How “A Quiet Place: Day One” director incorporated his love of “Lord of the Rings”

"Definitely there was a lot to that," filmmaker Michael Sarnoski says.

The love director Michael Sarnoski has for J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings is pretty overt in his latest movie, A Quiet Place: Day One — even beyond the fact that two of his lead characters are also named Sam and Frodo.

"Watching Lord of the Rings growing up, watching all the behind the scenes was a big part of falling in love with movie making and the potential for both beautifully meaningful, emotional storytelling and huge scope and excitement," Sarnoski tells Entertainment Weekly ahead of the A Quiet Place prequel's release in theaters this week. "So, yeah, definitely there was a lot to that."

Set long before the main events of the first two movies in the franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One follows Sam (Lupita Nyong'o), a young woman on a day trip to New York City with her cat named Frodo at the very moment the monstrous aliens that hunt through sound arrive on Earth. She is forced to team up with a complete stranger, Eric (Joseph Quinn), if both are to survive and escape the city.

Related: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn escape from New York in A Quiet Place: Day One first look

Nyong'o recalls seeing the Sam and Frodo element when she first got the script. "Our director is enough of a nerd," she says, playfully. "He chose that name, and I thought it was really quite apt because [the cat] is that companion. Our relationship has a very steep arc."

Aside from the character names, Sarnoski channeled the adventurous spirit of The Lord of the Rings in Day One's story.

"Sam and Frodo carry a lot of weight, and I think there is a real odyssey element to this, even though we're contained within this city of New York," he explains. "How people support each other through that journey is an important part of it."

Related: How A Quiet Place: Day One tells a Part II origin story

This vision of an apocalyptic Big Apple even has an equivalent to Mordor, the dark, volcanic wasteland that serves as home base for the villainous Sauron of Tolkien's Middle-earth. "I think you could make an argument for that," Sarnoski confirms. "It's a little calmer and quieter than what Mordor would be." Speaking of Sam and Eric, he continues, "They definitely have a goal through this movie that means a lot to them, and that is important. They would die to get there."

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A Quiet Place: Day One, also starring Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou, opens in theaters this Friday.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.