The actor shares two daughters — Hazel, 10, and Violet, 7 — with Blunt
John Krasinski may have starred in one of the most famous comedy series of all time, but his daughters are more impressed by his wife Emily Blunt’s roles.
Speaking with PEOPLE about his upcoming film IF, The Office alum, 44, noted that he wrote the film — which delves into the world of imaginary friends — because he was inspired by his own daughters’ playtime experiences.
Krasinski, says he involved Hazel, 10, and Violet, 7, the girls he shares with Blunt, 41, in his movie-making process, but they were already “biased” towards Blunt’s more magical jobs.
“When they found out I that I was going to do it, it was really exciting because it was the first time that I had ever involved them in anything,” Krasinski tells PEOPLE. “I was pretty sure that they thought I was an accountant before this because their mom was Mary Poppins and in Jungle Cruise.”
“So she was off to a very biased start with our girls. And so on this one, I pitched them the idea. I told them when I was going out to write in the mornings and in the afternoons, and then I was just sketching all the IFs as I was writing,” the dad of two continues.
“And I would bring home the sketches,” he shares. “I would show them. And then of course, 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, and their two imaginary friends are in the movie, which is great.”
“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.’ ”
“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.”
As Krasinski and Blunt walked the red carpet at the premiere of IF earlier this week, the two spoke with Extra about whether their daughters have watched the movie yet. The couple noted that the film got “two thumbs up” from their kids.
Though his girls were ultimately fans, Krasinski said that there was added pressure “because I made it for them, completely and entirely about their magical world, so this is one I can’t screw up.”
When the family did get to watch the film together, the proud dad said it was “amazing” and “unbelievable.”
“I don’t even know about ‘cool dad,’ it was emotional dad, for sure. It was so beautiful.” he added.
“For our kids to have their mom in the movie too was so massive. It was a family affair,” Krasinski continued.
