A Quiet Place 2 director John Krasinski put his marriage on the line with a risky stunt involving wife Emily Blunt, but the end result was worth it. Following the smash success of the first A Quiet Place in 2018, a sequel seemed inevitable and was quickly greenlit by Paramount. Like most sequels, A Quiet Place 2 attempts to take what worked about the original, and expand on it. In this case, returning writer/director/actor Krasinski succeeded, with reviews being excellent and box office exceeding expectations so far.
With a bigger budget backing it, A Quiet Place 2 was free to showcase many more action and stunt sequences, and while no one would ever mistake Krasinski’s sequel for an action flick, it definitely feels more like a thrill-ride. This is shown off right from the start via a flashback sequence that shows fans the day the alien invasion occurred, and how the Abbott family was extremely lucky to make it back to the relative safety of their remote home in the first place.
Krasinski recently revealed that one part of the flashback involving a complex and seemingly dangerous stunt didn’t exactly endear him to leading lady and real-life wife Blunt. He joked that it put his marriage on the line as Blunt was more than a bit shocked that he wanted her to do the stunt practically, with a bus really coming at her at 40 miles an hour and the child actors with her. While one can understand her trepidation, Krasinski seems to have made the right call. A Quiet Place 2‘s driving stunt scene was worth the risk to John Krasinski’s marriage.
The particular stunt sequence in question sees Emily Blunt, playing Evelyn Abbott, attempting to drive her two sons to safety after the aliens land and begin to decimate her small hometown. At the same time, Evelyn’s husband Lee (Krasinski) is trying to get her and their daughter Regan to safety, as well as reunite with the rest of their family. During the mayhem, a speeding bus comes charging at Evelyn’s car, leading her to madly drive in reverse to escape while all kinds of vehicular mayhem takes place around her. It’s a thrilling, tense piece of filmmaking, and helps get A Quiet Place 2 off on the right foot.
While Krasinski may have had to do some convincing of his wife – as well as the parents of the child actors in the car with her – to assure them all that it had been professionally tested and deemed safe, the stunt works incredibly well and is sure to get audiences’ collective stomachs up in their throats. The scene steadily escalates, both before and after Evelyn has to try and avoid being smashed by the bus. Considering how much the scene was used to sell A Quiet Place 2 in its trailers and marketing, it’s safe to say that the film just wouldn’t be quite as effective as it is without the in-car craziness. One assumes now that the sequel has made millions and received widespread praise, Krasinski has earned full forgiveness for putting his wife in that position.
