The production design inKnives OutandGlass Onionare part of the magic of the mystery franchise, and it took three real locations to verify theKnives Outhouse was filmed just right. The2019 movieKnives Out, directed by Rian Johnson, is a classic Agatha Christie-style mystery set in the modern era with all the tropes, twists, and puzzles that were once a staple of mystery-movie storytelling.Starring a huge ensemble castand led by Daniel Craig as the gentlemanly, eccentric, and flamboyant Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig),Knives Outwas an immediate hit.
Knives Outis replete with hidden detailsin the production design and costuming, with everything carefully selected and placed to help bring the hyperreal world ofKnives Outto life. To this end, the look ofKnives Outis fantastic. Like the board gameClue, and the film that came after, which has a not insignificant amount of influence onKnives Out, every character has a distinct style and look and each room of the large Thrombey mansion where the movie is set is ornately decorated and detailed. It took three different locations to composite the mansion alone.
1890 Gothic Revival Mansion Built Just Outside Boston
Used For Exterior Shots Of Harlan Thrombey’s House
For the exterior of theKnives Outhouse,location scouts found a wonderfully maintained 1890 Gothic Revival mansion built just outside Boston, Massachusetts that was exactly the look the producers wanted(viaTheWrap). The exact location of the mansion has been kept confidential per contractual obligations, but it is known that it’s located in Natick, which is about 10 miles west of Boston (viaBrandsAndFilms). The mansion sits on 92 acres near Lake Waban. With its spires, dark brick, and dark roof tiles, it’s an excellent example of Gothic Revival.
Knives Out: Every Easter Egg In The Murder Mystery
Rian Johnson’s Knives Out pays tribute to murder mystery classics by including Easter eggs that refer to various mystery films and detective stories.
Gothic Revival is an architectural style reminiscent of the medieval style, and first became popular in the mid-19th century (viaPHMC). It’s considered a style suitable for country settings, and it can most frequently be observed in churches. Decorative wood is a key feature of the style, as are pointed arches, steeply pitched roofs, slender columns, and Norman castle-like towers with crenelated parapets. All these features serve to create a beautiful but imposing look suitable for an elderly mystery novelist like Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer).
This style perfectly suits the tone ofKnives Out. It’s an intimidating and ancient location where it seems like mysteries could be hidden within the very foundations of the old home. It’s also gorgeous and fits the bill as a place that the Thrombey family would be willing to kill over.
The Historic Ames Mansion In Massachusetts' Borderland State Park
The Interiors For Knives Out Were Filmed There
While the Natick mansion was perfect for the exterior of theKnives Outhome, it wasn’t right for the interiors. Instead, producers found another mansion that was better suited for the film’s aesthetic.They found the historic Ames Mansion in Massachusetts' Borderland State Park, which is a 20-room historic site and previously appeared inMartin Scorsese’s horror-thrillerShutter Island. Production designer David Crank said about the look of the Thrombey home,
“There wasn’t a specific kind of architecture that Rian was looking for. The general rule was that both the inside and outside of the house needed to look like the sort of house that Harlan would describe in one of his mysteries. The moment we walked into the mansion we knew right away that it had the personality we needed.”
One of the major influences forKnives Outwas the 1972 Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine mystery film,Sleuth, and in that film, the mansion where the movie takes place is filled with moving dolls and toys, which is why Crank and his team littered their own set with doll houses, puppets, and other marionette type crafts. Thrombey is a mystery novelist, so his home had to look like it belonged to someone who spent their days thinking of twists and considering the minute details of everything, which the Ames Mansion and Nantick home effectively recreate.
A Constructed Office On A Sound Stage
Used Only For Harlan’s Office
There was one piece of theKnives Outmansion location that had to be built from scratch and that was Harlan’s office, a location frequently revisited inKnives Outas characters sneak in and out of it throughout the movie. The Ames Mansion did not have the appropriate floor plan for the novelist’s cozy, warm, red sanctum. SoCrank and his team built the office and the adjoining hallway on a sound stage and made sure that the layout of the office matched the movements of characters in the script, and made sense within the layout of the mansion.
This was a critical set in the film and Crank and his team only had three weeks to build it.
With its curved ceiling, and large space for cameras, Harlan’s office actually would not have fit within the dimensions of the Ames Mansion, but it’s close enough and the positioning is correct enough that most people would not notice. This was a critical set in the film and Crank and his team only had three weeks to build it. The combination of a sound stage set, the Ames Mansion, and the Nantick house all combined to form a foreboding, beautiful, grand, and ancient house where Benoit Blanc would feel right at home solving a thrilling but dangerous case.
The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Mansion Was Filmed In Porto Heli, Greece
Knives Out 3 Is In Production
TheKnives Outsequel,Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, was filmed primarily in Greece with a few other filming locations thrown in, including New York, Connecticut, and Serbia. The massive mansion that Edward Norton’s Miles Bron lives in and gives its name to the movie is a real luxury resort in Porto Heli, Greece, called Amanzoe (Villa 20) (viaNetflix).The large resort also doubled as a hotel for the cast, many of whom brought their families along. As Johnson put it,
“It felt like a summer vacation where we also made a movie.”
At one point, the resort was listed onZillow, with details such as 26 acres of land, a 29,000 sq ft building, 17 bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, panoramic views of the Aegean, the titular crystal atrium sitting atop it all (viaHouseAndGarden). Before anyone gets too excited, the listing price of $450,000,000 gives away that this was a clever marketing stunt for the movie. More telling, that glass onion dome was CGI’d on top of the resort (viaAtlasOfWonders).
As forWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third film in theKnives Outfranchise, filming wrapped in August 2024 with some of it taking place in London, England and other nearby towns (viaTheTrainline). It remains to be seen ifKnives Out 3will feature a similarly memorable location asKnives OutandGlass Onion, but with Rian Johnson at the helm again, the odds of a beautiful setting being a key piece of the movie are high.
