“I was telling her to come get me”: John Krasinski Owes His Hollywood Success and Marrying Emily Blunt to His Mother After ‘The Office’ Star Nearly Quit Acting
John Krasinski is fun to watch on screen and he is certainly a talented actor who can hook the audience to the character he plays. Krasinski has quite a few notable credits to his name but before getting into the industry, the actor almost quit acting.
It was the National Theater Institute that changed the direction of Krasinski’s life. He was set to become an English teacher, but following his visit to the institute, he knew that he had an actor in him. Surely, he decided to follow.
John Krasinski Almost Quit Acting
It’s one thing to dream of being an actor but when it comes to waiting in the line for the spin wheel fortune to shine is not a piece of cake. However, John Krasinski was lucky to have the support from his family. His mother, Mary Claire Krasinski, who was a nurse by profession, supported the actor’s passion but she didn’t want him to be invested in acting to the core as she was afraid that it might wound the actor. Appearing in an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Krasinski said,
“I was leaving that theater school I told you. truly my mom picked me up at the theater school after 16 weeks or something, and as soon as the driveway left, I said I’m going to New York and be an actor.”
He further added,
“And my Mom paused for probably half a second. My Mom said, ‘The only thing I ask you is in two and a half, three years, if you don’t have any sense this is going to happen, if you don’t get a nibble or bite in two years, you have to make my one promise. you have to pull yourself out. because as your mother, you can’t ask me to give up on your dreams.’ I said. ‘that’s so profound, and, yes, fair.’ Two years later I said, ‘I’m out. This is terrible. It’s so scary. This is the worst. Waiting tables, not as fun as they say.’ She said, ‘It’s September. wait it out. wait until the end of the year. don’t give up just yet.’ I was telling her to come get me.”
His mother’s intuition saved his dream, And three weeks later “I got The Office,” Krasinski said, adding, “You know, I give her a lot of love and 10%. She deserves it,” Of course, his mother had helped the actor to marry Emily Blunt and become a huge star.
Emily Blunt Inspired John Krasinski To Direct A Quiet Place
Krasinski’s breakthrough role in The Office established the actor and he earned huge fandom. The later career of the actor has also been remarkable. His appearance in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi further enhanced his resume and proved that he is a capable actor with the ability to perform roles beyond comedy. But when it came to sitting on the director’s chair for the first time, only his wife Blunt could convince him clearing the cloud of confusion.
“It’s one of those things where I had actually just gotten the role of Jack Ryan, and the producers on Jack Ryan had this script that they were producing on the side.”
Krasinski said,
“And they said, ‘Would you ever act in this movie?’ So they gave me the spec script, and the idea was so great. I said, ‘The idea is really good. but I have some ideas of how to change the script. will you let me rewrite it if I star in it?’ They said, ‘What?’ I went to my wife and said I have this idea. We had just had our second daughter, and she was three weeks old. And it’s a movie about parenting, and I said I think this could be the greatest metaphor for parenting. I know how to do it if I could make it all about the family. I’ll tell you this, Emily turned to me and said, ‘You’re not going to rewrite and act in it, you have to direct it.’ I said, ‘I’m not ready to do it.’ She said, ‘Yes you are. I am looking at your face and you are.’ she’s the reason I directed the movie.”
Eventually, he sat on the director’s chair and directed the acclaimed $341 million horror thriller. It was personal to the actor and he marveled at it in front and behind the camera at the same time. A Quiet Place is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
