KRASINSKI’S QUIET PLACE CREATING OSCAR STIR
John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place, which was loved by critics and fans alike, is creating Oscar buzz. The writer, director and lead actor, who teamed up with his wife Emily Blunt for the thriller, talks about why his movie ‘made such a noise’ at the box offi
JOHN KRASINSKI IS still pinching himself over the critical and financial success of his thriller A Quiet Place, but the Cinderella year is not over yet. With awards season heating up, A Quiet Place, has found its own spot in the conversation. Krasinski who co-wrote, directed and starred in the film opposite his wife, Emily Blunt, is only humbled.
“It’s nothing short of overwhelming,” Krasinski said.
“Emily and I really are still digesting the fact that we made this small little special movie that some people really connected to. This was literally a meditation on parenting!”
A Quiet Place is a mostly silent horror film about a family (Krasinski, Blunt, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds) trying to live among creatures that attack and kill at the smallest sound. It became a surprise box-office hit when it was released in April, grossing $338.6 million in worldwide ticket sales off a production budget of only $17 million. A sequel is already in the works.
Critics loved its high concept thrills, too, and while many have offered their praise, a certain phone call stands out for Krasinski – the one he got from his favourite director, and friend, Paul Thomas Anderson.
“It was probably 30 minutes long about how much he loved the movie and how much it meant to him and how much he wished movies like this happened every Friday. I genuinely blacked out on that phone call,” Krasinski said.
“He said, ‘I’ll tell you the best compliment I can give you: As I was walking back to my car I thought, OK, I need to get back to work.’”
Anderson actually provided some inspiration for A Quiet Place. Krasinski said he studied the opening of There Will Be Blood and other films that employ silence to figure out how he would approach it in his film. He also looked at Jaws, Rosemary’s Baby and Alfred Hitchcock films for ideas in tension-building.
Inspiration
Jaws was one of Krasinski’s biggest touchstones, and, oddly enough, the first movie he and Blunt watched together when they had started dating. “It’s a perfect film,” he said.
“It’s not about a shark, it’s about these characters trying to overcome fears that they’re running away from and at some point those fears are going to manifest themselves in the most bizarre ways.”
In that same way, A Quiet Place, to him, is about parenting. He had been sent a script to look at and had an idea to re-write and refocus around those anxieties. “I was actually holding my three-weekold daughter. We had just had our second daughter,” he said.
“Reading a story about parents doing whatever it took to protect their kids was exactly what I was living through.”
Krasinski wasn’t even supposed to direct the film. The actor and writer, probably best known as Jim in The Office, had previously directed two films – Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and The Hollars. Not exactly the kind of calling cards that would prove he could handle a big studio film. It was Blunt who encouraged him to put his name in for it. “She said, ‘I’ve never seen you so lit up like this, I’ve never seen you so passionate about something,’” he said.
“And it’s true, she knew that it was a very personal story. I was basically writing a love letter to my kids.” And to his shock, executives at Paramount and Platinum Dunes were behind him.
Driving force
Blunt also was the driving force behind her own involvement. Krasinski was too scared to even let her read the script, let alone ask her to be in it. She went so far as to suggest a friend for the role of Evelyn. But then on one cross country flight, she finally read it, and decided to speak up.
“She legitimately looked sick at the end of it. I thought she was plane sick, so I reached for a barf bag at the same time she said, ‘You can’t let anyone do this movie.’ And I said, ‘What?’ And it was like a romantic comedy where she was proposing to me,” Krasinski said.
“She said, ‘You have to let me do this part, you HAVE to let me do it.’ I think I screamed ‘YES’ on a flight from New York to LA.”
The film has been in the Oscar conversation ever since it came out and has continued to pop up on prognosticator lists in Hollywood trades like Variety and awards columns in Vulture and Gold Derby, with special mentions of Blunt’s performance, the effects and the screenplay.
Krasinski is currently writing the sequel, which he teased only with his wife’s response to his pitch. “She said, ‘Oh that’s really cool, but it’s not a sequel, it’s like another book in the same world, it feels like another part in the same story,’” he said.
As for whether Krasinski is ready for the awards season? “Everything is better when Emily is there and the fact that she’s in the conversation for this and for Mary Poppins Returns? There’s no better person to have by my side for this,” he said. “I’ll be just fine.”
Emily and I really are still digesting the fact that we made this small little special movie that some people really connected to.” John Krasinski