John Krasinski says he is willing to direct the "A Quiet Place" sequel or pass it off to somebody he trusts.

In the year of populist Oscar contenders “A Star Is Born” and “Black Panther,” pundits and fans are not forgetting about John Krasinski’s horror smash hit “A Quiet Place.” The critical favorite is expected to make a showing in below-the-line sound categories, and Emily Blunt gained momentum for Best Supporting Actress after earning a SAG nomination. During a recent interview with The New York Times, Krasinski dropped a fascinating nugget of information about the making of the movie, mainly that he spent approximately five weeks editing the entire film on mute.

“On the first day or two [of post-production], I was going through different sounds with my editor to equalize it out, and I just said, ‘Hit mute,'” Krasinksi said. “And we hit mute for what might have been five weeks. The first cut and the second cut were all done without one ounce of sound. I needed to be able to connect with these characters without anything else.”

With a completely silent cut of “A Quiet Place” edited, Krasinski realized the film could work on its own without any sound whatsoever. “One hundred percent, and that sounds super pretentious,” the actor-director said when asked if the silent cuts could work as complete films.

“Even on silent, there was so much communication happening,” Krasinski said. “I didn’t think our movie would be so commercially accepted because the only other time I’ve seen someone do a movie with no spoken dialogue is Paul Thomas Anderson at the beginning of “There Will Be Blood.” That first 12 to 14 minutes where Daniel Day-Lewis doesn’t speak was a huge touchstone for me.”

Between its theatrical release and awards season campaign, “A Quiet Place” has now been in the cultural conversation for almost a year. Paramount is moving forward with a sequel which Krasinski is writing. The director said Paramount got a lot of pitches for the sequel but it declined many of them because “they felt a little more franchise-y.”

“I had this tiny idea that fit that world and could be exciting,” Krasinski said. Paramount asked if I would write it and I’m doing that now, but I’m still thinking about what I want to do next. If I can crack the idea, I would love to direct it again, and if I can’t, I would love to give it to someone else with my fingerprints on it to make sure it’s being taken care of.”

Paramount has already set the “A Quiet Place” sequel for release on May 15, 2020.

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