For Lupita Nyong’o, fighting off monsters that can hear a person’s every move wasn’t the most difficult part of filming A Quiet Place: Day One.
“When I read the script, I loved the character, and I loved the story that Michael [Sarnoski] was telling with this film. It’s a very surprising tone that he’s added to this universe” Nyong’o, 41, shared during an interview with Digital Spy published on Monday, June 24. “The cat, that was the sticking point for me.”
The actress stars as a woman named Samira in the prequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place. As teased in the film’s trailers, Samira’s adorable cat, Frodo, is by her side as she and other New York City residents survive a dangerous alien invasion.
“I actually tried to get [Michael] to change the animal,” Nyong’o revealed. “He was like, ‘No it has to be a cat.’ Because I wanted to play the role, I had to get over my fear of cats.”
To conquer her phobia, Nyong’o underwent “cat therapy,” which involved interacting with cats in the comfort of her home. “It started with two, and the first day, they just let the cats roam around me, and I asked the woman who brought the cats questions about why they were doing certain things,” she stated. “The next day, I touched one with one finger and slowly, slowly, I got comfortable enough to hold a cat through this film.”
In addition to overcoming her feline fears, Nyong’o noted that it was both “exhausting” and “rewarding” to portray a character in a scary situation. A Quiet Place: Day One marks the Oscar winner’s first horror film since 2019’s Us.
“I actually remember when we started doing this film and once the invasion had happened and we had to act scared, I was like, ‘Oh, my God,’” Nyong’o told the outlet. “I had amnesia about how much energy it takes to act scared all day. … I didn’t learn my lesson, and that’s why I came back [to the horror genre.]”
Nyong’o has been joined by Nico and Schnitzel, the cats who play Frodo in the film, on the movie’s press tour. She posed with one of the animals while sporting a pink suit at the A Quiet Place: Day One photocall in London last month.
She has also become a cat mom IRL, announcing via Instagram in October 2023 that she adopted a cat named Yoyo. “I have historically been afraid of cats, but when my life was altered instantly recently, a little voice whispered to me that it was time to embrace change and new possibilities,” she captioned pics of herself and her furry friend at the time.
Earlier this month, Nyong’o revealed that Yoyo helped pull her out of a “super-low” point in her life. “I was really having a hard time believing in joy,” she shared in an interview with Glamour. “I was flirting with depression. I wasn’t there yet, but I was flirting with it. And I had a voice say in my head, ‘Get a cat.’”
Thanks to her work with Nico and Schnitzel, Nyong’o decided to keep Yoyo after two days of fostering him. “I guess the best anecdote for when you feel poorly taken care of is to take care of something,” she gushed. “And I took care of Yoyo and he pried my heart open.”
A Quiet Place: Day One hits theaters on Thursday, June 28.
