What is Benoit Blanc’s accent? We discuss the popular character, and there will not be any spoilers for Knives Out or Glass Onion.
In Rian Johnson’s hit whodunnit films Knives Out and its sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, there is no character more mysterious than Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc. In Knives Out, he appeared out of nowhere to help investigate the death of Neil Thrombey. In Glass Onion, he surprised tech genius Miles Bron with his appearance. Audiences know about as much as the characters in the franchise that Blanc is a great detective that pops up wherever he suspects foul play.
But one defining characteristic of Blanc’s is his extremely strong accent. It makes the character stand out from the rest of the cast and is something that offers a window into where Blanc might have come from.
What is Benoit Blanc’s accent?
In both Knives Out and Glass Onion, actor Daniel Craig gives his character Benoit Blanc a very recognizable drawl. The accent will be familiar to many people as a southern accent from the southern states of America, such as Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Blanc’s southern accent has become one of the most recognizable parts of the Knives Out franchise, with it signaling the arrival of the best detective.
Where is Benoit Blanc’s accent from?
Other than the Southern half of America, no there’s been no specific state that Blanc’s accent has come from. Director Rian Johnson has expressed that he wants Blanc as much of a mystery as possible, which means that he’s avoided giving away his home state.
A willingness to leave Blanc a mystery has been echoed by Craig. In an interview with Happy Sad Confused, Craig said that the absence of a backstory for Blanc is reminiscent of Detective Hercule Poirot from the Agatha Christie novels. “Poirot sort of materialized from nowhere, solved the case, and then disappeared. That puzzle is significant. The focus of attention is not on him. He [Blanc] ought to be a mystery. I’m not interested in knowing what he was doing when he was twelve.”
Outside of the film, Daniel Craig has spoken about the influences of his accent, citing a historical figure. The historian Shelby Foote was from the southern state of Mississippi and wrote a three-part Civil War history that was released in 1990. Foote died in 2005.
Is Benoit Blanc’s accent put on?
Daniel Craig’s normal accent is an English accent. Although he is from Chester, he doesn’t have a strong Scouse accent.
In an interview with Netflix Tudum, Rian Johnson didn’t put the accent into the script, only the words “slight Southern drawl.” Craig had a lot of freedom with how far he wanted to go with the accent, and he went all the way for it.
When it came to filming the sequel to Knives Out, Craig worried that he might be doing a poor imitation of the accent. He revealed in an interview with Empire Magazine that he spent four months relearning the accent ahead of filming Glass Onion.
Do audiences love or hate Benoit Blanc’s accent?
Due to Blanc’s accent being so thick, fans are split on whether they love or hate Craig’s interpretation. Some fans found the interpretation “artificial, awkward and unnecessary,” and others wanted it to stop. One fan went even as far as to say that Daniel Craig should be banned from Louisiana, a southern state.
But other fans found the accent much more enjoyable. One fan said Glass Onion was excellent, and Craig’s fashion choices and saying shi*balls in a Southern accent were a huge contributing factor to that. Another said casting Craig was a brilliant choice because if you take James Bond and give him respect for women and a Southern accent, you end up with Blanc.
A final fan isn’t just in love with his accent, but the whole character, saying “Really want Benoit Blanc to keep wearing his little outfits and solving his little murders, cinema is fun again!!”
