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‘It’s normal’: Daniel Craig says gay relationship in Knives Out ‘reflects people in my life’

Actor reprises his role as Benoit Blanc in sequel

Annabel Nugent
Sunday 11 December 2022 05:29 EST
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery trailer

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Daniel Craig has talked about the recent confirmation that his Glass Onion character is gay, saying “it’s normal. But we don’t make a song and dance out of it”.

The actor reprises his role as master detective Benoit Blanc in the Knives Out sequel, which was released in cinemas in November and will arrive on Netflix later this month.

Blanc’s sexuality was the point of much speculation given that the film features a particular scene that suggests Blanc is living with a man. Director Rian Johnson has since confirmed the character is queer.

Speaking about the revelation of his character’s sexuality in a new interview with The Sunday Times, Craig said that when making films, “you are supposed to reflect life. And that [gay] relationship reflects people in my life”.

The 54-year-old added: “It’s normal. But we don’t want to make a song and dance out of it. It just feels right.”

The Independent has contacted a representative of Craig’s for further comment.

Johnson said: “It just made sense to Daniel and me [for Blanc to be queer]. We didn’t want to be coy or cute about it. We just wanted it to be a fact of the character.”

The James Bond star has previously said he does not want viewers to become “politically hung up” on Blanc’s sexuality.

Craig stars as Benoit Blanc in ‘Glass Onion’
Craig stars as Benoit Blanc in ‘Glass Onion’ (Netflix)

Last year, the actor spoke about his own sexuality during an appearance on restaurateur Bruce Bozzi’s Lunch with Bruce podcast.

In it, Craig addressed reports that he and Bozzi had been seen kissing at a gay bar called Roosterfish in Venice Beach, California in 2010.

“For me, it was one of those situations and, and, and the irony is, you know, we kind of got caught, I suppose, which was kind of weird cause we were doing nothing f***ing wrong,” Craig said to Bozzi.

“What happened is we were having a nice night and I kind of was talking to you about my life when my life was changing and we got drunk and I was like, ‘Oh, let’s just go to a bar, come on, let’s f***ing go out.’ And I just was like, I don’t give a f*** and we’re in Venice [California].”

Craig went on to say that he has been going to gay bars “for as long as I can remember”.

“One of the reasons, because I don’t get into fights in gay bars that often… because the aggressive d*** swinging in hetero bars, I just got very sick of [it].”

Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick and Daniel Craig in ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'
Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick and Daniel Craig in ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' (John Wilson/Netflix)

He said that the gay bars were a safe place to be and that “you didn’t really have to sort of state your sexuality”.

“And I could meet girls there,” he added. “Because there are a lot of girls there for exactly the same reason I was there. It was kind of an ulterior motive.”

Craig has been married to actor Rachel Weisz for 11 years. The couple tied the knot in June 2011.

Glass Onion features an ensemble cast including Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr, Jessica Henwick and Kate Hudson.

It will be released on Netflix on 23 December.

This article was amended on December 13 2022 after The Sunday Times updated Craig’s quote to say the relationship in the film reflects “people in my life” not that it “reflects my life”, as published originally.

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