Interviews with the Cast and Producers of ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ from the NY Premiere

At the New York Premiere of A Quiet Place: Day One in partnership with Tribeca Festival, I spoke with Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Bay, and Vicki Dee Rock. You can now experience the day the world went quiet in theaters.

Photo by John Nacion/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Hounsou brings the character of Henri to life and explained to me what he found to be most challenging about the role: “Just because of the silent factor, which happens to be a character in the film. That in itself, I think, tended to be a challenge, because rarely [do] we make movies about the need to be silent and this is sort of the original basis of telling a story. So, I guess one of the greatest challenges is to try to convey your emotions through very little words, if none.”

So why was a prequel the right choice to go for the next installment of the franchise? “I think it’s interesting,” Bay, who is a producer, told me. “It’s cool ‘cause it’s unique.”

Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Regarding it being a prequel, Rock also shared, “I’m excited that they get to understand the scope of it. So, when you come into the first one, it’s already happened and while I loved that because it’s a very intimate family and you very quickly kind of understand the peril they’re in, this is about what would it feel like right now if we looked up and meteoroids were falling, and suddenly you couldn’t talk and you didn’t know how to survive in it. What would you do? It tells the same story in a completely different way.”

As for choosing the right cast, the executive producer said, “When I got involved, I think Lupita was involved almost from the beginning and really, they could not have picked anyone better than Lupita. I really, truly can’t imagine it being made without her. Joe, I think they met a couple of people, but I think everyone was pretty high on Joe after his Stranger Things [performance]. Then, they had such perfect chemistry together — again, having lived it now, I can’t imagine any [other] two people. They’re so authentic and so true in their performances, I can’t imagine any two other people playing [these characters].”