'A Quiet Place 2' about broken promises and growing up, says John Krasinski

Hollywood star John Krasinski was not sure if he wanted to do a follow-up to his horror hit "A Quiet Place" but the dream to see his children grow up to be courageous humans drove the actor-director to make a sequel.

Krasinski, who is best known to Indian fans for his role as the mischievous and romantic Jim Halpert in hit comedy show "The Office" and CIA operative in "Jack Ryan", received global acclaim for writing and directing the 2018 movie.

The original film followed the Abbott family, featuring Krasinski, his actor-wife Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where alien monsters hunt humans by sound.

Krasinski said the moment he got the idea that Millicent would lead the sequel, everything fell into place.

"It was the gateway to realising everything I loved about the first movie, which was the metaphor of parenthood, love and family. And Millicent unlocks that. I could investigate, re-explore, continue and expand on all the ideas I had in the first one," Krasinksi told PTI in a group interview with select international media here.

The 40-year-old filmmaker said the first movie was about parents making a promise to their kids, "which is if you stay with me you'll be protected forever".

"When the kids realise the promise is broken, that's what adolescence and growing up is. That allowed me to completely invert the first movie. We had this father, who had all these beliefs, power and ideas and now this little girl, without him, takes up his mantle and becomes everything he thought she'd be, times ten.

"She becomes the most heroic person the father ever met. That got me super emotional, I started getting teary eyed and excited about doing it," Krasinski, who shares two daughters with Blunt, said.

This premise, of children coming into their own and fighting the good fight, led Krasinski to the emotional crux of the film.

"If the first movie is a love letter to my kids—about what I think what it means to be a parent—the second one is a love letter (to them) and a dream of mine that I hope they grow up in a world where they can be courageous, hopeful and if it's dark around you, you should be the one to light the candle. That's what the movie meant to me."

Krasinksi said he wrote the script in less than three weeks as he had cracked the idea during the shooting of "Jack Ryan" season 2.

"...while I was shooting that, in my head I was just thinking about all the things that weren't working in the script and trying to answer those questions."

He confessed that he was not too sold on the idea of doing a sequel right from the beginning as there was always "the stress of doing the second movie".

"As an audience member, I've always been wary of sequels. I've always wondered, why do another one? That it seems like a big cash grab for the studio, it isn't for the fans, it's never as good...

"And that always made me sad, I mean, not always because some movies had great sequels. But it was one of those things where I said no to the studio in the beginning because I didn't think anything would ever be that personal."

Krasinski said his biggest worry was whether he could write the sequel with the same heart as the first one.

"I didn't think I could ever write something that organic. I had a tiny idea so our producer Andrew Form said we will go find another writer, director, (but) right now just expand on the tiny idea you have. The idea was to make Millicent the lead of the movie. I didn't know where that would take me.

"Turns out Andrew mind-tricked me, knowing fully well, that if I write an outline, I'll be like 'Goddamn, I'm writing and directing the movie now!'"

Exclusively distributed in India by Viacom18 Studios, the Paramount Pictures movie is slated to hit the screens on March 19.

(Pic credit: AP)