How The VFX Team For A Quiet Place Turned John Krasinski Into A Monster
This post contains spoilers for "A Quiet Place."
The world in "A Quiet Place" is a post-apocalyptic one, teeming with extraterrestrial monsters who hunt indiscriminately when they hear the faintest sound. Silence means survival in such a world, which offers no luxury to communicate, laugh, or even scream out loud, as these monsters are ravenous and hostile without exception. A chunk of "A Quiet Place" explores what it means to live under such conditions, where a family becomes our focal point as they navigate the horrors, their personal lives perpetually in danger with the monsters encroaching on their personal space. Although these anxieties are embedded in the moments of silence that precede danger, the creature designs in "A Quiet Place" also do a lot of heavy lifting to convey the dread of dealing with an unknown group of hostiles.
Scott Farrar, the VFX supervisor of the film, explained that the creature designs had to be changed at the last minute because they were not menacing enough, and the revamped design combined various animal features to create something truly terrifying (via Cartoon Brew):
"The original design of the creature wasn't scary enough ... One thing I said was, 'If the audience thinks the ears are on either side of head, maybe that's where the focus should be. Let's put real ear holes in, so when the flaps open, you really know that that's how the thing hears.'"
While this rework was accomplished with an incredibly talented group of artists and collaborators, a specific scene featuring one of the alien monsters standing in a cramped space was particularly difficult to pull off.
How John Krasinski became a monster in A Quiet Place
At the end of the film, Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and her kids are suddenly ambushed by a creature who breaks into their home. Having figured out that these aliens are sensitive to high-pitched noises, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) places her hearing aid near a microphone, causing the creature to recoil and expose its inner mouth. This provides Evelyn with the perfect opportunity to shoot it dead — and she does.
The creature effects in the scene were challenging to pull off, as the mannerisms of the species had to be conveyed within close quarters, including how they sprint or attack. Even the opening of its face was a tricky design feature that had to be refined until it looked just right. To capture the essence of the scene in the most organic way, director John Krasinski (who also plays Lee Abbott in the film) ended up playing the creature (via Vulture):
"I ended up playing the creature — I put on the mo-cap suit, which was Scott's [Farrar] idea, which I loved it. So I'm the one standing there in a way-too-tight suit, making little roaring sounds for the actors. But it was all Scott and Industrial Light & Magic putting the creature in, and figuring out how he would move through the room to get to the final gunshot.They basically painted the creature over me."
Krasinski explained that the team wasn't even sure whether this could be accomplished as they were "so crunched for time," but everything came together, thanks to the dedication of everyone involved. The final image of a deceased monster is powerful, as it ignites hope for a future where survival is not only possible but also the only way forward.