John Krasinski on Casting Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place

by Ben Travis |
Published on

For nearly ten years, John Krasinksi was best known as Jim from The Office US — the wry Dunder Mifflin paper salesman who spent half of his screentime looking pointedly down the lens of the faux-documentary camera. For his second film as director, he’s taking his gift for silent storytelling in a different direction. Instead of mining laughs, he’s building dread in A Quiet Place — a high-concept horror-thriller where a family lives in silence to avoid detection from unseen beasties with superior hearing abilities.

As well as writing and directing, Krasinski takes the lead role of Lee, with his wife Emily Blunt playing his on-screen partner Evelyn. We’ve got an exclusive on-set image, showing Krasinski and Blunt working together during the shoot.

A Quiet Place

In the new issue of Empire Krasinski turned his writing talents to our very pages, penning an entire feature on the making of the movie. He revealed that neither of them had initially thought of Blunt for A Quiet Place’s female lead. “Emily had actually recommended several different actresses based on my pitch of some of the scenes. Her being in the movie, we really hadn’t even considered,” he wrote, explaining that that all changed when she read the screenplay and asked to take the role. “I have to be completely honest when I tell you that that exact moment — having this woman that I admire and respect agree to do this movie with me — was the best compliment of my career,” he wrote.

Read the full feature in the May issue of Empire — on shelves now, with Avengers: Infinity War on the cover and a bonus 10 Years of the MCU mini-mag — and catch A Quiet Place in UK cinemas from 6 April.

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