Did Emily Blunt and John Krasinski almost canceled their big A Quiet Place Part II? ( Photo Credit – Instagram )
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Stuck in quarantine, Emily Blunt quickly shifted gears. She dove headfirst into homeschooling, read everything in sight, and even joined in on some quirky family projects. She popped up in John Krasinski’s viral Some Good News and even had a cameo in her brother-in-law Stanley Tucci’s legendary Instagram cocktail tutorials. Meanwhile, the sequel to the sci-fi horror hit was tucked away—until now.
Fast forward over a year. Blunt’s back, not just with A Quiet Place Part II, but also with Disney’s Jungle Cruise hitting the big screens in July. And here’s the kicker: both films are getting the kind of love from audiences and critics alike that might just help revive the struggling box office.
Blunt reflects, “It’s just been mad. We’re on the other side of it now, so I’m feeling sort of hopeful.” And A Quiet Place Part II? It’s set to be an event movie, according to Blunt, and she’s “relieved and grateful” they waited for the perfect moment to drop it. “I think to gain the full experience, you’ve got to watch it in a theater,” she adds. No argument here.
But stuff almost didn’t happen. Blunt and Krasinski, despite the success of the first film, were ready to walk away from the franchise. “I don’t believe that everything should be sequel-ized,” Blunt confessed back in March 2020. They weren’t even entertaining the idea. Until Krasinski had a brainwave.
The couple was in Kauai, where Blunt was filming Jungle Cruise, when Krasinski pitched a wild idea for the opening sequence of A Quiet Place Part II. “He goes, ‘I have an idea for how I would open it if I did it, but I’m not saying I would,'” Blunt remembers. “And I was a bit cautious. But as he pitched it, my eyes got wider and wider. It was undeniable.”
Blunt’s honesty with Krasinski is the secret sauce. She adds, “He always knows when I’m for real or not.” And when she got on board? Well, it was pretty clear Krasinski was going to write the sequel.
“I think that’s when I started to realize, ‘Is my snobbery turning into idiocy?’” Blunt admits. But as soon as she was in, Krasinski was all in. “If you don’t direct it, I’m not going to do it,” she told him. “So then he had to do it. That’s where it helps being the wifey.”
In just two weeks, Krasinski churned out what Blunt calls “a near perfect script.” The collaboration was magic, blending Krasinski’s creative mind with Blunt’s sharp insights. “She’s the best collaborator I’ve ever had,” says Krasinski. And Blunt agrees, “I think I’m good at adding to scenes and brainstorming ideas.”
But let’s not forget, Blunt was also producing now. “I’m definitely now producing everything I’m in going forward,” she reveals, clearly owning her new role in shaping her projects. Jungle Cruise was next up, with Blunt starring opposite Dwayne Johnson in a swashbuckling adventure that channels her childhood love for movies like Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone. It’s a bold shift from A Quiet Place, but she’s all for it.
“It’s weird,” Blunt says of having two massive releases at the same time. But she’s more than grateful. “I’m just thrilled to be a part of these films that people will want to see,” she adds. After all, we’re all desperate for new content, right?
