Where was Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery shot? Filming locations explored

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now out on Netflix. Rian Johnson returned to helm the sequel to the critical and commercial blockbuster Knives Out.

As per Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is “about bad people on a beautiful island and a brilliant detective.”

Only Daniel Craig is back in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery from the 2019 whodunit as ace detective Benoit Blanc. Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monáe, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick, and Dave Bautista round up the cast of the murder mystery.

Filming started on June 28 last year in Spetses, a Greek island located nearly 100 km from the capital city of Athens, and the Porto Heli resort, Villa 20. A month later, the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery team moved out and set base in Serbia. They called it a wrap in September.

Interestingly, before its OTT premiere, the film was released on November 23, 2022, to mark the occasion of Thanksgiving. After enjoying its one-week-long limited theatrical run, the movie collected $15 million against a budget of $40 million.

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Exploring the locales of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Knives Out was shot only in the Ames Mansion, a 1920s manor located in the Borderland State Park's south of Boston. But for part two, Johnson chose the outdoor path and set camp in Greece and Serbia.

1) Porto Heli, Greece

For Johnson, the Academy Award-nominated writer-director, Aman Resorts' Villa 20 at the Amanzoe Hotel in Porto Heli was a sudden and pleasant discovery. He was determined to shoot Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery exclusively there.

Apart from the crew and cast, the cast members’ kin were stationed in the villa, too. So the whole shooting process, as Johnson describes, was “a summer vacation where we also made a movie.”

Rian Johnson explains a scene to Janelle Monáe. (Photo via Netflix)

The picturesque Villa 20, designed by Ed Tuttle and Marios Angelopoulos, is flanked by hills, the Peloponnese, and the Aegean Sea. Kathryn Hahn, who plays the character of Claire Debella in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, described the property as follows:

“It was embarrassingly luxurious, that place..A stunning location.”

In the film, Villa 20, a 9-bedroom villa in the Amanzoe resort serves as the lush mansion of tech billionaire and Alpha co-founder Miles Bron (Edward Norton).

To note, even a commoner can stay in the resort only if they have a plush bank balance. The villa is closed for winters and will open next year on April 1.

Villa 20 at Amanzoe Resort Porto Heli. (Photo via Aman Resorts)

However, booking is going on currently. Couple-stays for seven nights will cost €10,710 and upwards in April's first week. The tariff of the cheapest room, the Pool Pavilion, is €1,530 per night.

At the height of summer, that is during the months of June, July or August, that rate shoots up to €3,000-€4,000 per night. Meanwhile, the most expensive space, a 6-bedroom accommodation, will cost one €13,500 per night in April, and €17,729 per night during peak summer.

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2) Spetses, Greece

Spetses is Bron’s private island in the whodunit where he invites his frenemies to escape COVID-19 and have a gala time. He has fun with them and they all party hard, until a murder takes place.

To reach the island, the characters reach the port of Dapia, situated on Spetses’ northeast shore. Dapia has been used extensively in the film. Further, the Poseidonion Grand Hotel at port Dapia can also be seen in the film’s trailer and backdrop.

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3) Belgrade, Serbia

The Serbian capital of Belgrade was where the last leg of filming was done. Located 868 km from Spetses, Belgrade covered all the interior shots for the film.

The living room of Bron's house was created atop a stage in Belgrade, while the Porto Heli property was used for shots of guest rooms. But the Greek villa lacked a glass pavilion on top, which did not sit well with the film’s title. So, a glass onion and several art pieces made of glass had to be built separately.

For the glass onion, the film’s production designer Rick Heinrichs studied an actual onion. He and his team constructed a glass structure in the UK, which was assembled again in Belgrade.

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now available on Netflix.