'A Quiet Place: Day One' Writer/Director Michael Sarnoski Talks Power of Connection
courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Six years ago, director/co-writer John Krasinski introduced audiences to a world gone silent in his apocalyptic family drama ‘A Quiet Place.’ Blind aliens took over the Earth and attacked anything and everything that made a sound. The first entry into the series sees the world over a year after the beginning of the invasion. The sequel, ‘A Quiet Place Part II,’ picks up not long after the events of the first film. But what did the very first day look like? How quickly did people realize the gravity of the situation at hand? What did it sound like as the world went quiet? Michael Sarnoski answers those questions and more in ‘A Quiet Place: Day One.’
Sarnoski’s debut feature film, ‘Pig,’ is what got him the job directing the prequel for the Quiet Place universe. ‘Pig’ is a revenge tale that plays out in the Portland restaurant world, but under its gritty exterior is a deeply human movie about the connections we make with the people and animals we love. Sarnoski did a similar subversion of genre expectations in ‘A Quiet Place: Day One.’ What is billed as an alien invasion flick is actually a tender reflection on life itself. Two strangers (Lupita Nyong'o & Joseph Quinn) and a cat find themselves thrust together as the alien invasion begins.
Check out the full video interview of Michael Sarnoski below, or scroll to continue the article.
One of the defining attributes of ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ is its sound and lack thereof. Sarnoski explains that to create the world in the film, it’s not as easy as simply removing all noises. “There are lots of different ways to conjure silence,” he explains. “You can actually conjure silence through a focus on breathing. If you have nothing else but breathing, suddenly it's like, oh my gosh, I feel so intimate here. Or you have distant groans or spatial noises. The different sort of textures of silence was a big thing.”
In focusing so intently on the sonic atmosphere of the film, Sarnoski admits that he became “hyper aware.” of every noise around him. The editing and sound work was done in New York (where the film takes place). It’s a city known for its cacophony of noises and, as text at opening of the film informs the audience, the city averages 90 decibels which is equivalent to a continuous human scream. Being in the city gave Sarnoski a “crash course in how to focus on sound like and trying to create silence. It's just so much fun to experiment with sound and the sound mix is one of the most exciting times to play around and see how you can conjure these different feelings.”
Both of Sarnoski’s feature films center on the relationship between an animal and a human. Sarnoski grew up with pets and is a self-proclaimed, new “cat dad” to a rescue named Navi. He finds himself drawn to these “basic, sort of visceral connective points” that bring animals and humans together. Sarnoski was adamant that Nyong’o’s cat in the film not be CGI because he felt you’d lose something special by replacing a real cat with an animated one. “I think animals and food are really unique things to watch on screen because you can't fake it. Even if you're training an animal to do something, at the end of the day, that's an animal. It just feels real. And that's why I really didn't want to use CGI for the cat.”
courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The central human relationship in ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ is between Sam (Nyong’o) and Eric (Quinn). The two are barely able to audibly communicate with each other, yet they are willing to risk their lives for each other. In another version of this movie, the relationship would turn romantic, but Sarnoski fought to keep it platonic.
“It crossed my mind early on in the sense that I really didn't want to do that. I was trying to avoid some of the cliches of movies like this. You know, sort of like finding romance at the end of the world and sharing one last kiss. I didn't want to go down that path. I wanted to find this unlikely platonic relationship. These friends at the end of the world. I think if you add the romantic thing, then it overshadows some of the more nuanced little connections that they have. And and it just was like, oh, they just, like, fell in love romantically and that's why they like each other so much rather than, they really learned to see and understand each other as human beings.”
‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ is available to own now on digital home entertainment platforms now.
Follow me on BlueSky, Instagram, Letterboxd, & YouTube. Check out Movies with My Dad, a new podcast recorded on the car ride home from the movies.