioned scene featuring Blanc’s lover and the famous actor portraying him, Daniel replied: “Who wouldn’t want to live with that person?”
Following that, in an interview with Deadline, Daniel added: “The less of a song and dance we make about that, the better, really, for me, because it just made sense.”
Additionally, he said the character’s sexuality is just happenstance. “It’s nice, it’s fun. And why shouldn’t it be?” he continued. “I don’t want people to get politically hung up on anything.”
A synopsis for the film reads: “Benoit Blanc returns to peel back the layers in a new Rian Johnson whodunit. This fresh adventure finds the intrepid detective at a lavish private estate on a Greek island, but how and why he comes to be there is only the first of many puzzles.”
The star-studded cast includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is in UK cinemas now and lands on Netflix on 23 December.