A Quiet Place (2018)

A Quiet Place is a 2018 American horror film directed by and starring John Krasinski. Written by Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and Krasinski, the plot revolves around a father (Krasinski) and a mother (Emily Blunt) who struggle to survive and raise their children in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind monsters with an acute sense of hearing. Krasinski and Blunt were cast in the lead roles in May 2017. Filming took place in upstate New York from May to November 2017.

A Quiet Place premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2018,^[4] and was released in the United States on April 6, 2018, by Paramount Pictures. It grossed over $340 million worldwide,^[5] and received critical acclaim for its atmosphere, direction, acting, and sound design. It was described as a "smart, wickedly frightening good time",^[6] and chosen by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2018.

A Quiet Place Part II (2021)

A Quiet Place Part II is the sequel to A Quiet Place. The sequel film was written and directed by John Krasinski and stars Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe, who reprise their roles from the first film. Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou also joined the cast. In June 2019, production began on the sequel.^[7] Filming officially commenced on July 15^[8] and production was finished by late September.^[9]

A Quiet Place Part II had its world premiere at the Lincoln Center in New York City on March 8, 2020.^[10] Paramount Pictures plans to release the film in theaters on April 23, 2021.^[11] Originally set for March 20, 2020, the film's release was then postponed to September 4, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12][13] The change to April 2021 was the studio's second postponement.^[11] The film was then delayed to September 17, 2021,^[14] and later moved up to its final release date of May 28, 2021.

Future

A Quiet Place

Beck and Woods began writing A Quiet Place in January 2016,^[27] and Krasinski read their initial script the following July.^[28] The concept appealed to Krasinski of parents protecting their children, especially as his second child with actress Emily Blunt had just been born,^[29] and Blunt encouraged him to direct the film.^[28] By March 2017, Paramount had bought Beck and Woods's script, and they hired Krasinski to rewrite the script and direct the film, which was his third directorial credit and his first for a major studio.^[30] Blunt did not want to be cast in the film, but she read the script on a plane flight and immediately told her husband, "I need to do it."^[28] He agreed, and they were both cast in the starring roles.^[30] After considering developing the film as a potential fourth instalment in the Cloverfield franchise, Paramount and Krasinski decided that it would work better as a standalone film capable of forming an independent franchise.^[31]

Production took place from May to November 2017 in Dutchess and Ulster counties in upstate New York. During filming, the crew avoided making noise so diegetic synchronized sounds (e.g., the sound of rolling dice on a game board) could be recorded; the sounds were amplified in post-production. A traditional musical score was also added, which Krasinski justified in wanting audiences to remain familiar with watching a mainstream film, and not feel like part of a "silence experiment."^[32] In the film, creatures are blind and communicate through clicking sounds. Aadahl and Van der Ryn said they were inspired by animal echolocation, such as that employed by bats. The sound of feedback, normally avoided by sound editors, was woven into the story at a loudness level that would not bother audiences too much.^[33]

The characters communicate in American Sign Language (ASL) to avoid making sound, so the filmmakers hired deaf mentor Douglas Ridloff to teach ASL to the actors and to be available to make corrections. They also hired an ASL interpreter for deaf actress Simmonds, so that spoken and signed language could be interpreted back and forth on set.^[34] Simmonds grew up with ASL, and she helped teach her fellow actors to sign.^[35] She said, "In the movie, we've been signing together for years and years. So it should look fluent."^[36] She observed that each character's use of sign language reflected his or her motivations: the father had short and brief signs which showed his survival mentality, while the mother had more expressive signs as part of wanting her children to experience more than survival.^[37] Krasinski said that Simmonds's character used "signing that's very defiant, it's very teenage defiant."^[38]

Producers Andrew Form and Bradley Fuller said that they initially planned not to provide on-screen subtitles for sign-language dialogue while providing only "context clues," but they realized that subtitles were necessary for the scene in which the deaf daughter and her hearing father argue about the modified hearing aid. They subsequently added subtitles for all sign-language dialogue in the film.^[39]

A Quiet Place Part II

In April 2018, Paramount Chair and CEO Jim Gianopulos announced that a sequel was in development. John Krasinski, who co-wrote, directed and starred in the first film, said he considered it "as a one-off".^[40] Uncertain of finding similar success in a sequel, he initially told Paramount to seek another writer and director.^[40] The first film's screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods did not return for the sequel. Woods said they were not interested in a franchise approach and that they would rather try "to create original ideas" and use their writing credits "as an opportunity to push several projects".^[41] Beck said, "Instead of focusing on sequels per se, it's about investing back into the ecosystem of original ideas in a massive marketplace."^[42]

According to Krasinski, Paramount rejected pitches from other writers and directors that were considered too franchise-oriented.^[43] He said, "I had this small idea, which was to make Millie [Simmonds] the lead of the movie... her character opens the door to all the themes I was dealing with in the first movie."^[44] The studio invited him to write a script based on his idea.^[43] By August 2018, Krasinski was writing the film.^[45] In the following February, he was hired to direct the sequel, and actors Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe were confirmed to reprise their roles.^[46] In March, Cillian Murphy joined the cast.^[47] In the following June, Brian Tyree Henry joined the cast,^[48] but he left the film due to scheduling problems. He was replaced by Djimon Hounsou in August.^[49]

In June 2019, production began on the sequel.^[7] Filming officially commenced on July 15^[8] and production was finished by late September.^[9]

Box office performance

Critical response

Accolades