In a post-apocalyptic world, a family of four, Lee, Evelyn, Regan and Marcus, are doing the best they can to survive from these creatures that only attack when they hear sound. They family learned sign language because Regan is deaf and the whole family communicates with each other through sign.
Blaine: The producers were looking through scripts for horror films and “A Quiet Place” was the only script that was unique and original. They showed it to Paramount Pictures and they loved it so much that they bought the rights. Before they went looking for a director, the producers decided to look for a star first. John Krasinski was the first actor in mind and when he read the script he felt some changes needed to be made and he had some great suggestions. He had taken out and rewritten a few scenes. John also had a vision for this story, so when he pitched his ideas to the producers they thought it was perfect. So the producers found both their director and their star.
John also wanted his wife, Emily Blunt, to be in the movie. He knows she’s a talented actress and he had been wanting to do a project with her for a while. Emily was the first person John had talked to about his ideas and vision for this project before he got the job and she was interested in being apart of it. On the first day of shooting, both John and Emily were nervous because this was the first time they were working with each other on film. But they started to feel calm after being honest with each other about how nervous they were. And as production continued they felt more calm. Emily had some ideas of how she should act in a scene. There’s one scene where Emily is in the bathtub giving birth to her new child, but she’s trying not to make a sound because one of the monsters is near. They only shot that scene once because Emily was so perfect that there was no need to shoot another take. She showed that her character, Evelyn, is in terrible pain and is doing her best not to scream. Emily Blunt was the best collaboration John had ever had in his life.
Finding kids to play Regan and Marcus was easy. Millicent Simmonds is deaf in real life so she didn’t have to pretend to be deaf when she auditioned. All she had to do was act concerned and scared. Noah Jupe (Wonder) was recommended to John by another actor he met. John would act out how he was going to perform before they started shooting a scene for the kids so they could figure out how they should react in that scene. The thing I’m most impressed with John Krasinski’s performance is that wide eyed feared look he shows whenever someone makes noise. He’s a very concerned person. The characters don’t wear shoes because they make noise. John’s character, Lee, made a sand trail for his family so they have something soft to walk on. The actors had to wear these prosthetic feet over their real feet like shoes from time to time. There’s a scene that shows Regan and Marcus on top of silo, Marcus falls into the corn pit, Regan goes in after him, the creature hears the noise from when the silo door broke and goes to it. The metal door isn’t sinking, it floats like a surf board on sea. It was a challenge for Millicent and Noah to do that scene because they were sinking in the corn pit, but there was a lot people on that set to help them get out. Another thing about it was it was dusty in there and there were bugs.
“A Quiet Place” was shot in 35 days and it had five months of post-production, which means the people who worked on it had a short amount of time to work on the visual effects, add sound and edit it together before it's release date. The creatures of “A Quiet Place” had a different look during pre-production. During post-production, John decided that the creatures needed a new look at the last minute. He felt terrible telling ILM that the creatures needed a new look because they had already started working on the visual effects and had done so much. Fortunately they were happy about giving the creatures a new look because they felt the look wasn’t right either, especially for a movie this good. So the concept artists had to quickly design a new look for the creatures and they created a look that everyone would 100% agree was perfect. There’s no explanation of where these creatures came from or how they got here, but they are aliens.
John sent scouts to New York to find the right location to shoot “A Quiet Place”. The scouts came back with these photos they took while scouting and a lot of these places were covered in snow because it was Winter there. There was one picture of a house and a barn that looked perfect. It also looked like it had enough space to grow a corn field. So John and the producers went down to take a look at that spot and it looked exactly how John described the location in the script. There were only two things that needed to be built, a silo and the sound proof basement.
Watching “A Quiet Place” made me jump out of my seat several times because the movie is quiet 94% of the time and when you least expect it something comes out and attacks. I would get very concerned for these characters, hoping the creatures wouldn’t attack them. Evelyn is pregnant with her fourth child and as night approaches, her water brakes and she is going into labor. Evelyn is in terrible pain while giving birth and she can not make a sound because then those creatures will get her. One of them is near and Evelyn can’t take it anymore, so she screams. That was an intense scene. When Lee finally arrives in the bathroom, Evelyn is gone and all that is left is her blood in the bathtub. You assume the creature got her for a few seconds, but she managed to survive. She gave a perfect birth to her new baby and transferred over to the shower on the other side of the room. As the movie went on, Evelyn was in situations where I thought she could get killed. After Lee finds Evelyn he carries her and the baby to the basement while he goes looking for Regan and Marcus. The basement gets flooded with water and the creature finds it’s way into the basement. Evelyn has to slowly get the baby out of the box he is in without making a sound and letting the creature get them both. She manages to survive that too.
One of the creatures is after the kids. Lee saves their lives by making noise and sacrificing himself. He does it mostly for Regan to show that he loves her. At the beginning of “A Quiet Place”, Regan and Marcus have a younger sibling and Regan gives him this toy rocket he desires. He takes the batteries in order to give it power and as they are walking back to the house he turns it on, it makes noise and the creature kills him. Regan thought Lee was upset with her for her brother’s death, but he’s not. He loves her with all his heart. I love the ending. Regan has learned how to defeat the creatures by boosting her hearing implants high. The noise drives the creature mad and Evelyn takes one shot at it’s head. The noise of the shotgun causes more creatures to come their way, but Regan and Evelyn are not afraid anymore now that they know how to defeat them. They are ready to kick some serious ass.
My rating on “A Quiet Place” is five out of five stars.
