It has been quite a while since a creature feature has generated the level of enthusiasm created by John Krasinski's A Quiet Place, and it has many wondering if it could turn into the horror film to beat this year. The film takes a decidedly old-school approach to the creation of its atmosphere and tension, and Krasinski apparently looked to another classic monster movie to establish his tone. In fact, during a recent interview with A Quiet Place producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, CinemaBlend learned that Krasinski paid particular attention to Steven Spielberg's Jaws in his restrained approach to his film. Form explained:
Creatively, John was always talking about Jaws. From the first conversation we've ever had about the movie, he was referencing that film. We've all learned that, Brad and I have worked on a lot of these genre films, the less you show the scarier. We really talked about when do you show the creature? How much here or there? That scene in the cornfield with Reagan, the daughter, that scene could've been two minutes longer with the two of them. It was really talked about, how much to show.
So, from the very beginning, John Krasinski wanted to take a conservative approach to his work on A Quiet Place. The film was designed to generate tension, and he did that by referring to Steven Spielberg's work on Jaws as a template for withholding the monsters from view. As a result, the film's creatures are rarely seen, and the scenes in which they do appear are intentionally kept short.
Of course, if you have seen Jaws, then you already know what Andrew Form is referring to. The classic horror film/proto-blockbuster has become iconic for its tendency to withhold the shark from view, resulting in famous scenes like the infamous first kill, seen below.
With all of that said, the time does eventually come for A Quiet Place to show the monsters -- just like how Jaws finally revealed the full look at the shark. We don't want to give anything away. You'll see for yourself what happens. On that note, Andrew Form continued in our interview and explained how landing on a proper look for the creatures presented a challenge due to the number of designs that already exist in pop culture, such as the Alien Xenomorph. Form elaborated:
The design of the creature was definitely the hardest part of it. Luckily, we had ILM on the movie, who to us, are one of the best in the world, and we just kept challenging ourselves, because everyone will always say to you, 'Everything's been done. What's your creature look like?' How do you do anything new anymore, with the amount of movies that have been made? So you have these artists drawing designs and everyone looks at them and they're like 'No, that looks like Alien or that looks like this, that looks like that,' and it's really a challenge to come up with something fresh and new. We did have the sound element, which was our big deal. The hearing and the ears were the most important part of these creatures. Very late in the design process, the design of the creature actually happened and ILM, I'm sure, wishes it was six months earlier but we definitely were struggling with the design and are wildly happy with the way it came out.
Those creatures will terrifyingly come to life when A Quiet Place debuts in theaters this weekend on April 6. Here's our in-depth review of the film, and check out our reaction roundup to see what other folks are saying about it online!
