Dad Krasinski ventures into terrifying ‘Place’
NEW YORK — “This is exactly what I didn’t want to do,” John Krasinski said of directing, co-writing and starring in the horrifying thriller “A Quiet Place.”
“I’m not good with horror movies, I’m a scaredy cat.”
But its premise — “A family, if they talk they will die” — proved irresistible.
Emily Blunt, aka Mrs. Krasinski, who co-stars in “A Quiet Place,” the couple’s first collaboration, gave birth to their second daughter “just three weeks before I read this script that’s about basically that exact same thing.
“So I was legitimately in that world of terror,” the Newton native said, “thinking every single minute of every single day about keeping my daughter safe, keeping her alive.”
With this third feature as filmmaker (following “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” and “The Hollars”), Krasinski, 38, never considered not directing himself as a father determined to save his family as monstrous aliens silently stalk them.
“I had to be in this one because I was legitimately going through those things as a recent father,” he said at the Four Seasons Downtown.
“I might as well capitalize on the fact that my performance will be so much better since I’m living through the terror of being a new parent.
“I cheated, is what I’m saying.”
“A Quiet Place” features Regan, the couple’s eldest daughter, who is deaf. She is played by the deaf actress Millicent Simmonds (“Wonderstruck”).
“One of the great things coming on board as director is that casting Millie was an incredible asset to that character. With my relationship with Millie in the movie, I wanted tension with the father. This misunderstanding, this guilt.
“But I never knew I could get so specific until I met Millie. The first thing I said to her was, ‘I need you to know that every time I look at you in a weird way as a tough dad it’s just the actor and not me.’
“Now you tell me how you feel about having this relationship with a father that broke your heart. And she had incredible ideas and thoughts. She
was so smart, I learned so much from her.
“Not to give away the end of the movie but what I signed to her at the end of the movie was because I saw her sign it to her mom — and I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.”
(“A Quiet Place” opens Friday.)