Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, "Glass Onion" actor Kate Hudson revealed that the way each of the film's characters chooses to wear their COVID-19 masks says a lot about their personalities. Throughout the global pandemic, masking has become a cultural and political flashpoint, with some refusing to mask up and others doing so even without a government mandate. Along with the prominence of masks came a set of judgmental opinions based on how people choose to wear them. Personal and political beliefs are often projected onto anyone eschewing a mask, while the opposite is assumed of someone who wears their mask vigilantly. Which values are projected onto someone's masking presentation depends entirely on the beliefs of the person doing the projecting.
According to Hudson, this dynamic became a useful shorthand to define the characters of "Glass Onion," who, much like those of the original "Knives Out," fall out at different points across the political spectrum. Said Hudson, "The great reference in this is how we all wear masks. You got Lionel [the scientist] showing up double-masked. I'm showing up with, like, a lace or mesh mask. Claire is showing up with it hanging down like a chin strap. Benoit Blanc has a very chic and tight mask."
Few films have yet addressed the horrors of the COVID-19 pandemic explicitly. Perhaps the most potent offering so far has been Steven Soderbergh's "Kimi," a "Rear Window"-style thriller defined by the claustrophobia of lockdowns. Furthermore, many projects have been inspired by the pandemic, even if not addressing it directly, with the most prominent examples being "The White Lotus" and "Only Murders in the Building," both of which were designed to be shot around Hollywood's COVID-19 safety protocols. But "Glass Onion" may yet be the defining movie of these strange times.
