Please note that this article contains spoilers for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

If there’s anyone who could make lockdown sound like a remotely fun experience, it’s definitely Kate Hudson. During 2020, the actor was not taking a daily walk during her lunch hour or enduring Friday afternoon Zoom quizzes; rather she was hanging out on the sun-soaked Greek shores with a roll call of actors that can only be described as dream dinner party guests: Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe and Kathryn Hahn, to name but a few. There was, of course, a purpose to the star-studded merriment: the group were gathered to film Glass Onion, the highly-anticipated sequel to Rian Johnson’s 2019 whodunnit Knives Out; and according to Hudson, it really was “a blast”.

“We had so much fun together,” she says breezily when I meet her at a London hotel. “We had such a beautiful time. You know, we were in a green room, just all of us together. We weren’t even in separate trailers or anything. And playing each other music and having to share intimate things that were happening. Janelle and I would get into these long conversations about everything”. The circle of trust was obviously strong, because there are no “juicy” stories she can share. What did they talk about? “Just, you know, life, like how you do with your friends, talking about your families and relationships and all that. So we really got to really know each other’s heart. And then that lends itself to when you want to go have fun”.

A good time is certainly what Glass Onion delivers. The Netflix-funded sequel follows an eclectic group of wealthy “disruptors” who venture to a private island owned by tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) at the height of the pandemic to partake in a murder mystery party. Fed up with the lack of murders of his own to solve during lockdown, quirky Southern detective extraordinaire Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) ends up joining the group for light-hearted thrills – but when bodies start piling up, it’s up to the celebrity sleuth to unravel another elaborate conspiracy.

To say there is much to love about the new film would be a complete understatement: the plot is deliciously inventive, the costumes are captivating (bonus points for Craig’s striped beach co-ord and perky yellow neckerchief) and the celebrity cameos will elicit squeals of joy. Just like its predecessor, the ensemble cast is absolutely stellar: there’s Dave Bautista as Twitch streamer and men’s rights activist Duke Cody, Kathryn Hahn as stressed politician Claire Debella, Leslie Odom Jr as the impressive scientist Lionel Toussaint, plus a sparkling turn from Janelle Monáe as Bron’s wronged former business partner, Cassandra “Andi” Brand.

Hudson, meanwhile, adds fizz to the story with her character Birdie Jay, a former model turned fashion designer who is both delightfully funny and entirely tone deaf. Reading Johnson’s script, Hudson was immediately drawn to her. “Oh, she’s so funny,” she says, breaking into a smile. “I mean, she was so funny on the page. Because we’ve all either known or have witnessed people like Birdie. And so to be able to embody that, in the way that Rian had wrote her, was just so much fun, you know?” Even so, Hudson admits that taking on a problematic character was “kind of terrifying”. In our first introduction, we find Birdie hosting a raucous party in her New York City apartment in the middle of a global lockdown – her flamboyant guests casually referred to as people who are “in my pod”. Later on, she dons a bejewelled mesh mask and confesses that she thought sweatshops were just where sweatpants were made. “I’m so sensitive to everything and people and so some of this dialogue, I was like, ‘ok, here I go, I gotta say these things’, you know?” she recalls. “I just had to like, commit to it. And so that was a challenge for me, actually”. 

While every single character in Glass Onion is deeply flawed, it’s also the case that they still manage to be interesting, relatable and very often loveable. Hudson, who made her name as an early-Noughties romcom queen in the likes of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, My Best Friend’s Girl and Bride Wars, relished the opportunity to take on a role far beyond the realm of those traditionally offered to her. “I mean, it’s fun, isn’t it?” she says. “I think people have a really good ability to make fun of themselves as well. You know, I felt that way when I was making Bride Wars, I wanted it to be like this really Rated R satire, like, super irreverent.” Part of what was challenging for that film, she tells me, was that the studio was “afraid” women wouldn’t be able to make fun of themselves, or feel like they could. “And I’m like, no, women are definitely ready. They can handle it.”

The comedic element of Glass Onion is certainly going down well with Netflix subscribers, as you’d expect from a film where you get to see Craig’s camp detective sitting in his bathtub playing Among Us with the late Stephen Sondheim and Angela Lansbury on Zoom: after the first three days of its release on the streaming platform, it was the number one film around the world having amassed 35 million household views in over 93 countries. Credit certainly has to be given to Johnson’s incredible filmmaking, and Hudson is particularly complimentary of his ability to push the genre in delightful, surprising ways. “These movies are so hard to make, you know? I think that with Rian, it’s just so effortless, and I think the fact that he’s brought this whole genre back like this, the way he’s done it, is so fun”. For a big-budget Hollywood production to have so many standout characters – each one brilliantly eccentric, flawed and hilarious – is also a testament to his skill as a storyteller. “Characters he writes are so full and so fabulous and so wonderfully terrible,” she enthuses. “For an actor, it’s dreamy”. 

In Glass Onion, the characters discuss how nice it is to escape the restrictions of the pandemic and regain a semblance of normalcy on the island. In a full circle moment, the film received a theatrical release before arriving on Netflix, giving viewers the chance to experience the joy of watching a film with a crowd before the inevitable rewatch at home. “I’m just so happy that the movie is playing like it does,” says Hudson, who watched the film with an in-person audience at its European premiere at the 66th BFI London Film Festival. “You know, this doesn’t happen very often, where you feel the energy. To feel that many people laughing at once, it’s healing, you know? It’s been so long since I’ve been in a movie theatre like that. So that’s an amazing feeling.” Even if audiences can never be quite sure where Johnson’s yarns will lead them next, one thing is certain: a good time will always be had by all. “We need it as much as we need collective prayer,” says Hudson firmly. “We need collective laughter”.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now streaming on Netflix 

Images: Netflix