“A quiet place: first day”
Paramount Pictures
(This story contains spoilers for A quiet place: first day.)
A quiet place: first day is a gripping thriller about a tuxedo cat named Frodo who makes his way through an apocalyptic New York City under attack by aliens. There are also several human actors in the cast, led by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (who is fantastic). But the point of today’s interview is to focus on the feline that is stealing the hearts of fans of the horror franchise.
Frodo represented a major gamble for writer-director Michael Sarnoski (who had previously helmed another animal-centric title, Pig). Cats are notoriously difficult to train, and Day one was Sarnoski’s first major studio project. His script (co-written with John Krasinski) puts Frodo at the center of intimate dramatic moments and action set pieces—and he didn’t want to use CGI. But if the cat didn’t work, the movie wouldn’t work.
Sarnoski’s boldness paid off. THE Peaceful place The prequel, which opens this week, has garnered rave reviews (some critics have called it the franchise’s best entry yet), for its harrowing survival tale following Frodo, hospice patient Sam (Nyong’o), and law student Eric (Joseph Quinn). Below, Sarnoski agreed to give an entirely cat-centric interview, answering burning questions about Frodo’s journey and working with the two cats (named Nico and Schnitzel) who played the role. He also teases a potential Day one following.
What was the original inspiration for Frodo to be part of the story??
Frodo was born naturally from the character of Sam. A hospice patient is not necessarily looking to survive during the end of the world, and this is a chance for her to reconnect with her life. Frodo became an extension of that. I always imagined that when Sam lived in town, Frodo was a smart stray cat, and she started leaving him a bowl of milk, and he became her pet. Then he became the only thing she took with her when she left town as her life neared its end. Frodo is a substitute for his life that once existed. So when they return to the city together, they will relive it together. Plus, the image of Sam walking through desolate New York with his little cat jumped out at me as perfect.
What was the studio’s reaction when you submitted the script? Because there are a lot of cats in this film.
The first reaction was, “Okay, we’re going to have a computer-generated cat. I think we can do that.” But then I said, “No, I really want to do everything cat-related in real life and never do a CGI cat.” Everyone said, “We’ll see.” But luckily, we did it because of some incredible cat trainers and incredible cat artists. Everyone thought we couldn’t do it the old-fashioned way, but I’m really glad we did.
I read that Lupita was wary of working with a cat and asked if you would change the animal and you wouldn’t do it. So why a cat?
First, cats have a strong connection to New York City. There’s something about street cats and bodega cats and the survival instinct side of the city. And I don’t think a dog would do well in the city. Peaceful place universe – too barking. Cats track predators and have a natural silence. So they totally make sense as a creature that would do well. I think a cat completes Sam’s vibe, his emotions. There’s something distant about them, but when you get to know them, they can actually be really sweet and wonderful. A cat seemed like the perfect partner.
But yes, Lupita was afraid of cats. She wasn’t just “not a fan.” She was really scared. And in one of our first meetings, she was sitting on the floor of my office and slowly crawled towards the cat getting a little closer, a little closer, until she finally touched it, and then finally she caressed it and could pick it up. . And now she has her own cat. It showed how brave and willing she was to commit to this role.
Paramount Pictures
Did it do? You Are you nervous? Because you’re tackling your first major studio film. You didn’t need this extra daily challenge.
The things that make me the most nervous are also the things that excite me the most. There’s something like, “What a stupid idea to put a cat in every scene when you’re going to do these huge scenes.” Do you really want to tie your hands like this? » But sometimes, it is within these limits that we find the most authenticity and the most pleasure. So, yes, I was nervous. But I want to be nervous. I don’t want to be sure that an idea will work. If everything seems safe, the audience will feel it and I will be bored.
More thematically, what did Frodo represent for you in the story?
I don’t often think thematically. But I think Frodo represented the connection and connection that Sam had with her past and the type of connection that she was willing to create with other people. Frodo ends up becoming a big part of his connection with Eric, of what they mean to each other.
To me, the fact that the characters care so much about a “mere cat” in a film with global apocalyptic issues is a very clear statement: this is the level of empathy and care we should to have.
Yeah. Worrying about a cat, a slice of pizza, a stranger. When there’s so much going on that we feel overwhelmed by the world, it’s essential to be able to refocus on the things that really matter and that make us feel like human beings. I think we’ve all experienced this with the pandemic. This is an important aspect that I wanted to explore at this time.
What was your thinking behind the moment when Frodo finds Eric as he exits the Underground?
It was a really old scene that I had in mind that I wanted to get right. I wanted that moment where the cat almost hypnotizes Eric when he’s at his most traumatized. He’s completely in shock, and then he sees this cat and shuts himself away, and it really moves his character forward. Through Frodo and Sam, he finds this campfire in the storm that becomes the thing that he follows. And that’s what Sam is faced with: “I can’t be that for you, you have to find your own strength.” So getting that moment right was really important. I was like, “Can we do this? Is it going to be ridiculous? Is it going to resonate?” There’s a certain humor in it, but there’s also something genuinely emotional. It’s a specific tone moment that we had to get right.
Has there ever been a version where the cat doesn’t survive?
No, it always made sense for the chat to be forwarded and continued. If you want to kill an animal, it has to be for a truly meaningful reason. Otherwise you are just being cruel to the public. He was important to these characters, and I think it would have been mean to kill him.
What was the hardest cat shot to get? And just to register my suspicions: if it wasn’t a water shot, it was Frodo stealing the piece of pizza.
The pizza wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t the hardest. They trained him a lot with that piece of pizza. It was all about the water and keeping him in a flotation device near running water. The subway stuff was really tricky. He was afraid of the water, but sometimes he wanted to jump in the water to try to get away from it. A lot of it was Joe and Lupita forming a real bond with the cats who played Frodo, so that when they were with Joe and Lupita, they felt comfortable. It was about taking the time the cats needed to feel relaxed and safe and letting them know, “It’s okay; we’re not going to put you in the water.” But yeah, it turns out cats don’t like water.
Since you didn’t do any CG, was there a particular shot you wanted to achieve that didn’t work out?
In the original scenario, Frodo whistled and bowed his back. I learned early on from animal trainers that we couldn’t do that. There is no way to train a cat to do that. It’s a natural reaction they have when they feel threatened or traumatized. And we won’t traumatize a cat. Back in the day (when cats were used in movies and on TV), we used to scare and torment them (to get a reaction). Fortunately, we don’t do that anymore. So if you want a cat to hiss, you have to replace its mouth with computer graphics. So I decided that instead of doing that, I just looked into other ways of trying to express fear or anxiety.
Yes, I was surprised that the cat never hissed. And I also waited for Frodo to meow at an inopportune moment.
He meows a few times. I liked the idea of him being a service cat and at first she says, “Hey, be quiet.” She’s almost trained the cat not to bother everyone at the hospice. I read a study that a lot of meowing is learned behavior. It’s how they communicate with humans. When cats are alone, they don’t meow a lot. So I thought maybe when the apocalypse comes and everyone’s gone, maybe they’ll keep it quiet. I also felt like cats are natural, silent predators and game recognizes game. They’ll see these aliens and see what they’re doing and understand their predatory nature and realize, “Oh, I better be quiet.”
So obviously we don’t know what happens once they get off the ferry. But in your mind, what do you imagine for the future of Eric and Frodo?
I mean, certainly a good portion of these people probably ended up on the island that we see in Second part of A quiet placeI think there’s a good chance they’re there, and there’s certainly a good chance we’ll see them again.
Is this a teaser sequel?
I just think they did an incredible job. And I think Paramount would be really happy to see where they ended up. I don’t think there are any very specific plans. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. So it’s a very vague, unofficial sequel.
After having done Pig And now, do you continue to have an animal play a central character in your future films? Is that your thing now?
This is not something I’m going to try to do. It’s something that will probably creep up from time to time just because I’m fascinated by them. My next one is The Death of Robin Hood and there are definitely animals in there. If it happens, it happens. I’m not going to force it.
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