-First of all, congratulations.
This film is so fantastic. -Thank you so much!
-You co-wrote it, you starred in it, you directed it.
-Yes.
-You have directed things before.
You've never directed horror before, though?
-No. -And --
-Why would I do that? -Yeah, I mean --
[ Laughter ]
It didn't seem like a fit for me either.
But it's the number-one movie in the country.
How did it come about? How did this --
-It was really interesting.
I was about to start this show "Jack Ryan" that I was doing,
and some of the producers had this script, and they said,
"Would you ever act in a horror movie?"
And I said, "Ooh, I don't do horror, but thanks anyway."
And they said, "It's about a family that
can't make any noise, and you have to figure out why."
And I went, "Damn it!" That's one of the best one-liners ever.
[ Laughter ]
And I read this script, and legitimately, yes,
I love that everybody says it's scary, and it is.
It's really great, but there was something in there,
the deeper theme there is parenthood.
And I actually was holding our 3-week-old daughter
while reading this script about a family
that would do anything to protect their kids,
and I was like, "Oh, my God." -Yeah.
-I was using the baby to wipe the tears.
Which, by the way, we have to talk about your baby!
-Well, I -- you know, I do want to say --
-No! [ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you, guys. Thank you.
-And don't worry, I'll bring it full circle
back to the movie. I'm selfish.
-Yeah, no, I want to tie it in. -I want to talk about
this lobby hero you became. [ Laughter ]
-Well, look, I -- my wife was the hero,
but I -- it does tie in to the movie because
I would have thought the most terrifying birth
this weekend was -- there's a birth in this movie.
-Yeah. -You know, this is a movie
about you have to be quiet or else the monsters.
-Yeah. -And so Emily has to do a scene
where she's birthing without making a noise.
-Yeah. -It's terrifying.
-It's terrifying. -And then your wife,
your actual wife gives birth in the lobby, and you're like,
"That was nothing."
[ Laughter ]
Because you think monsters are scary,
but nothing's more scary than like,
"Oh, my God, our doorman
is going to see my wife's genitals."
-Okay, so -- [ Laughter ]
So wait, I just -- I thought about that doorman
when you were telling the story. -Yeah.
-Because you sort of skipped past him.
-Yeah. -You were like,
"There's a doorman --" and then you thanked him very nicely.
But I just imagined what that guy's doing, like,
"Hey, Seth, how you doing?" "You guys go" --
[ Laughter ]
"Oh, my God, it's a baby. Oh, it's a baby.
That's a baby in your sweat pants!"
Like, did you shut him down forever?
-I got to be honest.
And I hope he doesn't take this the wrong way --
I wasn't focused on him.
[ Laughter ]
Like, during the birth... -It's fine.
-...I was like, "I hope Kevin's okay."
[ Laughter ]
No, but it was -- they were great
because I only know they were great, like,
after the fact because they did, like,
kind of corral the people in our building to be like,
"You can't go in the lobby right now."
-Yeah, they were like, "There's wet here. It's wet.
[ Laughter ] Guys, it's wet.
Just careful, careful." -But it's like --
It's a beautiful wet.
[ Laughter ]
But yeah, so -- -Oh, that's my band name.
-It was -- it was -- [ Laughter ]
-My new band name. -Oh, but you know --
you mentioned you had a 3-week-old.
You got a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old.
-Yes. Almost 2. -Almost 2.
So we got a two-year gap with ours, as well.
What is -- how is the second one --
how did it change the game?
-In every single way. -Yeah.
-Because the -- when you have your first child,
it's amazing, but in those moments where
your, like, brain starts twitching,
you get to go, "Can you hold her for a second?"
And there's someone to do that.
And now you go, "Can you hold her? Who's this?"
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-I'm like, "Number two gets passed to you."
And there's no break. -Yeah.
-I just FaceTimed right before the show
with my wife and it was just both kids and the dog.
And she was laughing like the Joker.
[ Laughter ] Like, so, like, she was happy
and smiling, but, like, the way you do before you,
like, poison a city's water. -Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
-That's called new parenthood. -Yeah.
-That's what I tapped into in the movie.
-You did! But you really genuinely did
tap into movie because -- I mean,
obviously, you and Emily play parents,
which you are in real life.
The kids -- you cast the most wonderful kids.
-Unbelievable. -Yeah.
-I've always been told don't work with kids.
They never know their lines and they have kid hours,
which are shorter than yours. And they're not professional.
I had the exact opposite experience.
These kids are -- I probably slowed them down.
-Yeah. -They're the most professional
kids in the world. And we had --
-And you didn't even give them any lines?
-No. -You put them in a movie
where they're not allowed to talk.
-I didn't. Yeah. -Yeah.
I was like, "Oh, you think you're good?
How about this? No dialogue.
[ Laughter ]
Deal with that, kid!
Oh, you did deal with it. Oh, wow! You did very well."
-And, I mean, did you just know?
I mean, I'm guessing you cast a wide net
of trying to find kids to play in this film.
Did you know when you found them, like,
"Oh, these are the ones." -Oh, instantaneously.
Yeah, so, Noah Jupe, who plays my son in the movie,
is unbelievable. He was in "The Night Manager",
and he had just worked with George Clooney.
And so I e-mailed George -- [Chuckles]
and I just thought...
[ Laughter ]
"Hey, George." And then he was like,
"Don't ever write here again." I was like, "Oh, wow!"
[ Laughter ]
No, and he just said he was the best child actor
he's ever worked with. And he said,
"And as Doug Ross from 'ER,' I've worked with them all."
-Yeah, that's -- -Literally.
-Yeah. -And then the other unbelievable
actress is Milli, and she is a deaf actress.
She's the most beautiful girl in the world.
-She's fantastic. -It was nonnegotiable for me
to cast a deaf actress, but I had no idea
how lucky I would I get. We're pretty sure --
Emily and I are sure that she's not from here,
that she's like an angel we got to know.
-Yeah. -She's one of the most --
[ Audience "awws" ] It's true.
-Yeah. -Wait till you meet her.
-Yeah. -Yay!
No, I'm just kidding.
[ Laughter ]
But, no, she was such an unbelievable guide
and spirit animal for the movie.
And she was just the most beautiful person to be around.
-You got -- This must be really nice
when you have a movie come out.
Like, these are friends and not people you don't know.
Ryan Reynolds tweeted about
how he'd seen "A Quiet Place." He wanted you guys
to be his new parents. -Yes.
-I think that's very high praise.
This one's pretty good.
LeBron James wanted to go see it with his wife.
-King Jim. -And then said,
"#HorrorHouseWeHave."
[ Laughter ]
I'm like -- when he does something, I'm like,
"That's so much cooler than I would have done."
Yeah. And then -- but this is really the highlight, right?
-This was mental. Yeah. -Stephen King.
-"A Quiet Place" is an extraordinary piece of work.
Terrific acting, but the main thing is the silence,
and how it makes the camera's eyes open wide."
I mean, as a director,
like, that's straight up the King of Horror...
-Literally the King of Horror.
-...complimenting your choices as a director.
-No, it was -- it was --
[ Cheers and applause ] Thank you.
-Thank you very much. Thank you. -Yeah.
-No, but then he wrote me an e-mail,
and one of my favorite things was I said,
"Oh, my God, you're also the biggest Red Sox fan."
And he said, "If you ever want my tickets..."
And I was like... -Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -So, yeah, that's happening.
-That's fantastic. This keeps working out
better and better for you.