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Fans of the Quiet Place movies find few things scarier than the Death Angels, the sightless predators that bring society to ruins at the heart of the films. But for one of the actors working on the Quiet Place set, the scariest thing about the movie was a different four-legged beast: a feline co-star. Yes, Lupita Nyong'o went into filming of prequel A Quiet Place: Day One absolutely terrified of her little costar.

The story comes out of an interview that A Quiet Place: Day One director Michael Sarnoski did with The Hollywood Reporter in June of 2024. "Cats have a strong connection to New York City," explained Sarnoski, whose film is, in case you didn't know, set in NYC.

"There’s something about street cats and bodega cats and the survival instinct side of the city," he continues, "There’s something standoffish about them, but when you get to know them, they can actually be really sweet and wonderful. A cat just seemed like the perfect match."

Well, a cat didn't seem like a perfect match at first, either to Nyong'o (who Sarnoski says was "terrified of cats. She wasn’t just 'not a fan.' She was really frightened,") or to production studio Paramount. "The [studio's] initial reaction was, 'Okay, we’re going to have a computer-generated cat. I guess we can pull that off.' But then I said, 'No, I really want to do all the cat stuff for real and not ever do a CG cat.'"

Having succeeded in convincing the studio to use a real cat, Sarnoski's next step was getting the two felines that play the single role (Nico and Schnitzel, since I know you want to know), acquainted with the movie's lead. According to an interview Nyong'o did with Variety, that took some doing.

"Paramount was kind enough to hire a cat trainer to meet me before I got to the production," Nyong'o said, "And helped me get over my fear, just through exposure and asking questions, [like] ‘Why is that cat rubbing himself on that furniture like that?’” she said. “Very slowly, I was able to grow with courage and touch them and before long, I could hold them."

Since the movie's only been out for a year, I won't reveal to you how the tale ends for Nyong'o's character, Sam, and her whiskered sidekick, Frodo. But I will say that the story of Nyong'o's "exposure" therapy has a very happy ending:

Shortly after filming was complete, the actor adopted a cat of her own.

A Quiet Pace: Day One is streaming now on Netflix.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we've cobbled together a couple pieces to send a chill up your spine. Join Popverse as we explore:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.