John Krasinski:
On the silence, sound and
scares in ‘A Quiet Place’
INTERVIEW
“I’m an emotional dude, so I’ll
tell you everything.”
John Krasinski has written
a love letter into a horror
movie.
A
self-proclaimed
scaredy-cat
with
eyebrows
made of charisma, his passion
is contagious as he talks about
his latest film, one that is
simultaneously
unexpected
and organic. In an interview
with
The
Daily,
Krasinski
opens up about the on and off-
screen scares that came with
his experience of co-writing,
directing and starring in “A
Quiet Place.”
Set in a post-apocalyptic
world
where
mysterious
creatures hunt by sound, the
horror-thriller
centers
on
the Abbott family and their
reliance on silence for survival.
“I don’t think that anyone
would consider me the horror
guy,” Krasinski admitted, and
considering he is widely known
as “The Office”’s small-town
heartthrob Jim Halpert, few
would disagree.
And yet, he found himself
drawn to the story beneath the
scares. Krasinski read the script
a few weeks after he and Emily
Blunt, his wife and co-star, had
their second daughter.
“I was already in the state
of terror of keeping this girl
safe, keeping this girl alive,”
Krasinski said, recalling the
usual fears that come with new-
founded fatherhood. “When I
first read the script … I saw that
it could be a huge metaphor for
parenthood. I was wide open for
this one and it connected to me
in a big way. ”
Krasinski took on the rewrite,
drawing from his own haunts
to lead each scene back to the
central family dynamic. He
deeply
connected
with
his
character, Lee, a father whose
main priority is to keep his family
safe,
while
simultaneously
crafting a beautiful foil in Lee’s
wife, Evelyn, a mother who
persists to nurture her children
despite the surrounding threats.
An intricate relationship was
born on screen and, secretly,
Krasinski thought of his own
wife for Evelyn’s role throughout
the rewrite.
Blunt was working on “Mary
Poppins Returns” during the
time
of
Krasinski’s
rewrite
(“A small little indie movie,”
Krasinski joked) but once she
read the script, she was sold on
the role.
“I’ve been firsthand seeing
how she makes decisions and
how incredibly smart she is,”
Krasinski said. “So when she
actually signed onto the movie it
truly is the greatest compliment
of my career because I’ve seen
what it takes to get her to say yes
to things.”
From there, Krasinski and
Blunt drew from their personal
relationship to keep honest
communication on set. The duo
was constantly talking about the
film, the relationship that they
were portraying on screen and
the visual and audio elements
that would have to be married
into a cohesive unit in order to
pull off the film’s vision.
“We were both really scared
to work with each other,” he said.
“But I’ve never collaborated
with someone who is better. It
was amazing.”
Krasinski, from the start,
was all in, generating an energy
conducive to experimentation.
“The cool thing was, every
single member of the crew knew
that this movie could be special.
From the production design
to the cinematography I had a
vision, but I always love input
because I think an idea can
always be beat.”
DANIELLE YACOBSON
Managing Arts Editor
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
His work as an actor was
especially
important
while
directing and allowed to create
an intimate space for the central
four characters. “Instead of
being a disembodied head that
yells ‘cut’ and interrupts their
flow, I actually get to be in there,”
Krasinski said as he talked about
working with Blunt and the two
child stars, Millicent Simmonds
(“Wonderstruck”)
and
Noah
Jupe (“The Night Manager”).
For
Krasinski,
the
performances themselves were
never supposed to be scary.
Drawing from his experience
on “The Office,” he continued
to employ creator Greg Daniel’s
advice: Allow the audience to
interpret a performance for
themselves. “I never would have
done this movie if it wasn’t for
that advice because I looked at
this not as a horror movie,” he
explained. “If I can make you
fall in love with this family then
you’ll be scared because you
don’t want anything to happen
to them.”
Instead,
fear
manifests
through the sound design and
the score, which acts as an
omnipresent narrator created
by composer Marco Beltrami
(“The Hurt Locker”).
“(Beltrami)
wrote
music
for so much of the movie,”
Krasinski
said.
“Then
the
question was, ‘Can we pull
music out?’ I thought that that
would be a difficult conversation
to have with your composer,
and he loved it. He was along
for the ride of this experiment
and could see how every day it
changed.”
Finding silence was crucial.
The Abbott family must figure
out how to live in a world with
no noise — sanding paths,
communicating through lights,
avoiding wooden boards — in
order to survive the creatures.
“Not to sound too like hippy
dippy or out there, but the truth
is the most fun was actually just
shooting scenes in dead silence.”
A large component of creating
that silence was using American
Sign Language, the form of
communication
that
gives
the Abbott family a chance
at survival. “There’s a lot of
pretty languages out there, but
nothing more beautiful than
sign language,” he said.
For Krasinski, it was non-
negotiable
to
cast
a
deaf
actress for the role of Regan,
the Abbott’s deaf daughter.
Their inspiration, teacher and
guide came in actress Millicent
Simmonds and, at the risk of
sounding
corny,
Krasinski
gushed on the delicate nature
with
which
Simmonds
approached teaching ASL.
“I’ve never had someone
take in all of me when we were
communicating,” he explained.
“She said, ‘I think it’s really
interesting that each of the
characters is coming out in your
sign. The father is a guy who
doesn’t care about anything in
the world but keeping people
safe, so all of his signs are very
curt and short. And Emily is
trying to give these kids a much
bigger life. So hers are much
more poetic and gesture-y.’”
And in silence, “A Quiet
Place” was able to transcend
beyond the usual horror film.
“You can overwrite dialogue,
you can overwrite backstory …
and in doing so you rob the two
characters of having an intimate
moment,” Krasinski said. “I got
the rare opportunity to have a
slow dance with my wife in this
movie. So much is being said in
that one dance.”
“You’re catching me in a
moment where I’ve never been
more overwhelmed by a response
to a movie,” Krasinski said, that
emotional dude spilling out a bit
more than before. “There’s just
that moment where you have to
step to the edge and jump or not.
I’m really glad I took the I took
the leap.”
“A Quiet Place” comes to
theaters Apr. 6, 2018.
An evening with Lorde
In the never-ending whirlwind
of bar and club shows, it’s easy
to forget the magic that occurs
alongside the detail and attention
given
to
full-scale
concert
productions. Lorde’s show on
Wednesday night at Detroit’s
Little Caesars Arena was truly
nothing short of pure magic.
Before her set, Lorde received
some fantastic support from the
inimitable queen of indie rock,
Mitski, and explosive hip-hop duo
Run The Jewels. With an early set
time, Mitski unfortunately played
to a half-empty arena while seats
slowly filled, but was nonetheless
spectacular, with a set that
included the anthemic “Your Best
American Girl” and closed with
the scathing “Drunk Walk Home.”
Run The Jewels played most of
their hits like, “Call Ticketron”
and “Stay Gold,” upping the
rhythm and energy of the crowd
in preparation for our Lorde and
savior to take the stage.
Within a matter of seconds
into her opening song “Sober,”
the entire arena was transformed
into Lorde’s own dreamscape,
a
transmutable
playground
for her to share her deepest
secrets and darkest emotions.
Background dancers flooded the
stage when necessary to set the
scene — an intimate party during
“Homemade Dynamite” and a
sensual dance between lovers
during “The Louvre.” All at once,
Lorde left everything and nothing
to the imagination with settings
as personally subjective as needed
but altogether objective in their
presentation.
Lorde
herself
transformed
throughout
the
performance,
starting the show with a sleek black
outfit, changing midway through
the show on stage into a flowing
pink gown that she then later
exchanged for flared red bottoms
with a matching ruffled top.
Lorde took the crowd through the
emotions of her music with these
expertly timed changes, reflecting
the deftly planned setlist. Melding
cuts from Melodrama and Pure
Heroine together, Lorde presented
a young and intense love broken
down to the sweet innocence of
intimacy, eventually bringing us
to a spiteful but reflective post-
breakup independence.
This is the artist of a generation
at her most affecting, most genuine
and truly most breathtaking.
Her show was both a visual
and auditory spectacle, blended
perfectly into a story deeply and
universally resonant. Prefacing
“Ribs” off of Pure Heroine with
“This is a song I wrote when I
was 16,” she reminded the crowd
of her former outlook as a teen,
tracing the messy path to young
adulthood with an incredibly
perceptive eye. She took the time
to thank the crowd for being
with her, reflecting on the fact
that she was once writing her
songs alone in a bedroom without
ever imagining she’d be sharing
them with arenas full of people.
Lorde also interposed a gorgeous
cover of Frank Ocean’s “Solo”
between “Writer in the Dark” and
“Liability,” reflecting on her own
efficacy in the messy melodrama
of life through these three tracks.
“Supercut” had the entire crowd
screaming along, reminiscing on
the purest, happiest moments of
life scattered throughout the dark.
If Lorde’s performance showed
us anything, it’s that we truly do
not deserve an artist with such
overwhelming talent. Without the
words to do her justice, I’ll leave
you with this: Few artists are able
to so magnificently capture acute
emotion the way Lorde has with
her music, and her performance
follows suit in a way that is so
immersive
and
tangible
it’s
almost impossible not to feel the
melodrama.
DOMINIC POLSINELLI
Senior Arts Editor
CONCERT REVIEW
Mohja Kahf creates unity
through masterful poetry
Last Friday, poet Mohja Kahf
performed readings from her latest
poetry collection, “Hagar Poems,”
at the Rackham Amphitheatre.
“Performed” should not be
taken lightly. Out of the myriad
of poetry readings I’ve attended
since the age of 15, Kahf’s was by
far the liveliest. Kahf’s reading
was theatrical and inviting, while
politically informed and incredibly
moving. She didn’t stand behind
the podium, but rather in the
center of the stage, moving freely
and expressively as she read.
To me, this came as a bit of
a surprise. Kahf was born in
Damascus, Syria, in 1967, but grew
up in the American Midwest.
Her
poetry
encapsulates
her
experience as a Syrian woman
living in America — all the
similarities
and
differences
between her native and adopted
countries.
It’s clear that Kahf’s poems
carry
an
American
poetic
influence, evident through their
use of free verse and informality of
language. However, Kahf’s work
is also heavily informed by Arabic
poetry, reflective of Qur’anic suras
and the prominence of the Arabic
oral tradition.
Kahf’s poetry both addresses
and reinvents stereotypes about
Muslim women, encapsulating
issues of femininity, sexuality and
gender. Her poems ruminate on
Islamic traditions — which non-
Muslims often view with an air of
ignorance and misunderstanding
— in a way that is emotional,
personal and, frankly, hilarious.
Kahf addresses the satisfaction
of
self-mastery
that
occurs
during Ramadan, despite the
almost torturous struggle that
occurs when beginning to fast,
the experience of being a mother
in moments of frustration and
the misunderstanding, trial and
devastation that exist in the
current state of Syria.
In the context of the American
political moment as well as the
Syrian
crisis,
addressing
the
overlapping themes within Kahf’s
poetry is incredibly important.
Kahf’s work, however, is infused
with emotion — pride, sadness,
anger
—
complicating
these
themes that are often viewed
as one-sided. Kahf reveals the
multilayered and complex issues
of what it means to be a Syrian
woman and an American citizen
today, while allowing room for
happiness and humor as well.
Kahf invited the audience
to participate heavily, reciting
moving call-and-answer poems,
engaging in conversation and
asking questions as to what the
audience wanted to hear from her.
The audience’s reaction iterated
the wave of emotions felt as
Kahf read — passion, sorrow and
happiness.
Through
her
bubbly
and
inviting
personality,
theatrical
and potent poetic voice and
genuine and kind engagement
with her audience, Kahf created a
humanizing conversation around
the current state of Syria that,
many times, is not talked about.
Kahf’s reading created a powerful
unity that spread over the entire
room — a kind of unity that, today,
we need more of.
JENNA BARLAGE
Daily Arts Writer
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Her poetry
encapsulates
her experience
as a Syrian
woman living in
America — all
the similarities
and differences
between her
native and
adopted countries
5 — Friday, March 30, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com