Day One’s Scene Stealing Cat

Starring in the prequel to John Krasinski‘s massive horror franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One, and trying to survive enormous deadly creatures sounds like a huge undertaking as it is. What if you had to lead this apocalyptic journey while simultaneously making sure your diva castmate was happy and not running off-set between takes? That’s exactly what Academy Award-winner Lupita Nyong’o and Stranger Things breakout Joseph Quinn dealt with throughout filming Michael Sarnoski’s Quiet Place takeover.

From the director of Pig, Day One goes back to the very beginning of Krasinski’s now-trilogy, nearly 500 days earlier, before Earth was invaded by sightless extraterrestrials. This movie introduces Samira (played by Nyong’o) and Eric (Quinn), who find themselves in the middle of the first wave in New York City before our planet fell silent. The movie also stars Djimon Hounsou, reprising his role from A Quiet Place Part II, and Hereditary‘s Alex Wolff.

During this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Nyong’o and Quinn reveal what it was actually like on the set working opposite cats. In Day One, Samira’s companion is a cat, and as everything falls into chaos, this furry friend finds itself in a number of hairy situations with its human, not unlike its 1979 genre peer, Jonesy, in Ridley Scott‘s Alien. They talk about the challenges of shooting with a cat on and off a leash, how certain scenes required safety measures — for the cat, not them — and why “there were very many scenes that were a pain in the ass.”

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.

COLLIDER: The casting director of Stranger Things literally changed your life, so what have you been getting this person as a gift?

JOSEPH QUINN: Not enough, I don’t think. I’ve hung out with Carmen [Cuba] a couple of times since. We’ve had some drinks, I sent her some flowers. But yeah, I owe her, I don’t know, a car? [Laughs]

It’s a life-changing kind of a thing.

LUPITA NYONG’O: Get her a catamaran.

QUINN: Yeah, I’ll get her a catamaran.

I love cats, and what people don’t realize is the cat in this movie is the third lead. As I was watching, though, I was always concerned when the cat was off the leash. There are scenes where the cat’s on the leash, and there are scenes where the cat isn’t. Did you ever debate with Michael [Sarnoski], “Should the cat be on the leash? What’s going on?”

QUINN: There were some debates because when the cat was off the leash we’d just be playing catch-up the whole time. But there were times when the cat would be on the leash, and yeah, it was a delicate negotiation. It was more your call than mine.

NYONG’O: Really, at some point, the leash is no longer a part of the movie — the leash is lost. Spoiler alert, I guess? I guess that doesn’t really spoil much. Anyway, after that, yes, it definitely got very challenging. But those cats were so well-trained, it was amazing to watch them work with their trainers. My heart was out of my chest. They were calm, so I guess I just went with how they felt.

‘A Quiet Place’ With Cat Zoomies at 2 AM? Unlikely

When you think back on the shoot, what scene or sequence ended up being the biggest pain in the ass when it came to working with the cats or without the cats?

NYONG’O: Let me tell you, there were very many scenes that were the pain in the ass! [Laughs] I think what makes this film fascinating is that it is the combination of things that the characters have to overcome. One of the scenes takes place in the subway, in a flooding subway, and there you have two people trying to wade through subway water with a cat in a bag, and cats, as we know, do not like water. So that, I think, was one of the gnarliest moments.

QUINN: That turned into a bit of a saga, that one. But we got that.

NYONG’O: Yeah, a lot of coordination went into that.

We have cats, and they are not fans of water. As I was watching it, I was like, “How?” I don’t care how well they’re trained, this is something that this cat does not want to do.

QUINN: But that’s a testament to the trainers. We made sure that it was very, very safe. So, they weren’t thrilled but they weren’t scared.

NYONG’O: There were tricks, definitely. There were a lot of tricks that we had to work around. So, the cat gets all the safety measures and then we have to work around those safety measures to look like it’s unsafe, and that was the challenge.

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now. Check below for showtimes:

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