Summary
A Quiet Place: Day Onehit theaters earlier this summer and surprised audiences with its heartbreaking story about a dying woman facing the apocalypse. Whereas the first twoQuiet Placemovies were tense horror movies that utilized rural settings for homegrown terror,Day Oneis more of an epic disaster film, set over the course of the first few days when the aliens begin their invasion. The first twoQuiet Placemovies were written anddirected by John Krasinski, but director Michael Sarnoski took the reins for the prequel starring Lupita Nyong’o as Sam and Joseph Quinn as Eric.
Prior toDay One, Sarnoski had only one feature under his belt — the grief-laden Nicolas Cage featurePig, about a man searching for his missing truffle pig. Sarnoski brings his careful attention to character work to theQuiet Placeuniverse, making sure you care about Sam and Eric and their journey through post-apocalyptic New York. Debuting to glowing reviews and earning $255 million at the box office, it’s clear that Sarnoski’s vision has resonated.
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Of the film’s success, Sarnoski says,“It feels good. This has been my baby… So it’s cool to see it be received and appreciated by people [even though] it also feels far away from you.“What’s next for theQuiet Placefranchise remains unclear, but Sarnoski’s combining of sci-fi thrills with affecting character work seems like a sweet spot for a film series that began with a tight-knit family being ripped apart.Screen Rantsat down with Sarnoski to talk about the film, including the jump from indie filmmaking to blockbuster gigs, what drew him to this terrifying sci-fi world, and more.
Character Is The Most Important Thing To Michael Sarnoski
It’s How He Finds His Way Into The World Of A Quiet Place
Jumping from the indie-sized scale ofPigto the big-budgetQuiet Placeuniverse may seem like a big leap, but for Sarnoski, it all came down to the basics.“I usually start with character, regardless, so that the world usually kind of builds around the character,“he says,“If I’m starting with Sam, how do these things start building around her? What [does] New York mean for this character and how is that going to come into the story?“Even in starting with Nyong’o’s Sam, though, the director acknowledges the parameters he’s playing with.
Still, he didn’t find them limiting.“Even though there are certain things already established, I am trying to always lens them through Sam’s perspective and figure out like, okay, they only come into the movie when it is meaningful to her. It’s not just like a given that [they] will be in there.“For the most part, though, those aliens are always there. Though we spend some time with Sam before they invade, most of the film is spent evading the creatures that have come to terrorize the earth and these creatures are what drew Sarnoski to this world:
There’s something so essential and beautiful about these creatures that hunt by sound, and it’s such a primal attack on what makes us human beings, and it’s so invasive. The world of silence that it creates really forces you to lean in, and really be with these characters in a much more intimate way than you would otherwise. And I think that opens you up to doing more intimate, nuanced character stuff that wouldn’t usually be explored in a big blockbuster franchise movie. So I think that’s what excited me — this franchise is about leaning in and about holding your breath for terror, but also for really getting to know these characters and that was really exciting for me.
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The Leap From Indie To Blockbuster Wasn’t A Goal For Michael Sarnoski
He’s Learned Valuable Lessons From A Quiet Place: Day One
When a director like Sarnoski jumps from a film likePigto something at the scale ofDay One, it’s clear a studio is hoping to tap into a director’s artistic vision to make their blockbuster stand out. We’ve seen it in movies like Chloé Zhao’sEternalsand Lee Isaac Chung’sTwisters, among many others. This leap wasn’t a goal for Sarnoski, but he found the process ofA Quiet Placeto be rewarding, saying,“There was a lot of freedom in it. John [Krasinski] was a big fan of Pig and he was really willing to just let me explore this world on my own terms.“He continues:
Working on a big studio thing, there’s a lot more voices — it’s the classic cooks in the kitchen thing. There’s a big company that you’re working with, and everyone sort of has the thing that they want out of this movie. But it just means you need to have a lot more conversations about that and ensure that sort of everyone’s feeling heard. I’m not against doing more studio movies. I know, for my next one, I’m doing something a little more mid-range, a Robin Hood movie with Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer. I think that’ll allow me to take what I’ve learned from the big movies and the small movies and meet right in the middle. I’m sure down the line, I’ll do another big studio thing. I really enjoyed it in a lot of ways. But I also really enjoy making small movies. I just like finding a character in a story that I believe in, and then sort of making a movie that’s the right scale for that story. I don’t really have a desire for any particular scale. I want to find a story that I believe in and do it right.
Besides the scale of the project, though,A Quiet Place: Day Onepresented another challenge: after the aliens invade, many stretches of the film go by without the actors exchanging a word of dialogue. Sarnoski says it didn’t change his approach to directing:“I always want to give the actors the freedom to experiment and find things and I always want it to feel like an open conversation where I can offer some guidance and some clarity on what I’m aiming for.“Quinn and Nyong’o’s approach to character really helped, too:
At the end of the day, it’s kind of up to them how they’re going to manifest that. So I think the lack of dialogue, it’s definitely a different thing. But it opens up other doors. I think it made the scenes very intimate and these characters are very focused on understanding each other because Lupita and Joe were very focused on understanding each other and understanding what the other person was trying to give them through silence. So I thought that was really cool and fun to play with. I also love a good meaty dialogue scene as well. So I don’t think it really changed my directorial techniques or anything, but it was just another fun sort of way to explore these characters.
Sarnoski’s Next Movie Is A New Take On Robin Hood
Hugh Jackman & Jodie Comer Are Set To Star
AfterDay One, Sarnoski found a sweet spot with his upcoming Robin Hood movie. Jackman will play an older version of the title character as he looks back on his life of crime. Sarnoski says it lands somewhere in between the blockbuster scale of his most recent movie and the intimacy ofPig. As for when that gets started, the director says,“We’re planning to start filming that early next year.“He also took some time to tease Jackman’s take on the character:
I don’t want to give too much away, but I think Hugh Jackman, we all know, is an incredible actor. We’re gonna get to see him do some pretty different, amazing stuff. He has quite a range with this character that he’s going to be exploring. I think people think of Robin is sort of like, he’s gonna steal from the rich, give to the poor. We have an idea for what that character is. But I think what he’s going to do with this character is going to go beyond what people are expecting, and I’m really excited to see to see him dive into it.
A Quiet Place: Day Oneis now available to watch at home.
