John Krasinski is following up his A Quiet Place movies with a new set of creatures that are far less threatening. His new film IF, which stands for “Imaginary Friends,” is a family film that has compiled an ensemble cast in both live-action and voice-over roles. The Jack Ryan star wrote and directed this film. The cast that joins Krasinski includes Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming, Fiona Shaw, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Alan Kim, Liza Colón-Zayas and reunites Krasinski with his Dunder-Mifflin boss, Steve Carell. The movie is produced by John Krasinski, Allyson Seeger, Ryan Reynolds and Andrew Form.
The plot of IF follows “a young girl who suddenly develops the ability to see everyone’s imaginary friends after undergoing a difficult situation. As she begins to see magic manifested in her daily doings, she realizes many of the imaginary friends she comes across were created by individuals when they were just children and then sadly forgotten about.” Paramount has just released the teaser poster and has announced that the trailer will make its debut tomorrow.
This past summer, Krasinski discussed with Collider about his excitement to work with Ryan Reynolds, who he has cast as the (human) lead in IF. He adds that the movie is “extremely personal” to him. It is being described as “Amblin-like” and Krasinski wanted to make something wholesome and timeless in the vein of E.T. – The Extra-terrestrial.
Krasinski explains, “IF is a movie that I made for my kids because I don’t think they’re allowed to see A Quiet Place; Emily [Blunt] calls it PG-40, ‘You’ll get to see it when you’re 40!’ So I had to make a movie that they could see, and I’m really, really excited about it. I mean, Ryan Reynolds is as good as it gets in every single way, shape and form, and this incredible phenom of an actress, Cailey Fleming, is in the movie. For me, it was just about what if we could tell a story about these time capsules? Imaginary friends are adorable and all those things, but they’re also time capsules of your hopes, dreams, and ambitions when you were the most fertile of a brain, and it never goes away. I think we’re told that we’re adults instead of what if you realize that you never stopped being a kid.”