The opening prologue to A Quiet Place Part II crescendos in a tour de force sequence that any director would be proud to have his or her name on. And now, the director who actually does has decided to pull back the curtain to show how it was done.
In a 10-minute video for Vanity Fair, John Krasinski takes us step-by-step through how he assembled a lengthy action sequence that seamlessly blended (mostly) live action choreography with key digital wizardry.
It’s an engaging, revealing breakdown, one where Krasinski gets so granular that, at times, he literally exposes the seams between what’s real and what’s digital, even in subtle places that you’d never expect. Along with detailed explanations, he occasionally uses a telestrator approach (like what you’d see an NFL broadcaster do while breaking down a play).
As a bonus: he also points out some neat Easter Eggs, including the actor in the sequence who is from the Broadway Original Cast of Hamilton (suffice it to say, he’s a fan favorite of Hamil-nerds), as well as his homage reference to Steven Spielberg‘s Jaws.
Other little gems: Krasinski sharing which film (and sequence) by Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron was a direct inspiration for what he did here, as well as pointing out which unintended moment ended up being, as he put it, “the best mistake of my career.”
Krasinski also shares what served as his motivation to make A Quiet Place Part II, a project he had originally ceded to the studio to hand off to another filmmaker.
- “The key for me, my in as a writer and as a director for it, was making Millie the lead of the movie. And when you make Millie the lead of the movie, two things happen. One, you engage one of the most talented actresses I’ve ever worked with. But much more than that: thematically, she opened and unlocked all these themes and metaphors that I was dealing with in the first movie.”
Along the way Krasinski also exudes his trademark charm, one that mixes his earnest sincerity with a dry but lovable sense of humor.
