Not every horror movie needs to inspire a sequel (though so many of them actually do). Sometimes, a filmmaker has a solid idea for one story, and they pack most of what they want to say into that tale. Fear of watering down the first movie’s impact can be a reason why directors are hesitant to return to their franchises. Maybe they just want to keep exploring new territories with fresh material. But when A Quiet Place blew the doors off of movie theaters back in 2018, power couple John Krasinski and Emily Blunt knew they were going to be asked about a follow up. And in our exclusive interview clip above, they tell CinemaBlend why they didn’t initially want to do it.
John Krasinski directed and starred in A Quiet Place, a unique thriller set in a world plagued by an alien infestation. The creatures hunting humans are attracted to sound, so the survivors -- including Krasinski and Emily Blunt’s fictional Abbott family -- just go above and beyond to remain as quiet as possible. Hence, the movie’s title.
While John Krasinski expresses the sentiment in the interview above that he didn’t really want to try a sequel to A Quiet Place at first, he certainly left dangling plot threads that could have been picked up and explored in subsequent movies. The campfires that the Abbotts saw in the distance suggested the presence of other survivors. And the main ending of A Quiet Place left Evelyn Abbott (Blunt) and her two children on the precipice of bringing the fight TO the aliens, now that they’ve figured out how to defeat them.
But even though demand for A Quiet Place Part II was high, John Krasinski had very valid reasons for being skeptical about diving back into the silent pool, as he told CinemaBlend:
As I’m sure you know, I didn’t want to do a second one. I had no intention of doing it because the first movie was so incredibly personal to me, and bizarrely, I’m an audience member before I’m a writer, director, or an actor. And so I’m a big fear-based guy when it comes to sequels, too, and I didn’t want it to be some big regurgitated thing. And so I just said no.
But wait. A Quiet Place Part II opens in theaters (after a lengthy delay) on May 27. What changed John Krasinski’s mind? Well, a big part of it was the character of Regan Abbott, played by Millicent Simmonds. He said:
What happened was, where my organic in to the movie was Millie, and this idea of making Millie the lead character, not only because she’s amazing, but also because that’s the continuation of the metaphor of the first one. All my fears were assuaged, and we realized that rather than being scared of doing a sequel, and scared of doing it bigger and more intense and those sorts of things, we just said, ‘Let’s not worry at all about that. Let’s just tell the story.’ What happened was, the movie took on its own organic life. And so, you find out… I think you will be much more scared in this movie because you love these characters so much.
Audiences absolutely have an emotional investment in the Abbott family after enduring the chills of A Quiet Place. And in the clip above, Emily Blunt said that part of what lured her back for A Quiet Place Part II was the sheer number of times genuinely curious people came up to her asking what happened to this family after the movie ended. They really wanted to know.
In one more week, they can find out. A Quiet Place Part II finally reaches theaters on Friday, May 27. Stay up to date with all of the new movies opening in theaters by frequently checking our 2021 Movie Release Calendar.
