Much like its predecessor, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has a cast full of acting talent. The franchise’s ensemble cast draws on various class divides, and Jessica Henwick, who portrays an assistant named Peg, drew on her own real-life experience to bring that to life.Knives Out 2 is Daniel Craig's latest outing as Benoit Blanc, a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. Glass Onion clips reveal Blanc hasn’t changed one bit, as he’s still dedicated to solving the mystery at the heart of the film, no matter the cost. This time around, Blanc has to solve a murder that occurs during billionaire CEO Miles Bron's (Edward Norton) murder mystery party. He invites other high-profile guests, including Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), former supermodel turned fashion designer. Birdie brings Peg, her assistant, along for the ride.During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Henwick discussed her Knives Out 2 role as Peg. Henwick drew from her experience as a PA when playing the character, though she declines to name names. "Well, I mean, I’ve been a PA, so I knew what it was like. I quit. I walked off. I was like, ‘I’m done,'" She said. "I’ve had those kinds of jobs on set. I remember that one day, we had this wedding scene, and so we had to blow up two thousand balloons. And we finished a full day of work, and the wedding was the next day, and the tanks hadn’t come, so I did it all night. I pulled an all-nighter!"
When she was done, an actress walked on set at 6:30 AM and remarked how early it was. Henwick then recalls being ready to leave the profession and jokingly stood up as though she was ready to physically leave. In the interview, she later states that this frame of mind is how her character feels all the time in the murder mystery. She specifically calls the relationship that Peg has with Birdie “co-dependent.”
Henwick's inspiration for her performance perfectly encapsulates many of the themes of the film franchise. While it’s true that Glass Onion and Knives Out are murder mysteries, the films also deal heavily with themes of the rich taking advantage of those with less wealth than them. It can be seen prominently in the first film, where Marta (Ana de Armas), an immigrant and poorly compensated nurse, is tied up in the twisted web of the wealthy Thrombey family.
Glass Onion furthers this theme by revealing Benoit Blanc is a gay man. By focusing on characters that are downtrodden in society in some way (like Marta, Benoit, and now Peg), the film makes a deeper commentary about wealth and how the value of a person is perceived when they are in a different socioeconomic class.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now available on Netflix.
Source: Entertainment Weekly/Twitter