In 2018, "A Quiet Place", written and directed by John Krasinski, transformed the silent into a thriller element, creating a modern thriller suspense masterpiece that integrates family affection, communication and survival, the film integrates thrilling tension into layers of in-depth narrative structure, telling how a dependent family fights against the murderous and deadly alien hunting monsters in the silent apocalypse. After the film was released worldwide, it was well received, and with its novel setting, it became a dark horse of the year, achieving a global box office of $340 million, and the subsequent production of a sequel was also on the agenda.
A quiet place 2 poster.
Karasinski's second self-written and self-directed "A Quiet Place 2" was released in China on May 28, and the film continues the plot of the previous work, shaping a relatively large external world and solving some of the previous mysteries. In the movie, the Albert family, whose basement shelter no longer exists, will be forced to set foot in a larger and more dangerous world, and the emergence of survivors with the same tragic experience will also make the story more diverse. Krasinski told the Beijing News reporter that he had never thought of shooting a sequel, what elements impressed him? What are the selling points of monsters in this part? Ask him to reveal the secrets to the audience one by one.
【Theme】
What can parents do when their children leave a safe home
After experiencing the death of her young son and her husband, Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and her children (Noah Yuppy and Milicent Simmons) continue to fight for survival in silence, and they are forced to march into the unknown. On the basis of the previous game, the new story line and expanded worldview of "A Quiet Place 2" will bring more challenges, the worldview will be larger, the plot is no longer limited to the "sand road" and shelter built by the Albert family to survive in the silent end times, and in the cruel reality that the faint footsteps can kill people, they have to step into the vast world of dangers.
Director Krasinski gives a lecture to Emily Blunt.
Even Krasinski would be amazed at the idea of leaving the Albert family and stepping into the vast unknown, recalling that when he first started shooting A Quiet Place, he never thought that the film would have a sequel, nor did he conceive of a sequel, nor did he expect it to become a phenomenon, nor did he like the unsatisfactory sequels: "At first, I didn't plan to make a sequel, and the story didn't want to be designed as a series. But the world we created has a lot of energy, and many times I have the urge to dig deeper in some real-life scenes to see what happened to the Albert family that created the world. After the success of A Quiet Place, I knew there might be investors interested in making a sequel, but I didn't want to get involved in a project with impure motives or something that I thought was unnatural, and I could even accept another writer and director taking over the project. But I already had creative prototypes in my head," Kalasinski recalls, "and the idea of the theme was about parenthood, when children leave you and leave the safe home into the unknown, what can we do as parents, how much can we bear." ”
【Suspense】
Man may be more terrifying than monsters, and there will be a third part
"The previous game tells the story of a family living on a farm in this dangerous world, you can see that there are murderous monsters outside, but you don't know what is happening in the outside world, and now I want to open up this world further." 」 As before, Krasinski unleashed his desire to explore the unknown, and he decided that A Quiet Place 2 would begin a few seconds after the end of the first part. While the Albert family was still immersed in the grief of losing their father and husband, almost at the same moment they were forced to make an unimaginable decision: to embark on an unknown journey. They continue to face the extreme situation of dying if they do not remain quiet, and on the other hand, they face new and unforeseen dangers, a journey that tests every family member.
From the moment they step out of their homes, it means that danger can come at any moment, Kalasinski said: "When you lose the safety mechanism of the sand road and the warning lights that appeared in the first part, everything becomes more unpredictable." And the unknown environment will undoubtedly bring greater suspense, the hunting monsters are waiting for the sound, a small mistake may bring danger, and the surviving humans are inseparable from good and evil, they have long become monsters more terrible than monsters. How to survive in a dangerous and escalating world is the biggest attraction of the whole film. ”
A dignified family.
In addition, an important theme of the film is how to face a divided world, when the world is occupied by despair and fear, as the Albert family lived, and relationships become cold based on fear. Blunt, who plays his mother Evelyn, said, "But I think the strength of the Albert family is that they have been focused on maintaining feelings like love, security, and mutual support for quite a long time, and there is always a tendency to induce people to become selfish in any difficult moment, but the Albert family still struggles to fight that tendency." One of the most satisfying things for the creative team when "A Quiet Place" was that the audience was also immersed in the predicament of the Albert family, and the audience would take the initiative to ask themselves "what should I do?" "That's part of the reason the film was successful, because the audience got involved in the film," Kalasinski said, "It's a collective, highly stimulating experience, and that's how we want to be able to continue." ”
According to foreign media reports, Emily Blunt revealed about "A Quiet Place 3" in an interview, she said that she wanted to make a "Quiet Place" trilogy with her husband John Krasinski, and there will be more plots and possibilities that can be unfolded: "John already has a complete idea for the sequel story that can be executed, but I think before he goes into the third part, he will want to understand the audience's thoughts on the second part. ”
【Selling Point】
The ferocious monsters are grouped together, revealing new weaknesses
In the world of doom, mysterious monsters invade the earth, and they use their hearing to carry out a tyrannical slaughter of humans. Humans fled in all directions, like walking on thin ice. Whoever makes a sound will die. As the world in "A Quiet Place 2" is further expanded, as the "horror bearer" in the film, the horror monsters that "smell and dance" naturally become the focus of the new film, these monsters will be provoked by the most unexpected human sounds, so as to carry out more brutal killing, how to become stronger and more difficult to get rid of, this is Karasinski's minimum requirement for this monster. This time, the appearance and structure of the monster also borrowed the shape and essence of many aliens. "A lot of alien sci-fi movies depict intelligent beings making a conscious decision to take over Earth and rule humanity. But I haven't seen a movie that sets up alien creatures as parasitic monsters that, after perfect evolution, will wipe out humans. In the previous game, the monsters just ran around and attacked the things that made sounds. And now, they realize that the quieter they are, the more they can track humans. Therefore, even if the human voice is much smaller, it will put people in a more dangerous situation. ”
Ferocious monsters.
This time, the shape of the monster is more ferocious, the piranha-like disgusting head is open and closed, the slender limbs of the "alien" are general, and the mouth of the "venom" is full of sharp teeth and sharp teeth. Industrial Light and Magic is responsible for the special effects of the monsters, and the monsters are not only cooperative in this part, but also better at finding human hiding places, so the horror index has soared. "We're pursuing a strong sense of reality in monsters, and we've made a lot of rules about the monsters' behavior before, so this time the question is where we can do more." The answer is many: they appear in the daytime, in the water, in the fire, not only in fancy fighting movements, but also in various reactions to weapons. They've never been attacked by a lethal weapon, so how should we scare them? The process of exploring the answers to these questions will be fun and challenging. Krasinski said that in the sun, you can see more of the texture and color of the monster's skin. Their skins resemble the leather-like skins of the legendary 'Swamp People' and feel very old, almost prehistoric creatures, although they come from a completely different planet from humans. In addition, more details of the monster's physical characteristics have become clearer. For example, for the first time, viewers will see monsters with sharp, flexible claws. "Aside from a few small details, we really didn't add anything new to the monster's look. Instead, what we're really focused on is creating the feeling that monsters get smarter, and it actually gets worse for people who are still alive. ”
In addition to the fear of high-frequency sound waves in the previous game, the monster also exposed the weakness of poor wateriness this time, but unfortunately this weakness was not fully utilized, which was a waste. In general, this monster is fast-moving, using more close-ups and close-ups to highlight its ferocity, and the special effects budget is not in vain. The contrast between the sudden appearance of monsters and the sudden appearance of silent spaces will frighten the audience, if this is the only surprise, but repeated abuse many times, and the surprise effect is gradually diluted.
【Interview】
It's fascinating to be able to scare people
Beijing News: It is said that before the project started, your wife Blunt said that she did not have to participate in "A Quiet Place 2"?
John Krasinski: "Yes, she said, 'I can't play this one, even if it's you, don't try to contact my (agent) team', but I still share my initial ideas with her as usual, and she herself is quite funny, first refusing and then asking, 'But what do you think?'" When I finished my thoughts, she changed without saying a word, and she said, 'I will definitely be in the second part', which I think is very natural. ”
Beijing News: It seems that neither of you expected the film to make a sequel and explore the world of "A Quiet Place" again, what new sighs have you had?
John Krasinski: Yes, the first film was original out of thin air, and no one was sure that this high-risk concept would work, and I was flattered by the reaction from the audience. When the audience can read all the metaphors about family and like the film, I get an unprecedented sense of satisfaction from it, which means that in this shooting, I will always think about the audience's reaction, not that I will compromise to cater to the audience, but that I have a greater sense of responsibility than before, to make sure that the film can be made to deserve the affirmation given to us by the audience, and I believe that the audience really wants to know what the family will go through next.
Father told Reagan to stay calm.
Beijing News: The sequel still finds Milisant Simmons and Noah Yuppe playing the children OfMacos and Reagan, especially the former is more mature, what kind of "tuning" has been carried out on the two young actors this time?
John Krasinski: Simmons is probably facing the strongest challenge that no actor in the film has ever faced, because At one point Reagan was completely dependent on herself, even though the hearing aid was her weapon. But compared to other family members, she is in constant danger, because she can't hear if she makes a sound, and at the moment, she is just a girl, and she has to test her ability to survive in practice, and she slowly has the idea of becoming her father. Every day on set, I watched this pair of promising young actors grow and break through themselves, which was my enjoyment every day, and their understanding of the role was so deep that they could even bring out some details that I did not expect.
Beijing News: The horror atmosphere created by the thriller and scary sound effects has become the selling point of the "A Quiet Place" series, but in your opinion, what is the core driving force of the movie?
John Krasinski: It should be about maintaining and valuing family emotions and family relationships, we set up the venue, we did a lot of thriller special settings, my love for special effects is not lost to anyone, it is fascinating to be able to be scary, but from the beginning I stressed that if the intimacy disappeared, I would not make this movie. Even though we're in the wider outside world this time, the family's core values are still the ingredients that drive everything, and I think that this intimacy is the key to the film's ability to continue to impress the audience, and all the action and special effects are derived from the story, not the other way around.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiaowan
Edited by Huang Jialing Proofreader Wu Xingfa