I just found out that A Quiet Place's mind-bending script was penned by two lifelong friends: An iconic filmmaking duo

A Quiet Place, the film that silently took the world by storm back in 2018, was an idea that came to the minds of two lifelong friends, who shared a love for films and would later become a filmmaking duo. I know that the film stars John Krasinski, who also directed it, but somehow it slipped my mind who wrote the screenplay. Maybe that was the hook.

Anyway, while going through some articles about filmmaking—because I am into filmmaking—I came across an interview from No Film School. There it was: an interview with Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who wrote the screenplay for the film.

Following its release, the film made a whopping $341 million at the global box office against a $17 million budget. This success gave birth to a couple more films, which became commercial hits as well, though not as successful as the first, and with a budget almost three times that of the original.

Silent films were among the ideas from which A Quiet Place was born

A third film is currently in development. (Image via Paramount Pictures)

Though this may seem obvious in hindsight, few might have considered the inspiration behind it. One of the inspirations came from early silent films by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and others.

Bryan Woods said that they were at the University of Iowa and were not film students at the time, though they took verbal communication classes. He added:

"So, at the same time, we were becoming enamored with that way of thinking, we were also watching silent films—falling in love with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton and John Van Cleave. True cinema—movies that could tell a story without leaning on the crutch of dialogue. We started thinking that it would be so cool if we could make a silent film that hardly has any dialogue in it and try to sustain that for the entire picture."

Additionally, they wanted to “make sounds feel really scary,” which worked wonders. Throughout the films, it’s the sounds that create tension in the story. For example, in the opening sequence, Beau—one of the children of Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and Lee (John Krasinski) in A Quiet Place—dies when a toy shuttle goes off and attracts the creatures.

The writers don't return for the future films

Many cast members returned for the A Quiet Place sequel and spinoff, but Scott Beck and Bryan Woods did not. The later films were written by John Krasinski and Michael Sarnoski.

The third film is currently in development, but this time it is entirely John Krasinski, who will write, direct, and produce it. Although no plot details have been released, it is likely to serve as the conclusion. The events are expected to remain centered on the Norwalk Islands, where the remaining survivors have taken refuge.

A creature has somehow reached the islands. We will have to wait and see what kind of havoc it wreaks there and whether more of these abominations will arrive.