SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses plot points from “A Quiet Place: Day One,” now in theaters.
“A Quiet Place: Day One” is filled with tense silence, brutal murders and a moving ending that opens the door for more apocalyptic horrors.
Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o stars as Samira, a terminally ill cancer patient who leaves hospice to explore New York City with her service cat Frodo. But her journey is disrupted when aliens with ultra-sensitive hearing invade Earth. Sam, Frodo and Eric (Joseph Quinn), a young English law student, then meet in the midst of the apocalypse, attempting to silently navigate one of the world’s noisiest cities at a time when the slightest noise causes the Death Angels attack. Sam has another mission: to visit a pizzeria in her childhood East Harlem, across the street from a jazz club where her father played.
At the end of the film, as the army continues to evacuate civilians by boat, Sam and Eric reach the jazz club, but the pizzeria is closed, so Eric finds something from elsewhere instead. Then Eric and Frodo escape – fleeing the creators in a tense sequence – but Sam decides to go the opposite direction to safety and walks out into the street while listening to Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ on her iPod. As soon as she unplugs her earphones, the monsters appear and the screen goes dark, signaling that Sam’s story has come to an end.
“What makes this story compelling is that Sam is a character at the beginning of the film who is confronted with death in a way we don’t expect from a horror movie: ‘What happens when life throws you one way or the other? slips away some other way, and then there’s an alien invasion?’” Nyong’o said Variety, reflecting on the characters’ final moments. “She goes on a journey where the creatures revive her in a way and she learns to appreciate life while she has it.”
The film has also found success at the box office, having the best start of the three “Quiet Place” films (the first two helmed by John Krasinski) and exceeding expectations with $53 million domestically and $98 million worldwide in his box office debut. “Day One” director Michael Sarnoski sat down with us Variety to answer burning questions about the future of the franchise.
Why did you want this film to be your follow-up to “Pig?”
I thought a lot about what I wanted to do after ‘Pig’. I’ve avoided a lot of things. I wasn’t actively looking for a studio thing. I actively avoided that. But with this film, John and Paramount seemed really willing to give me the freedom to explore a character that would otherwise be quite unconventional to explore in a film like this. I just fell in love with the idea of Sam’s character and seeing the world through her eyes. It just seemed really exciting to me to explore a character like her in this way on a grand scale.
The recordings took place in London. How were you able to take those photos of the Empire State Building and the burning Brooklyn Bridge?
It’s a combination of things. There are beautiful effects from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), but we also did some helicopter shoots in New York. It was the first time I had ever been in a helicopter – it was terrifying. We took some portrait photos there.
One of the few scenes we got to shoot in New York City was Sam driving over the bridge into the city, which we could have done with a blue screen or with a lot of different options. But I thought it would be really nice to believe the New York entry so that everything else would fall into place.
Did Djimon know Hounsou from the prequel ‘Day One’ before signing on for ‘A Quiet Place Part II’, since he is the connective tissue between the two films?
The idea behind the prequel to ‘Day One’ was the speech he gives in ‘Part II’. And I don’t really know if it was the chicken or the egg situation, or if that was the spark of the idea. I’m not quite sure. I know his character is closely tied to the idea of a “Day One” movie.
Have you and John talked about Henri’s backstory?
No, John gave me a lot of freedom there. When you meet Henri on the island, he is a leader of this community. I thought it would be nice to get a glimpse of the beginning of what it took to get to that place of peace, and see that he probably had to make some very difficult decisions leading up to that. John gave me a lot of freedom to use the mystery and discover as much as I wanted.
You worked with Alex Wolff on “Pig” and cast him as Reuben, one of the nurses at the hospice. His death in this film was brutal. What was the decision to have him killed off early in the film? What was his reaction to reading the script?
I wrote a character and then realized, ‘Wow, it would be a great character for Alex,’ and now I’m afraid I won’t write anything for him, because he’s kind of my good luck charm. I enjoy working with him.
Ultimately, he was enthusiastic about that idea. There’s always a reaction from actors saying, “Oh, can’t I do anything after that?” But he got it and was excited about it. There’s a moment in the film where it could be one kind of film – the story of a group of stragglers trying to get to this place – and it could be a bit more conventional. His death marks the moment when the movie you think could be a different twist takes a different turn and becomes something smaller and more personal for Sam.
Did Eric and Frodo really make it out alive?
I think they did. They earned it. I would like to imagine that they are safe somewhere, whether on the island or somewhere else. They found some peace – for now.
Where does the boat go at the end of the movie?
Who knows what exactly it will take to get there. It’s clear that at least some of those people end up on the island we saw in “Part II.” I’m sure their trials and tribulations are not over yet. But I think some of those people will eventually get there.
Let’s talk about Sam’s fate. Nyong’o said that she believes the apocalypse gave Sam this new life and allowed her to appreciate life more now. What are your thoughts on that?
That’s exactly what we were going for: this idea that a dying person who has counted himself out of life finds new light in the apocalypse, in the depths of the world around him. There is an unexpected journey where everything crumbles and everything seems to end. Sam manages to find one last small moment to cherish and enjoy and one last piece of connection in the world. If the world hadn’t ended, she would never have had that ending for herself.
Sam’s death mirrored John Krasinski’s character at the end of “A Quiet Place,” where he also sacrifices himself. Have you discussed the similarities there?
We definitely talked about how, on paper, these are two characters who commit suicide. It’s just for very different reasons. That scene with John is beautiful – him sacrificing himself for his children. There was something nice about doing something similar, but purely for yourself and for yourself, and something that you discovered within yourself. Doing a sacrificial death at the end might have stepped on the toes of the first one a bit more, but Sam hates it so much in her own way that it has a different resonance. I hope they’re both beautiful, but I like to think they ring true on their own.
Can we see a sequel, “A quiet place: day two“?
Absolute. I’m sure you will. But I don’t know, right now I’m just recovering from making this one. So I’m sure Paramount will come up with something really fun next.
What would you like to see?
What attracted me to this story was the unique character of Sam, who follows this dying person who isn’t even really fighting to survive. So I would like to see something similarly unusual, like an unexpected character in this world. The ‘Quiet Place’ universe opens up to all the characters you want to follow and explore. I’m not sure. I put so much into Sam and Eric. That was all the love and care I had at this point to find these characters. I would have to come up with a character that I could really fall in love with and really want to be surprised by seeing the world through their eyes.
“A Quiet Place Part III” is scheduled for release next year. What do you know about that?
Not a ton. I very much approached this one as a standalone thing that you can watch without having to see the others. But I’m sure they’ll make a part three. I’m not sure what the timeline is, but I’ll definitely be at the theater to watch it.
Which characters from the franchise do you think could get their own spin-off?
Almost any character could do that. You can easily follow prequels or sequels of any of the characters. They have done a really good job of casting incredible actors in this franchise. I could see Cillian Murphy doing anything. There are plenty of options.
I always fall back on an animated musical of Frodo making his way through this world, so that’s always a possibility.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
