John Krasinski Shares How His Kids’ Imaginary Friends Inspired the Family Movie “IF” (Exclusive)
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His two daughters' imaginary friends, pink alligator Ally and a flaming Marshmallow, come alive in the movie
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures; Jeff Spicer/Getty; Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Marshmallow from 'IF'; John Krasinski; Ally the pink allligator from 'IF'For John Krasinski, making the new movie IF was truly a family affair.
The idea to tell the bittersweet story of imaginary friends forgotten by the kids who dreamed them up came, in part, from his own daughters.
Krasinski, 44, recalls being at home and watching Hazel, 10, and Violet, 7, the girls he shares with his wife, Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt, 41, “disappear into a magical world that we, as parents, aren’t allowed into,” he says. “I said to Emily, ‘That would make an amazing movie.’ ”
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “They started doing fewer imaginary games, and they started to let the real world in. They started asking bigger questions and then finally said, ‘Are we going to be okay?’ ” he continues.
Mike Coppola/Getty
Emily Blunt (left) and John Krasinski in New York City on May 13, 2024“I said to Emily, ‘That’s kind of the definition of growing up, isn’t it? When you let fear in?’ I thought, ‘I have to do this movie right now to show them that magical world they created, they can go back.' " adds Krasinski.
The result is a story about 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming), whose widowed father (Krasinski, the director and writer) is hospitalized with health issues.
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures; Jeff Spicer/Getty; Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Marshmallow from 'IF'; John Krasinski; Ally the pink allligator from 'IF'His daughter moves in with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) in a Brooklyn brownstone, where she meets a neighbor, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who, like Bea, can see the IFs (imaginary friends)—-animated characters voiced by stars including Blunt, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Bradley Cooper.
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Jonny Cournoyer
Ryan Reynolds (left) and John Krasinski on the set of 'IF'Hazel and Violet’s imaginary friends also come to life in the movie.
“The pink alligator Ally, that is Violet’s imaginary friend,” Krasinski says of the character voiced by Maya Rudolph. “The pink alligator lives under Violet’s bed. I said, ‘Is that scary to you?’ And she said, ‘No, that’s why she’s there, to eat all the bad guys when they come in.’ And I said, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ ”
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Jonny Cournoyer
Ryan Reynolds (left) and Cailey Fleming in 'IF'“Hazel’s a very empathetic soul, and we were making s’mores one night, and her marshmallow burst into flames as they tend to do, and she was so destroyed that she had hurt some sort of creature,” continues Krasinski. “And I said, ‘Oh, no, no, that’s just his thing. He lights on fire and then he goes out and then he lights on fire and then he goes out.’ And she loved that idea, and so that became her imaginary friend.”
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Krasinski says he involved his girls in the process as he was developing the different characters.
“I was just sketching all the IFs as I was writing and I would show them. I’m a terrible artist, so then once I started interfacing with real artists and talking about how it would really look, they got really excited,” he says.
IF is in theaters nationwide Friday, May 17.
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