Spoiler Warning: This story contains mild spoilers for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, detailing Angela Lansbury’s cameo.
While Angela Lansbury may not have been the Among Us gamer in real life that she was depicted as in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, she was lovely to work with and a “generous” person to meet, according to director Rian Johnson. In the film, which is now streaming on Netflix, Detective Benoit Blanc is left playing the popular multiplayer game Among Us with some of his intellectual pals. Playing herself, the Murder, She Wrote star is revealed as one of Blanc’s fellow players of the game alongside Russian Doll star Natasha Lyonne, NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and late music legend Stephen Sondheim.
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Speaking with The New York Times, Johnson shared some details on how Lansbury’s cameo came to be. He explained how he was first able to get Sondheim on board for his cameo, at which point he mentioned his desire to get Lansbury to also appear in the film. Sondheim just so happened to be friends with Lansbury, and through that connection, she was brought into the cast as well.
Johnson explained, “I mentioned to him that we were trying to get Angela Lansbury… And he said, ‘Oh, Angie — I’m friends with her. Tell her I’m doing it. She’ll do it.’”
On meeting with Lansbury and cluing her in on the scene before filming, Johnson added, “She couldn’t have been lovelier and more generous. (She was) not a gamer. And so she was very patient in letting me describe the rules of Among Us, up to a point. At which point she just said, ‘You know what? Just tell me what the lines are. I’ll trust you.’”
Rian Johnson Wishes Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim Could See the Film
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After filming, Johnson was not able to meet back up with Sondheim and Lansbury prior to their deaths which happened soon after; Sondheim passed away in November 2021 while Lansbury died in October of this year. Reflecting on meeting with the both of them, Johnson says he had the opportunity to also let both of them know how much he admired them, now grateful to have had that chance.
“I allowed myself to have that little awkward moment of saying to them what I’m sure every person who meets them says. But still, it felt really nice to tell them that I wouldn’t be here doing this if it weren’t for them,” he explained.
Johnson also laments how losing both has made him sad, and he just hopes they would have been satisfied with how the scene that featured them both turned out.
“It’s sad, because as a fan, I wish they were still around and making stuff,” he said. “I hope they would have enjoyed the little scene and gotten a laugh out of it.”
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which has been garnering some high viewership since its premiere, can now be found streaming on Netflix.