Daniel Craig

2023 - 1 - 22

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Image courtesy of "Cinema Blend"

Benoit Blanc: Everything We Know So Far About Daniel Craig's ... (Cinema Blend)

SPOILER WARNING: The following contains spoilers from both Knives Out and Glass Onion. If you have not watched either of Rian Johnson's mystery movies, ...

Yet, as a man of such charm, empathy, and intelligence, he is certainly the type of person one might love to call a friend. I think it would be fun to see the filmmaker try his hand at a period piece that is set in the same universe and tells a similar story, but from the point of view of Blanc’s father, whom we know from a conversation between the detective and Marta Cabrera (Craig’s future [No Time to Die co-star](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/ana-de-armas-arguably-the-best-part-of-no-time-to-die-says-she-almost-wasnt-in-the-movie), Ana de Armas) was a police detective. Abdul-Jabbar points out his surprise that the “world’s greatest detective” was not a master at such a game. At one point during the scene, you can hear Phillip asking him from offscreen if he is “in the bath again,” to which his husband sheepishly fibs, “No.” We could speculate that either of these cases could serve as the plot of Johnson’s [upcoming third installment](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/knives-out-3-what-we-know-about-the-sequel-so-far-and-how-long-it-could-take), but I, personally, prefer keeping these as obscure details that allows us to fill in the blanks. [former James Bond actor](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/daniel-craig-explains-why-his-james-bond-death-in-no-time-to-die-needed-to-happen)’s comments to [BBC Radio 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSLcTo_2gwY), I will admit that it is hard not to be curious about who Blanc really is and what hints on the matter writer and director Rian Johnson has dropped in his beloved whodunnits so far. I mean, if baths provide a sense of comfort for him, who can blame him for preferring that as his quarantine spot? Look for his name in just about any article related to Batman. For those who exist outside of the universe in which Knives Out and Glass Onion take place (i.e., us), the most famous cases of Benoit Blanc’s career would be the ones that we see unravel in each film. If we need some obligatory reference to Craig’s character, I would settle for a hint at his conception, maybe, depending on the time period Johnson goes with. Also appearing as themselves are legendary composer Stephen Sondheim, Academy Award winner Angela Lansbury, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and former Orange is the New Black cast member Natasha Lyonne, who are catching up with their good buddy, Benoit Blanc, in a pandemic-era Zoom meeting. [Netflix original follow-up](https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2490100/knives-out-2-what-we-know-so-far-about-the-rian-johnson-sequel) from 2022, Glass Onion, that I could not agree with more.

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Image courtesy of "Collider.com"

Sorry Kenneth Branagh, Benoit Blanc Is the Best Goofy Detective in ... (Collider.com)

Kenneth Branagh's Poirot just isn't as goofy and weird as Daniel Craig's beloved Benoit Blanc.

He works on the train but doesn’t know the passengers in Murder On The Orient Express, and he’s friends with the victim in Death On The Nile, but his personal stake in the conflict is considerably less than many of the other characters. Branagh’s Poirot is undoubtedly the central figure of his stories but because of this and the lack of a co-lead in his partner, he comes off as something of a loner. Benoit Blanc takes the spirit of the eccentric detective that Poirot’s been championing for the last century and brings it into the modern age, keeping the spirit alive through fantastically crafted new mysteries that entice the viewer as much as they do the detective. Marta is undoubtedly the protagonist of Knives Out and Helen shares that title with Blanc in Glass Onion. And unlike Branagh’s Poirot at the end of Murder On The Orient Express, Blanc doesn’t struggle with the conflicting moralities of revenge and following the book. He suggests a wildly dangerous plan to bring a school teacher in as his partner, and it works. His fanciful mustache stays with Poirot throughout the story, but in both Murder On The Orient Express and Death On The Nile, the degree of whimsy Poirot carries diminishes as the story goes along and the case gets more convoluted. He wears a romper and ascot to the pool. They revel in their genre awareness and even the characters who aren’t Blanc have a sort of playful and cartoonish aspect to them that lends particularly well to the satirical edge that Rian Johnson imbues the films with. Murder On The Orient Express opens with Poirot neurotically comparing the sizes of eggs before swiftly cracking a random local case and cracking wise at the same time. And while Branagh is giving quite the eccentric performance in both, he’s outshone by the goofy charm of a character based on Poirot. Perhaps the most notable were David Suchet’s acclaimed 25-year run as the character on ITV’s Agatha Christie’s Poirot for which he was nominated for a BAFTA, and Peter Ustinov who played the French detective six different times and is considered by many to be the definitive iteration of the character.

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