John Krasinski took on the role of director to helm The Hollars, which released in August 2016 in North America. As the film was received with mixed reviews by critics, the star confessed he has tried not to take poor critical reception to heart.

He told Entertainment Tonight: “I don’t know. I sound like I’m 92 years old, but being in the business for a decent amount of time, you really do learn – or you hope to learn – that you don’t allow the reviews to impact you.

I’ve learned from several very astute, very smart people that the day before the movie comes out, you need to feel about your movie as you’re always going to feel.

That’s when you should solidify how you feel. Then how other people feel about your movie is completely up to them. And I think that is very healthy and really helpful.

It’s difficult sometimes, but for me, I knew what I wanted to get out of the movie and I knew what I thought was special in this movie.”

And John – who has two children with actress Emily Blunt – admitted that being behind the camera was initially overwhelming.

He shared: “I think that going into the first day of anything is terrifying. A lot of people have said it probably more eloquently than me, but if you go into that first day and you’re not terrified, something’s wrong.

Because usually that means you’re overconfident and usually that means the movie’s going to be bad. For me, there’s this set of nerves that makes me feel oddly safe.

The more nervous I am – and I stay a good dose of nervous – allows me to maintain that movie can always get better, from the day you start shooting it to the day you premiere your movie. You can always get better.”