Upamanyu Biswas
Directed by Michael Sarnoski, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ begins in the confines of a New York City hospice named Little Firs Hospice and Palliative Care Center, where Sam lives battling cancer. Miserable and nihilistic about her chances, Sam’s spirits are at rock bottom as she spends her days espousing her harsh beliefs to Nurse Reuben and sardonically making comments about Little Firs’ morbid atmosphere. For the suffering protagonist, the hospice is the final abode of her time among the living. Little Firs is a pivotal setting that discloses Sam’s health struggles and the psychological toll it has placed on her, which becomes essential in the narrative!
Little Firs Does Not Exist in Real Life
Little Firs Hospice and Palliative Care Center is a fictional medical establishment in ‘A Quiet Place: Day One,’ which was created and brought to life by writer-director Michael Sarnoski, who also conceived the story with John Krasinski. In the film, the hospice setting provides the first glimpses into Sam’s inner thoughts, describing someone who is languishing mentally due to her cancer diagnosis and her loss of motivation to live. For the filmmaker, those were defining characteristics of the protagonist as they created a unique dynamic within the survival movie, as the central character fights her hopelessness to live. Therefore, Little Firs plays a vital role in highlighting Sam’s gloom and despondency through its brief appearance at the film’s beginning.
In an interview given to Script Magazine, Sarnoski said, “One Sunday night, Samira just appeared to me. I thought, ‘What if we were following someone who had a different relationship to death and survival than other people?’ Because I knew that maybe in a weird way, the Apocalypse could be an opportunity for her to live in a way she hadn’t before. Then a lot of the other stuff organically came out of that.” The suburban hospice on the outer edges of New York City allowed the filmmaker to externalize Sam’s internal turmoil by depicting her as someone who has been wasting away the rest of her life in the confines of Little Firs.
Even though the nursing home is fictional, real hospice services, like CareFirstNY and Cavalry Hospital, can be found in New York. There are several institutions in the state, like the aforementioned two, that offer support and palliative care for those afflicted with severe illnesses or at the end of their lives. While Little Firs can be seen as a general representation of those establishments, it is ultimately separated from their existence because of its specific purpose within the narrative. The filming of the movie primarily took place in England, specifically in Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and Bovingdon Airfield Studios in Hertfordshire, with some additional helicopter shoots in New York City.
The scenes set in the hospice must have been filmed in one of these two production facilities. In conclusion, while Little Firs introduces viewers to Sam’s plight, its significant contribution is to illustrate the character’s festering frustration. With life and death playing such an integral role within the survival narrative, it makes sense to open the movie with a hospice where people are already confronted by their mortality. Despite its importance in establishing the protagonist’s emotions, the hospice center is a fictional institution that cannot be found in reality.
Read More: Where Was A Quiet Place Day One Filmed?
