A Quiet Place was released earlier this year and became one of the biggest horror hits of 2018. In it, the characters cannot make a sound, or they will be hunted down by deadly creatures with exceptional hearing. In Bird Box, a mysterious entity or creature roams the earth, and the only way to dodge its wrath is to not look at it. So while one focusses in on sound, the other is on sight.
The movie was reportedly put together very fast, and Bier was asked in a new interview if the success of A Quiet Place hurried it along.
“No, no, no,” she told Polygon.
“We were shooting [in April 2018] when we had heard of A Quiet Place and we were almost finished editing when it came out.”
She added: “I think also what is one of the reasons why it keeps being compared to is … yes, they are post-apocalyptic thrillers, both of them, but more relevant is that they both have female protagonists, and so few movies with female protagonists.
“And mothers. So they kind of tend to be compared.
“I think A Quiet Place is a great movie, but they’re very different.”
On how Bird Box was made speedily, she explained: “So I got told that I should read the script relatively fast because it was something which could happen pretty fast, and Sandra Bullock was interested in starring.
“She and I met a few times and talked about working together. I got very interested in it.
“There was something really compelling about her playing that sort of woman who is not particularly accessible. She’s brutal, she’s harsh, she doesn’t talk nicely to the kids, but she wants to then to survive at any price, and I felt that her playing that part would just be really interesting.
“So I read it and expressed my interest and then at the same time it kind of moved from one of the studios to Netflix and then it happened very fast.”
The tense thriller has been entertaining audiences since its release, with Bier also explaining how she filmed it with her actors being unable to see.
Bird Box is streaming on Netflix now.