A Quiet Place: Day One, the third chapter and prequel to the blockbuster franchise, leaves the rural farmhouse of the Abbott family and moves to New York to tell the story of the day meteorites fell from the sky and humans were snatched by ravenous aliens, never to be seen again.
The setup is simple and effective: when Samira (Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o) returns to the city of her birth, all she wants is a slice from her favorite pizzeria. Instead, she finds herself trapped in a brutal waking nightmare that could be her last day on Earth. Accompanied by a virtual stranger named Eric (Joseph Quinn) and her cat Frodo, she embarks on a perilous journey past burning buildings, flooded subways and smashed cars in a newly-silent world, where danger lurks everywhere.
Directed by Michael Sarnoski (Pig), who also wrote the screenplay from a story he co-wrote with A Quiet Place creator John Krasinski, the latest installment is a taut horror thriller that deftly balances epic scares and action with intimate drama.
Here, in an exclusive interview with Post, Sarnoski talks about the challenges of making the film, collaborating with Krasinski, and his love of editing and post.
What sort of film did you set out to make?
“Initially when I was first brought on to this project our first idea was, ‘Let’s do a New York invasion Quiet Place movie,’ and outside of that it was left sort of open-ended. So going off the first two movies and the films I liked, I knew we’d hit all the New York adventure stuff and all the scary stuff, and make it all work. But I also really wanted to make sure that we had a very character-driven, intimate drama at the core of that, so my approach was to make an intimate character piece. There’s a very small group of characters and they all have their own ways of experiencing the apocalypse, and it’s about how that all connects and what they mean to each other. That was the soul of the film for me, and I approached it like an indie drama.”
These films are obviously John Krasinski’s baby. Talk about how you guys collaborated on this.
“When he first brought me on, he told me he loved Pig and wanted me to bring the Pig touch to this, so I presented him with the core of the story and the character I wanted to follow and the story I wanted it to be, and we worked on the story together. And then I went off and wrote the script, and he was very supportive of me putting my own spin on the film and giving it my own voice. He was there to help guide it and give advice if needed, but he wanted me to do my own thing with it.”
Photo: Director Michael Sarnoski
What were the big technical challenges of pulling this all together?
“The biggest one was probably the set build. There’s a lot of destruction that goes on, so we obviously couldn’t shoot this on the real streets of New York and instead we had to create this puzzle-box of a set that could double as all parts of New York City. It was pretty humongous, as it had to cover the whole length of Manhattan, and figuring out to make that work and also being able to shoot within the timeframe of the schedule was a big challenge. We had to re-dress our Chinatown set as Harlem, for instance, and we’d be shooting scenes on this massive backlot while prepping other sets and scenes.”
How early on did you integrate post and all the VFX and animation?
“Very early on. ILM did all the VFX and were there from the start, from talking about all the set builds to dreaming up how it would all work visually in this environment. And Malcom Humphreys, our VFX supervisor at ILM, was heavily involved from the very start to the end of post and the DI, as all the VFX were such an integral part of the whole process.”
Did you do a lot of previs?
“Not as much as you’d think. For a few of the more-involved sequences we did a bit of storyboarding, and then for some of the more tricky technical bits, where everyone had to be on the same page for all the camera moves, and what we were shooting and what we’d be building in post, we did previs. We previs’ed the dream sequences, and it was really valuable from a technical standpoint. There’s a big sequence in a subway, and there’s always limitations about what you have physically on-set, so previs really helped us know what we could physically do on set and what we’d have to add in post, and what angles we could pull of in this limited space. And it was really useful in just seeing how we could fit a crane into the space, and how far we could run it down a track before it hit the ceiling of the set.”
Talk about the look you and your Pig DP Pat Scola went for. What camera and lenses did you use?
“We shot with Alexas and a set of Panavision lenses that were specifically created off the ones we used for the look of Pig, which was really helpful as this is a big scope thing, but you also need those very intense close-ups, and you need to feel what the characters are going through.”
How tough was the shoot?
“Not as bad as I expected. I thought, this is a huge movie with huge sets, explosions, VFX and so on, but once you surround yourself with department heads who know exactly what they’re doing, it’s not that different from shooting a small indie like Pig. You just expand the circle and talk to all your core people about your creative ideas, and they in turn have these experienced teams that are ten times the size of the teams on my last film. But oddly, it didn’t feel overwhelming. Obviously we couldn’t shoot this in New York, so we built all our sets and shot at Leavesden Studios in London. I really wanted this to feel real, so we also shot about half the film on-location all around London, with lots of old interiors, streets and places that could double for New York. It worked really well, as I’ve shown the film to New Yorkers who couldn’t tell it wasn’t shot in their city.”
Tell us about post. Where did you do it?
“We posted out of Company 3 in New York, and I worked with two editors – Andrew Mondshein and Gregory Plotkin. I love post and editing is really my favorite part of the whole filmmaking process. I’m thinking about the edit in every phase, especially in the writing, where I plan out my script in how it’ll be cut. So then the edit is the time to fulfill those ideas, but it’s also when you discover new ideas and what the footage has to offer. Sometimes the edit goes exactly how you think it will as you’re writing it, but then other times just a look from an actor can convey a line or chunk of dialogue, and I love that process of discovery.”
How did your two editors work together?
“Andy began the project and Greg finished it, so we had a hand-over due to scheduling. They weren’t on-set, and we’d send the dailies to Andy and then we would talk once a week about the coverage and he’d let me know if we were missing something, or if we needed to focus on something a little more. There were a couple of complex scenes which had so many moving pieces that he’d focus on cutting that together while we were shooting, just to make sure we had everything we needed. It all went pretty smoothly. I’d actually love to have an editor on-set, but it’s so important to have them just cranking through the footage and putting an assembly together to see if it’s all flowing properly.”
What were the main editing challenges?
“All the VFX was the big one. You’re cutting scenes together where there’s whole chunks without the VFX yet. We didn’t have a ton of stuff where it’s just a person in front of a blue screen, but you’re dealing with creatures, set extensions, software, and none of it really makes sense until you get all the VFX in there. So it takes a lot of creativity from the editors to figure out the timing when the creatures aren’t there, and to imagine what it’ll all be once the VFX are finished.”
There are obviously quite a few VFX. What was entailed?
“Malcolm and his team were on-set every day and were very on top of it all. They did the last two Quiet Place films, so they had a lot of experience with the creatures and how it all worked. They were even there as we framed shots, checking where the blue screen would be, and if we needed more atmosphere or needed to keep it clean. They were giving input on every shot and figuring out what tools they needed to make all the VFX the best they could be, and it was so great to have them.
“On Pig, I had to do most of the VFX myself, so to work with the best in the business on this was amazing. We ended up with just over 400 VFX shots, so not a ton, and we were cautious about over-using VFX. We didn’t want it to be a Band-Aid, but we had time in post to explore new ideas and expand things. We also did some postvis, but not a ton.”
Can you talk about the importance of music and sound to you.
“It’s so important, especially on a film like this, and we did all the sound and mix at Warners in New York with supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Lee Salevan and re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay. It’s tricky coming into a franchise, as you know what the creatures sound like, but Lee really re-created it all from the ground up, so it still sounds like what you’re used to, but it has this new texture. And as a New Yorker, he also spent a lot of time figuring out what the sound of the empty city would be like. The mix was one of my favorite parts of post, as you do so many little temp mixes as you go, and when you finally hear the real thing, it just makes the whole movie come alive.”
What about the DI? Who was the colorist and how closely did you work with them and the DP?
“We did it at Company 3 with Tom Poole, and Pat and Malcolm were at all the sessions. Pat isn’t a DP who plans to do a lot in the DI, as he shoots very close to what he wants, and we went for a very naturalistic look. Nothing looks too treated or tweaked, and it was more just a matter of making his beautiful images just really sing. And I’m very happy with the film. It’s turned out the way I first envisioned it.”