The stars discuss giving the horror genre two of its most impressive performances.
I really love scaring people.
I think it’s a powerful thing to be able to do."
Alex Wolff as Reuben and Lupita Nyong’o as Sam in ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’.Paramount Pictures
Alex Wolff, Nyong’o’s costar inA Quiet Place: Day One, agrees.
I think we all have.
Horror is a great place to put it.
Alex Wolff and Lupita Nyong’o in ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’.Paramount Pictures
It’s a trauma therapy of sorts."
LUPITA NYONG’O:I was thoroughly impressed with his performance in [Hereditary].
And the fact that it looks…
WOLFF:So handsome in it?
Alex Wolff as Peter Graham in ‘Hereditary’.A24
NYONG’O:Yeah, you were handsome and trouble in it.
WOLFF:Trouble, but mostly handsome.
NYONG’O:I think you want to be doing more than handsome.
Lupita Nyong’o as Red in ‘Us’.Universal
It was more than that.
It was a compelling movie.
He transforms in every movie he makes, he looks and feels completely different.
Alex Wolff, Lupita Nyong’o, producer John Krasinski, and director Michael Sarnoski behind the scenes of ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’.Paramount Pictures
Then here, inA Quiet Place: Day One, again, he is a very transformative actor.
WOLFF:We love each other.
This is our first interview together, so we’re very excited.
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It’s so easy to get disappointed.
There is no way to predict when and how it’s going to happen.
So when that chatter [forUs] started, it’s hard to also ignore or avoid.
WOLFF:Even though it deserves it!
It feels like you have a real exponential growth in every single performance.
NYONG’O:Thank you.
That’s the award.
We hold onto the movies that moved us the most.
So I’d really like to get that bowling trophy.
But Ari did this cool thing where he would shoot two cameras at the same time.
He actually didn’t do a lot of rehearsal for the really emotional scenes.
He’d do a lot of rehearsal, but for the emotional ones, he trusted us.
That’s bold as a first-time director.
He just put the cameras on us and let it rip.
I’ll never forget that trust that he gave me.
He’s an extraordinary human being, extraordinary director.
Some days I was doing both.
What I do remember is that I performed very little of Red when we got to that scene.
I remember walking onto set as Red and the energy shifting around me.
It was so intoxicating.
WOLFF:Who do you think you’re more like between the two of them?
NYONG’O:Oh, if I say that, I have to hide forever.
[Wolff appeared opposite Nicolas Cage in director Michael Sarnoski’s 2021 indie film.]
He threw me in there.
NYONG’O:You’re the through line of his work.
And there’s a purity of spirit at the core of his stories that is compelling and relatable.
He also really loves to have animals in his movies and make them do impossible things.
And I love that at the heart of both his films, there’s a simple mission.
InPig, it’s, “Get my pig back!”
And inA Quiet Place: Day One, it’s, “Get some pizza!”
WOLFF:And he adds a warmth.
I feel like it is missing from movies.
It’s either things are saccharin or things are just cold and removed.
A Quiet Place: Day Oneopens in theaters Friday.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.
