Taglines: Silence is Not Enough.
A Quiet Place: Part II Movie Storyline. With the newly acquired knowledge of the seemingly invulnerable creatures’ weakness, grief-stricken Evelyn Abbott finds herself on her own, with two young teens, a defenceless newborn son, and with no place to hide. Now, 474 days after the all-out alien attack in A Quiet Place (2018), the Abbotts summon up every last ounce of courage to leave their now-burned-to-the-ground farm and embark on a peril-laden quest to find civilization. With this in mind, determined to expand beyond the boundaries, the resilient survivors have no other choice but to venture into eerily quiet, uncharted hostile territory, hoping for a miracle. But, this time, the enemy is everywhere.
A Quiet Place Part II is a 2021 American horror film and the sequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place, following the family from the first film as they continue to navigate and survive in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind aliens with an acute sense of hearing. The film was written, produced, and directed by John Krasinski for Paramount Pictures. Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe reprise their roles from the first film, while Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou join the cast; Krasinski returns from the first film in a new flashback sequence.
Paramount Pictures began development of a sequel in April 2018, following the box-office and critical success of the first film. By the following August, Krasinski was working on the screenplay, and in February 2019, he was confirmed as returning to direct. Production took place in Western New York from June to September 2019. Krasinski was credited with writing the sequel, based on characters created by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. The sequel was produced on a budget of $55–61 million, over three times the original’s $17 million.
The film had its world premiere in New York City on March 8, 2020, and after over a year of postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was theatrically released in the United States on May 28, 2021. It became available to stream on Paramount+ 45 days after its theatrical debut. The film set several box office records, including the biggest opening weekend of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has grossed $296 million worldwide, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 2021. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised Krasinski’s direction, the expansion of the setting, atmosphere, editing, and the performances, particularly that of Simmonds and Murphy’s.
About the Productiion
In June 2019, production began on the sequel. Filming officially commenced on July 15. There were 47 days of filming throughout Western New York, including Akron, Olcott, Dunkirk, Lackawanna, and Buffalo. Other locations included Erie County and the city of North Tonawanda, and Barcelona Harbor in the town of Westfield in Chautauqua County. Filming also took place on a giant sound stage at Buffalo FilmWorks in South Buffalo. One of the last filming locations, the northbound South Grand Island Bridge, was shut down for 13 hours for filming.
In addition to Western New York, filming took place in the Hudson Valley, specifically the towns of Dover, Pawling, and New Paltz. In New Paltz, the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail was revisited to film on a bridge that featured in the first film. The production invested over $10 million in Upstate New York, created 400 hires, and involved 300 background actors. By late September, production was finished.
Cinematography
Polly Morgan was the cinematographer for A Quiet Place Part II, replacing Charlotte Bruus Christensen from the first film. Morgan continued the first film’s use of 35 mm film and described its effect, “Although A Quiet Place 2 is a horror, it looks pretty and engaging, with a nostalgic look that you would find hard to achieve digitally.”
The film’s “extensive dark situations” (night scenes and stage work that comprised 75% of screen time) were shot with Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 film stock, while Vision3 250D 5207 was used mainly for day exteriors. Morgan filmed with Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras and T-Series anamorphic lenses, which had been adjusted to match the C-Series lenses Christensen used on the first film. One of Morgan’s most challenging situations was lighting and shooting the furnace set.
The sequel’s cinematography also evolved from its predecessor in following more action. Morgan described director Krasinski’s intent, “John wanted to always keep the camera moving and create long ‘oners’ to play with rhythm and tension and to show how normal life can suddenly become very different and dangerous—all in the same shot.” Morgan used an array of tracking vehicles, on which there were different camera mounts including jibs, cranes, and Steadicam vests, with the vehicles often going full speed.
Sound design
For the sequel’s sound design, supervising sound editors Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn and re-recording mixer Brandon Proctor reprised their roles. Krasinski instructed them to try to “follow the rules” set up in the first film and said of the experience, “What we found was by doing that, and not trying to be cool, we ended up uncovering way more stuff than we ever would’ve been able to [otherwise].”[38]
In an interview with Headliner Magazine, Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl shared how sound (and silence) was a central character in the film: “We started hearing stories after the first film that people were afraid to eat their popcorn in the theatre! That was thrilling for us to hear because it’s like, ‘Okay, this experiment that we tried actually works’! We were able to literally make the audience hold their breath.”
A Quiet Place: Part II (2021)
Directed by: John Krasinski
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou, Millicent Simmonds, Lauren-Ashley Cristiano, Okieriete Onaodowan, Blake DeLong, Liz Cameron, Barbara Singer
Screenplay by: John Krasinski
Production Design by: Jess Gonchor
Cinematography by: Polly Morgan
Film Editing by: Michael P. Shawver
Costume Design by: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Set Decoration by: Nancy Haigh, Randy Krautsack Jr.
Art Direction by: Christopher J. Morris
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for terror, violence and bloody/disturbing images.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: May 28, 2021
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