As the spinoff finally gears up to hit theaters, Jeff Nichols shares his candid reasoning for leaving A Quiet Place: Day One. The upcoming horror movie serves as a prequel to the John Krasinski-helmed installments, being set in the heart of New York City on the first day of the alien invasion that brought down the world. Led by Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, Day One was originally set to be written and directed by Nichols on a story treatment from Krasinski, though he dropped out due to creative differences, with Pig breakout Michael Sarnoski taking over as writer and director and co-writing the story with Krasinski.

Now, during a recent interview with TheWrap for the release of his new film The Bikeriders, Nichols opens up about his A Quiet Place: Day One exit. Though the filmmaker doesn’t quite elaborate on what these creative differences were between him and Krasinski, he does explain that the main reason why he felt the need to depart came from feeling “it’s never going to be my film“, but rather that Krasinski’s fingerprints would still be felt on the project. See what Nichols explained below:

[John Krasinski] was a fan of my films and was asking me if I wanted to make this prequel. At the time, the calculus was, well, those movies are pretty good. And I liked what they said about sacrifice and family. It felt thematically in line with some of the stuff I had made. I hatched an idea of how to approach it in a way that I felt comfortable with, that he seemed to like.

I was like, I think this is a movie that could get made. It’s hard to say this without sounding pretentious, but I’ve made enough films at this point in my career, that if I do this, it’s going to become my film. And the truth is Quiet Place, those are his films. [It’s] not about ego, it’s about process. At some point, you realize, it’s never going to be my film. It’s better if I just step away and let some other people do that.

A Quiet Place: Day One Would’ve Been A Career First For Nichols

More than just being a first for the franchise in seeing someone else at the helm of an installment, Nichols directing A Quiet Place: Day One would’ve marked a first for the filmmaker’s career. Up to this point, Nichols has almost exclusively made original features, with the couple of exceptions being The Bikeriders, which is based on Danny Lyon’s photo-book of the same name, and 2016’s Loving, which told the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, who were a key chapter in the ’60s Civil Rights movement as they appealed to the Supreme Court to have their marriage legalized, subsequently legalizing interracial marriage across the country.

While it could be argued that Sarnoski’s own standing as an independent filmmaker still makes for a franchise first in the prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One would also likely have looked very different with Nichols at the helm. All of the filmmakers’ prior efforts have been primarily set in the rural countryside of America, and while the first two Quiet Place movies were set in similar geographical areas of the outskirts of New York, it seems likely that Nichols wouldn’t have been as keen to shift the focus to downtown New York to tell his story for the movie.

Despite the change in filmmakers, having Sarnoski onboard as both writer and director of A Quiet Place: Day One could prove a far more meaningful swap for him. Given Nichols already has an established roster of acclaimed movies, Sarnoski directing the prequel offers a better chance for him to make a household name for himself after making his feature directorial debut with the Nicolas Cage-led Pig, which holds a near-perfect 97% approval score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. With A Quiet Place: Day One‘s release just right around the corner, only time will tell if it proves another strong step forward for both Sarnoski and the franchise.

The first two Quiet Place movies are available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: TheWrap