Creators of ‘A Quiet Place’ celebrate the sound of silence

How do you tell a story with minimal words — or, in some cases, no words at all?

That’s the question at the heart of “The Films That Inspired A Quiet Place ,” an upcoming series at The Last Picture House, the independent arthouse cinema in Davenport. The three-film series will feature in-person introductions by <i>A Quiet Place </i> screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods , the filmmaking duo — and Iowa natives — who also serve as co-owners of The Last Picture House.

“When people watch A Quiet Place , there are obvious inspirations. It's obviously inspired by Ridley Scott's Alien . It's influenced by a movie like Night of the Living Dead or M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs , kind of like these monster movies,” Woods said. “But what we're doing at The Last Picture House with this program is more about the style of the film and the aesthetics and also just the conceit of silent film and our love of silent film. And so the three-film program will chart that evolution.”

Set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, A Quiet Place , released in 2018, follows a family’s attempts to survive in the midst of sightless aliens that hunt by sound. Beck explained how he and Woods were influenced to combine horror and science fiction with the techniques of silent movies while studying at the University of Iowa.

“We were introduced to Buster Keaton and the silent film era, and it captivated us in the same way, like you can communicate everything without saying a single word,” Beck said. “And at that point, we were like, can we mash our love of genre filmmaking, a movie like Alien , with this choice of just communicating things only using cinema, using sound design, using the production design, to inform audiences what's happening? And that became the footing and the foundation for, essentially, what the script for A Quiet Place became.”

City Lights

The three-film series kicks off Wednesday, June 5, with Charlie Chaplin’s 1931 classic comedy City Lights . The movie, which features Chaplin as his iconic “Tramp” character, was made in the style of a silent film — despite being released several years after “talking pictures” took hold in Hollywood. For Beck, Chaplin’s movies possess a rare universality that transcends the spoken word.

“There's something so universal in these movies through the emotion and the way they anchor characters,” Beck said. “No matter if a movie is 100 years old or it came out this last summer, if there is a character that you love or an emotion that you relate to, it's totally there. And I think that's one of the things that you see in City Lights and all of Chaplin's work. There are the gags, obviously, that are still incredible and so funny, but there's also this endearing notion that he imbues every single one of his movies with.”

PlayTime

The series continues on Wednesday, June 12, with PlayTime , the 1967 retrofuturistic comedy from French filmmaker Jacques Tati . Like Chaplin, Tati both directed and acted in his own films. In PlayTime , Tati stars as the bumbling, lovable Monsieur Hulot — his signature character — as he confronts an ultra-modern, hyper-consumerist Paris. Beck describes Tati's unique vision of the modern world as a “visual feast.”

“There's so much going on in a single frame that, for me, as a kid, it reminds me of a Where's Waldo? book, where there's always something that is gaining your attention. And you can look at a frame for hours on end and see something new every single time you watch the movie,” Beck said. “But the other thing is PlayTime is also a big commentary on the idea of capitalism and this idea of a city being bright, new and shiny with these new restaurants and such. And it actually is a world that starts feeling like it's disconnecting its characters.”

According to Beck, Tati’s themes of alienation and modernity are just as pertinent today as they were in the 1960s.

“Hulot, Jacques Tati’s character in PlayTime , he is kind of the anchor for the old world,” Beck explained. “He's going in, and he's finding ways to kind of wrap his arms around these people that start feeling alienated and bring them back to a more human touch, which I feel is as relevant as ever in our technological day and age of just looking at our smartphones all the time in our own little bubble.”

There Will Be Blood

A screening of There Will Be Blood will take place on Wednesday, June 19. The historical drama, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson , centers on the oil boom at the turn of the 20th century. In addition to Day-Lewis’ Oscar-winning performance as the ruthless oil baron Daniel Plainview, the film is widely known for its dialogue-free opening sequence, which had a profound impact on Beck and Woods.

“Bryan and I remember our individual experiences watching There Will Be Blood in 2007 and just letting the movie absorb you from the very first frame. And you get deep into it, and you're like eight, nine minutes into the movie, and all of a sudden, we're realizing, 'Oh, there hasn't been a single word spoken,'” Beck said. “It was just so captivating how an audience could just be absorbed without needing a single piece of dialogue. And that was one of those initial inspirations.”

A Quiet Place: Day One

The series will culminate with the premiere of A Quiet Place: Day One , the newest installment in the horror franchise that Beck and Woods created. The film opens in theaters nationwide on June 28, but will premiere early at The Last Picture House, according to Beck.

A Quiet Place: Day One serves as a prequel to the original film and will explore the origins of the alien invasion — this time, from the vantage point of New York City. Woods discussed how the new film, which is written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, differs from the rural backdrop he and Beck had used.

“What audiences should expect for this movie is kind of a different flavor of sorts. The original movie takes place on a farm. It's very much written about our back yard in Iowa with the cornfields and farmland,” Woods said. “So I hope people are excited to see not only the origin of the invasion from A Quiet Place but also transplanting that from ‘a quiet place’ to the loudest place on earth, which is New York City. And seeing how that kind of dynamic plays out is going to be really exciting.”

As for what Beck and Woods are working on next, the pair are currently in post-production for their new horror film Heretic , which stars Hugh Grant. According to Beck, the new film is unlike anything the filmmaking duo has done before.

“Our past movies have dealt with aliens, haunted houses and dinosaurs, and this movie couldn't be more different than any of those,” Beck said. “So we're just very excited to unleash that on audiences this fall.”

Heretic , which is being distributed by A24, is set to open in theaters nationwide Nov. 15. More information and tickets for “The Films That Inspired A Quiet Place ” are available at The Last Picture House .