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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Director John Krasinski on the set of "A Quiet Place Part II."</p>

Director John Krasinski on the set of "A Quiet Place Part II."

“A Quiet Place: Part II” still plans to take audiences beyond the beaten sand path — just not right now. 

Director John Krasinski took to Twitter Thursday to announce that the sequel, originally set to open in theaters Friday, will be postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. 

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that people have said our movie is one you have to see all together,” he wrote. “Well due to the ever-changing circumstances of what’s going on in the world around us, now is clearly not the right time to do that.”

The first film followed the Abbott family as they live in silence to avoid the attention of dangerous creatures who hunt by sound. Following the death of the father Lee, played by Krasinski, the sequel sees the remaining members of the family venture beyond their demolished farm and into the outside world.

Despite the first film’s critical and financial success, Krasinski — notable for playing Jim Halpert in the hit NBC sit-com “The Office”— was originally opposed to the idea of making a sequel. In a Skype call with The Alligator and 11 other college publications nationwide, he said he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to continue the story in a way that felt “organic.”

“I really wanted to make a movie that was respectful of all the respect and kindness that I got on the first movie and then try to deliver a movie that those people (audiences) deserve,” Krasinski said.

One way Krasinski was able to do this was by having Lee and Evenlyn’s congenitally deaf daughter, Regan, take the helm. The role is reprised by actress Millicent Simmonds. 

“I had this small idea which was to have Millie be the lead of our movie and the idea there started branching into all the things I loved about the first movie,” he said. “And so I realized that I can make this a continuation and actually a further expansion of the metaphor that I was going for in the first one, which was parenthood.”

Simmonds is joined again by Emily Blunt, Krasinski’s wife, who plays mother Evelyn as well as Noah Jupe, who plays the family’s youngest living son. Cillian Murphy, known for his starring role in the Netflix show “Peaky Blinders”, rounds out the cast in the role of Emmett, another survivalist the family encounters on their journey. 

With the scope of the film widening considerably, Krasinski said it was important to maintain the same level of intimacy as the first film.

“I could see that the audience connected to the family in a really personal and very connected way,” Krasinski said. “It’s the sort of a universal thing, right? I mean, a family who would do anything for each other is what we all aspire to be.”

Sarah Ruderman, a 19-year-old UF English sophomore, doesn’t think that the film’s postponement will deter her from seeing it. 

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“I think I’ll still be excited when it comes out,” Ruderman said. “It sucks that it’s being postponed, but so is everything so I'm really not surprised. That's not really putting a damper on my mood. Once it's ready to come out again and I see previews, I’ll get re-excited.”

For Krasinski, “A Quiet Place: Part II” is about the promise parents make to their kids that they will keep them safe, which is inevitably broken as they grow up. Krasinski said he “cried everyday writing the script.”

“So that if the first movie was a love letter to my kids about what I see sort of parenting being encapsulated as, I would say the second movie is a letter that I wrote to them about all my hopes and dreams and what they could be,” said Krasinski. “I hope they’re as brave and courageous in these dark, dark times, that they would be the brave ones to light a candle in the middle of all that darkness.”

Contact Cassandra Perez at cperez@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @cassandraperez0

Director John Krasinski on the set of "A Quiet Place Part II."

Emily Blunt, left, and John Krasinski on the set of Paramount Pictures' "A Quiet Place Part II."

Regan (Millicent Simmonds) braves the unknown in "A Quiet Place Part II."

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