John Krasinski's Heart ‘Shattered’ When His Kids Asked ‘Are We Going to Be Okay?’ During Pandemic (Exclusive)

John Krasinski reflects on the emotional toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on his family.

Office alum, 44, spoke with PEOPLE about filming his new movie IF, which Krasinski wrote based on his own daughter’s experiences with imaginary friends. Krasinski, who shares daughters Hazel, 10, and Violet, 7, with wife Emily Blunt, explains that he got the idea for this film during the pandemic when his children started playing less fictional games.

“I made this movie for my kids. I’ve always wanted to make a movie for my kids, but I wasn’t really sure what the movie was going to look like,” explains Krasinski. “I had an idea about 10 years ago to do something with imaginary friends, but I wasn’t quite sure what the take on it would be.”

“And then the pandemic gave me an idea because that’s when I saw how their lights started going out and they started playing less and less imaginary games, and then they started letting the real world in,” the father of two says.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Cailey Fleming (centre) in ‘IF’.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

John Krasinski tells how his children’s fictional friends inspired a family film IF (Exclusive)

“And I said to Emily, ‘That’s kind of the definition of growing up, right? When you let fear in, the real world comes in.’ And so they started asking bigger questions and then finally said, ‘Are we going to be okay?’ And I thought, ‘Okay, we have to stop and I have to make this movie right now to show them this magical world that they’ve created, they can come back whenever they want.’

Asked if he was heartbroken to hear his daughters ask the question during the pandemic, Krasinski says, “I think broken is a better word. It broke my heart.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler has arrived! How fast can you solve it? Play now!

“And again, it’s one of those things where everybody has a bad day, so it was a good opportunity to talk to them and everything, but it was nice to have a tangible thing to talk about and not just, ‘We’ll be okay’. It’s more about, ‘Look at this thing we can take back and look at it again.'”

Also in the interview, the proud dad talks about how his daughters’ imaginary friends inspired the characters in his film.

John Krasinski’s web series ‘Some Good News’.

Some good news/Youtube

For more on John Krasinski, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

“Ally the pink alligator, that’s Violet’s imaginary friend,” Krasinski says of the character voiced by Maya Rudolph. “A 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 villains when they come in.’ And I said, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ ”

“Hazel is a very empathetic soul and one night we were making s’mores and her marshmallows went up like they usually do and she was so devastated that she hurt some kind of creature,” Krasinski continues. “And I said, ‘Oh, no, no, that’s just his thing. He lights a fire and then it goes out, then it lights up and then it goes out.’ And she liked the idea, so it became her imaginary friend.”

The film has already received “two thumbs up” from his children, according to Krasinski when he spoke with Extra at the premiere of the film.

Although his girls are ultimately fans, Krasinski said there was added pressure “because I made it for them, completely and totally about their magical world, so this is one that I can’t screw up.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education