In light of today’s Netflix release of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, director Rian Johnson is touring to promote his most recent hit. Following up on his critically acclaimed first, Edward Norton’s Hercule Poirot-inspired mystery sequel dispatched Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to the wealthy computer tycoon Miles Bron’s private island to investigate a murder among the mogul’s powerful associates. Since it debuted in theatres, many have noted how uncannily similar Miles’ persona is to that of real-life tech mogul Elon Musk. As was made clear in a current Wired interview, Johnson was aware of the similarities.
Musk has gained far more public salience of late for his purchase of Twitter, but he’s still best known as the mind behind businesses like Tesla and SpaceX. His turn as “Chief Twit” has been especially marked with criticism for poor decision-making when it comes to policy and for sinking so much money into a platform that was already in the red. His reign has largely been seen as chaotic, culminating in him recently announcing he’d step down once he found someone “foolish enough” to helm the site. Similarly, Miles carries the same tendencies. He has that same bravado and unwillingness to admit to a foolish decision. He also still has the gadgets and intellect to back up his credentials. In a post-Musk Twitter purchase world, the comparison seems obvious.
When questioned about Musk and Miles, Johnson said that he fully comprehended everyone’s perspective. That said, Musk wasn’t his precise aim while writing Miles because he wrote Glass Onion during the epidemic and not in 2022:
