How Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim Came to Appear in ‘Glass Onion’
Rian Johnson, a supporter of musical theater, had long wished to work with the two actors. But when they (Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim) consented to participate, he had already begun the editing process.
When “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” isn’t staging its players to appear as potential criminals, the comedic mystery is savoring its star-studded cast.
Of course, there are the A-list celebrities who make up the main cast, such as Daniel Craig, Janelle Monaé, Edward Norton, and others. And then there are the brief, unnoticed appearances of well-known people like Yo-Yo Ma, Serena Williams, and Ethan Hawke that serve as quick-fire visual jokes.
Some of these cameos today, though, have an unexpected poignancy. The movie’s prologue shows the detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) in a depressed mood and searching for activities to keep his mind active at the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic.
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While playing the multiplayer video game Among Us with a group of internet celebs that includes Natasha Lyonne and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, we find Blanc unwinding in his bathtub.
Stephen Sondheim
The renowned author of hit musicals like “Company,” “Into the Woods,” and “A Little Night Music,” and Angela Lansbury, the acclaimed stage and screen star of “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Murder, She Wrote,” are the other two players in Blanc’s eclectic gaming group.
Since “Glass Onion” was finished, both of its stars have passed away — Angela Lansbury in October of this year at age 96 and Sondheim in November of 2021 at the age of 91 — and it’s possible that this was their last time on camera.
For their supporters, which include Rian Johnson, the author and director of “Glass Onion” and the series creator behind “Knives Out,” it’s a bittersweet occasion. Johnson stated in a recent video interview that he intended the Sondheim and Lansbury appearances to serve as a tribute to two of his favorite artists and to provide an opportunity for him to engage with these historical figures whose paths he might not have otherwise crossed.
Keeping in mind Stephen Sondheim
- The renowned and significant composer-lyricist passed away on November 26, 2021. He was 91.
- Death notice: Stephen Sondheim, a giant of the American musical, was the brains behind some of Broadway’s most cherished productions.
- Final Interview: A few days before he passed away, he had his last significant interview with The Times.
His Legacies - Sondheim cultivated generations of theatrical creators by serving as a mentor, letter writer, and frequent audience member.
fresh books - Numerous publications have been publish in the year since Sondheim’s passing that provide additional insights into his life.
We examine a few of them.
Now, Johnson added, he knows better than to ever take such opportunities for granted after successfully gaining the participation of his own heroes. One thing I’ve discovered is that you should cherish any opportunity you have to spend time with someone you respect and try to do it frequently.
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Johnson grew up a fan of musical theater and included a shout-out to Sondheim in the original “Knives Out”: a scene of Craig lost in thought as he sings along to “Losing My Mind,” from the Sondheim musical “Follies.” While Johnson’s affection for Sondheim may not be immediately apparent from his résumé — the filmmaker’s credits include “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and the time-travel thriller “Looper”
Sondheim also adored wordplay, games, and crossword puzzles. He and his friend Anthony Perkins took great pleasure in planning murder mystery parties. The 1973 mystery picture “The Last of Sheila,” starring James Coburn, Dyan Cannon, Raquel Welch, and Ian McShane, was written by him and Perkins; Johnson proudly credited it as an influence on his “Knives Out” movies.
Sondheim’s ties to the mystery subgenre are even stronger: the play “Getting Away With Murder,” which he and George Furth co-wrote and which played on Broadway for just over a month in 1996, was his sole non-musical production.
He recalled Laurence Olivier telling him he had taken Sondheim as his model for the game-loving mystery author he played in the 1972 film “Sleuth” in an interview with The New York Times that year. (In the same interview, “Sleuth” author Anthony Shaffer refuted a persistent notion that the book’s initial title was “Who’s Afraid of Stephen Sondheim?”)
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Johnson was acquainted to Angela Lansbury through his love of Sondheim’s musicals; she played Mrs. Lovett in the original Broadway production of “Sweeney Todd,” as well as in the film version that frequently aired on Johnson’s television.
That is, when Johnson wasn’t engrossed in Lansbury’s cozy CBS drama “Murder, She Wrote,” which starred Lansbury as the author who solves crimes Jessica Fletcher. According to Johnson, who also snuck a few seconds of a Spanish-dubbed “Murder, She Wrote” episode into the original “Knives Out,” the show “was actually quite crucial in putting a love of whodunits and murder mysteries into all of our minds” for 1980s kids.
Ram Bergman, Johnson’s co-producer, claimed that the cameo appearances by Sondheim and Lansbury were captured during the editing of “Glass Onion” as he and Johnson made every effort to get in touch with them.
Bergman admitted that she was unsure on how to approach Sondheim. But then it somehow came up while I was on a conversation with Bryan Lourd, our agent. We really want Stephen to do this, I added. And I promise, he sent me an email saying he was going to do it five minutes later.
“Rian was in heaven, and I was in heaven because I understood how much he meant to Rian,” Bergman continued.
Sondheim deliver his performance during a Zoom call that was record. Johnson recalled, “I stated to him that we were trying to get Angela Lansbury in that conversation. And he responded, “Oh, Angie, I know her. Say I’m doing it to her. She’ll handle it.
Later, Johnson visited Angela Lansbury in her Los Angeles home and filmed her speech on his laptop.
Johnson said that Lansbury was ideal for the setting in all but one respect: “Not a gamer,” he clarified. “She couldn’t have been lovelier and more giving,” he continued. Also she was, up to a point, incredibly patient as I described the rules of Among Us. She then simply uttered, “You know what? Just describe the lines to me. I have faith in you.
Before they passed away, Johnson only had those two exchanges with Sondheim and Lansbury. Johnson claimed that he didn’t feel embarrassed to express his respect for them in any of his talks.
He admitted, “I gave myself permission to have that little uncomfortable moment of expressing to them what I’m sure every individual who meets them says. However, it was still good to inform them that without them, I wouldn’t be doing this.
Johnson described it as a bittersweet distinction to be able to give this kind of posthumous homage to his heroes: “As a fan, I wish they were still around and doing stuff,” he said. “I hope they liked the short scenario and laughed at it,” she said.
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Natasha Lyonne feels equally as proud to have been a part of it even though she was unable to interact with Lansbury or Sondheim in person.
Lyonne responded to a question about what it was like to have had even a small part in their curtain calls in the snarky manner of a “Knives Out” movie: “Honey, I know what you’re getting at and it wasn’t me,” she quipped. “I’ll give you both alibis,”
She add, “It goes without saying that they were tremendous losses of two magnificent lives well lived, with more authenticity. We won’t really know if I live to 90 if I was genuinely deserving of being in their company.
