John Krasinski Put His Daughters’ Actual Imaginary Friends in ‘IF’ (Exclusive)

A huge lineup of A-listers is joining Ryan Reynolds in the animated adventure “IF,” which was written and directed by John Krasinski.

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi sat down with John to dish on the movie, which he made as a love letter to his young daughters with Emily Blunt.

He said, “I wrote this movie for my kids… I did whatever job they would give me ‘cause I wanted to get it right because that world that these kids go into is so imaginative, so unique, and so magical.”

“I would spend hours in a doorway, watching them go into this magical world, and the authenticity that they had, that they could be anyone they wanted, dress in any costume they wanted, sing whatever song they wanted, dance how they wanted to, it was so fearless,” Krasinski elaborated. “I thought that is a great world to make a movie about.”

John explained the moment during the pandemic that inspired him to write the film, saying, “When the pandemic hit, I saw their light starting to go out and they started doing fewer and fewer imaginary things. They let the real world in… and they started to get fearful… I remember saying to Emily, ‘This is it. This is that moment of growing up.”

Krasinski wanted to write a movie that would say, “You don’t have to grow up. That world, that imaginary magical world that you created, is always there for you.’”

His kids’ imaginary friends are also in the movie! He explained, “The pink alligator is one of my daughters’. I said, ‘Is it scary to have an alligator under your bed?’ She said, ‘No, he’s there to eat all the bad guys at night.’ My other daughter created the flaming marshmallow."

John recalled, "That was all because she’s a very sweet, empathetic person and we were making marshmallows one time, and her marshmallow burst into flames and she was destroyed. She was so emotional about it. And I said, 'No no no, that’s what he does. He lights himself on fire, he puts himself out, he lights himself on fire.' She thought that was so funny that that became her imaginary friend. So, they not only had input, I am representing their imaginary friends."

Krasinski also dished on working on Reynolds, saying, “I’ve been a big fan of his for a while. I’m lucky enough to be friendly with him. The truth is, we had been talking about doing something together, and then when I told him about this, once I had this emotional turn in the movie, he jumped right in because he has kids and that inner child thing was clearly important to him.”

Aside from Ryan, Steve Carell, Amy Schumer, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damo, and George Clooney are also lending their voices to the movie.

John noted, “Everyone was really sweet about why they were doing the movie, which is this story of reconnecting with your inner child, but also putting something good out in the world, something uplifting. They were really excited about it… I know I’ll never have a cast this good.”