Interview: Joseph Quinn – ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’

Joseph Quinn is no stranger to playing significant roles in highly anticipated genre properties. He gained widespread recognition with his breakout performance as Eddie Munson in the fourth season of the beloved TV series Stranger Things, where he won over fans with his electrifying portrayal.

The year 2024 promises to be exceptional for the 30-year-old actor from South London. In November, Quinn will take on the role of Emperor Caracalla in Ridley Scott’s eagerly awaited Gladiator 2. Before that, he will star in another major franchise, playing Eric alongside Lupita Nyong’o’s Samira in Michael Sarnoski’s horror prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One.

Quinn describes his character Eric as “far from home, and very in need of some companionship” in this New York-set thriller. The plot sees Eric and Samira battling against savage, sound-hunting extraterrestrials determined to annihilate their prey. Adding a unique twist to their journey is a cat named Frodo, Samira’s pet, who accompanies them throughout the film. “People are going to go mad for him. He’s an absolute star,” Quinn beams.

For fans of the John Krasinski-created universe (Krasinski directed and starred in the first two films and is producing this one), Quinn promises an exciting treat. The prequel will showcase scenes only hinted at in the previous movies, depicting the terrifying events when these creatures first invade a major city. The scale of the destruction they cause will be unprecedented.

“People can expect something familiar but with brand new characters and on a scale that is significantly larger than the previous movies,” Quinn explains. “This will be bigger. Not necessarily quieter, but definitely bigger. The initial sequence of the creatures landing is chaotic, almost like a disaster movie. But as people learn how to evade these creatures, the story takes some really interesting turns.”

Quinn’s career is soaring, with roles in Gladiator 2, The Fantastic Four as Johnny Storm, and Brett Easton Ellis’s directorial debut, Relapse, in pre-production. He is now at a stage where he can select projects that intrigue him the most.

An avid fan of the original A Quiet Place films, Quinn couldn’t pass up the chance to join a world built on the simple yet terrifying concept that noise equals danger. “There are some pretty massive set-pieces,” he says about the prequel. “We really explored the idea of scale and silence coexisting in the same frame. It was a challenging but fun goal to achieve. The audience will be surprised by a lot of it. It’s larger than you might expect. Larger than you could imagine…”

Joseph Quinn Interview

Please tell us about your character, Eric. Who is he and what’s he doing when the creatures attack?
“Eric finds himself in New York on Day One of the invasion. And I can only really say that he finds our lead character, Samira, played by Lupita Nyong’o. And they must negotiate this new world they find themselves in together. But he is a man of mystery when we first meet him, for sure.”

How would you describe the relationship between Eric and Samira?
“They’re both approaching survival from very different places. Eric finds himself far away from home, and very in need of some companionship, some guidance. And Sam, for various reasons, isn’t very obliging or giving that straightaway. But they both come to a place of mutual understanding. A quiet understanding.”

What was it about the first two ‘A Quiet Place’ movies that made you want to be involved in this one?
“I think it’s such a brilliant cinematic conceit, that idea that noise equals peril. And if ever you make noise, something very bad is going to happen. Cinematically, that really resonates and lends itself to some fantastic tension. There are some brilliant sequences in both [previous] movies. In the first one, which is a more contained film, when Emily [Blunt] is walking down the stairs and we see the nail in them, I genuinely found that kind of impossible to watch. The tension was profound and unbearable! And then when she gave birth in the bath… I mean, wow! Both those movies are packed with wonderfully realised sequences. In this film, we dial it up a level and make it much larger in scale. Obviously, we’re in New York, a very loud city, and watching these two characters – and the world itself – try to adapt, to be quiet amongst this invasion, is intriguing to watch.”

New Yorkis famous for being a noisy, bustling city. How do the creatures react to that environment?
“The initial sequence of them landing is bedlam, pandemonium. That sequence is like a disaster movie in a way. But, as things settle down and people get to learn the rules [of how to try and evade these creatures], we take it to some really interesting other places.”

Being the third film, the audience already knows the ‘rules’ for this installment. How does this change the production and what can fans expect from this movie?
“You’re right. The audience is ahead of these characters, in terms of what they know about the capabilities of these creatures, which means we’re able to ratchet up the tension. While the fans know the rules and the parameters of this world, these new characters obviously don’t. So, fans can expect to see something familiar, but on a scale that is significantly larger than the previous two movies. People can expect this to be bigger. Not necessarily quieter, but definitely bigger.”

We’re heard about a significant ‘subway sequence’ in the film. It sounds absolutely terrifying…
“It is! But we had a great time making that. It was one of those logistical challenges that required all the different departments to come together and focus, which made it very rewarding. There is a long chase sequence that ends in this submerged subway. And there are, obviously, lots of different logistical things in there. I had to do some scuba training for it, which was great fun. Although obviously in the film Eric and Sam don’t have any scuba equipment and have to hold their breath. There was also some animal business going on in there, which made it even more complicated. But it was one of those times at work that, when you get it right, turns out to be very, very rewarding. I think audiences will be very happy with it.”

“Animal business”?! Tell us more!
“We have a cat joining us! Frodo. Frodo is Sam’s pet cat. He joins us for the whole film. People are going to go mad for him. He’s an absolute star.”

Cats generally hate water, so how did Frodo cope in the subway?
“We had two cats: Schnitzel and Nico. They were both excellent in their own rights. But, yeah, they weren’t mad about the water. We obviously needed to make sure the cats were safe, so whenever there was any kind of introduction to water, we had to go much slower because we didn’t want to scare them. But they were brilliant and [laughs] so professional.”

New York is a big city with big buildings. What does that mean when it comes to the set-pieces in this film?
“People can expect some pretty massive set-pieces. That’s where we really lent into exploring this idea of scale and silence – and them both existing in the same frame. That was a fun target to try and hit. I don’t think the audience will be expecting a lot of this. It’s larger than you might expect. Larger than you could imagine.”

Lupita is a powerhouse. What was it like working with her?
“Extraordinary. She’s formidable, fearless, very kind. A master of her craft. I was watching her do her thing and learning from that. It’s an experience I’m very grateful for. She has been so generous with her time, advice, and experiences. She’s a wonderful friend, ultimately. And that’s the best thing about all this. Whenever you meet someone on a job, you’re strangers. Then, when you leave, you’ve made something together. And if you’ve created a friendship as well, that’s the very best thing about my job.”

You say you learnt from Lupita. What did you learn from her, specifically?
“Conviction, compassion, fearlessness, decisiveness. She has all those qualities. She’s Number One on a call sheet on a massive-scale movie. And that comes with certain traits you need. She has them all in abundance. Learning the way that she carries herself with this level of elegance through her life – both professional and personal – was incredible. She is such a wonderful person to be around.”

Tell us about Michael Sarnoski. What makes him such a good choice as a director for A Quiet Place: Day One?
“He’s a brilliant director. I watched [his previous movie] Pig again and was very taken with it. What it was reaching for and how brilliant Nicolas Cage was in it. There was a quiet intimacy to the writing. It explored grief in a way that I haven’t seen on film in a while. Michael brings that flavour into this franchise, quite expertly. This idea of grieving a life before. There is a peculiar kind of intimate relationship between Samira and Eric, amongst this very large, loud, alien thing.”

It’s interesting that there was a “quiet intimacy” to the writing of Pig. Was there a particular scene in this screenplay that stood out to you?
“It wasn’t so much a particular scene; it was the mystery of it. There is an almost mystical aspect to these two characters colliding and then getting to know each other during this Armageddon. This idea that two strangers meet, there’s no preconceived idea of who they are, but then they get to know each other under this extraordinary circumstance.”

The first two A Quiet Place movies centred around a family, this one around two strangers. What does that point of difference give you, creatively?
“That’s an astute observation. The fact they are strangers gives this a completely different dynamic within this universe because you’re watching people confront their own mortality in different ways – and having to experience that together. It’s about how, a lot of the time, people have very polarised ideas about death and the afterlife; all these large themes in life. That’s what this is exploring, really. Amongst scaring the hell out of you!”

You can see A Quiet Place: Day One exclusively in cinemas from 27 June.

A Quiet Place: Day One trailer