Jordan Peele details explanation behind ‘Us' inspiration
Jordan Peele has given us more insight into his highly-anticipated second film Us and further explained the meaning behind the film.
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker recently debuted the film at SXSW to a group of eager fans waiting to see if the film lived up to the hype of Get Out.
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Peele recently opened up to Vanity Fair about the film and gave a bit more background information into the plot.
The idea behind Us came from when he was a student in upstate New York. Every time he got out of the midnight train, he would always imagine himself seeing his mirror image looking back at him in a tunnel.
“It was one of these nightmarish things, that creepy feeling of, ‘I’ve got to get out of here because I don’t know what is coming,’” he said.
When he further explored this fear, he realized that one of the scariest things for humans is a fear of ourselves. He added that the film is inspired by some of his favorite horror films, but changes the main characters for the audience to see something they’ve never seen before.
“I want to see a black family on the beach, goddamnit!” he said. “I want to see a black family buy a boat. That happens. And we’ve never seen it.”
The film stars Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as leads. Nyong’o’s character is allegedly one of the scariest parts of the film. She also opened up about what it was like playing two versions of the same character.
“With the red character, Jordan used two words: queen and cockroach,” said Nyong’o. “They were such dissonant ideas, but there’s a stillness to both. Queens are often very regal, and they rule with just their energy. With cockroaches , there’s always an element of surprise.”
Critics who saw the film at advanced screenings have given it rave reviews, which only make us more pumped to see it.
Us stars Nyong’o (Black Panther), Duke (Black Panther), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale) and Tim Heidecker (Ant-Man And The Wasp). The film later announced additional cast members. Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Madison Curry, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon and Duke Nicholson (Jack Nicholson’s grandson) will be joining the cast.
Peele’s first film Get Out was a huge hit, getting a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Jordan Peele also became the first African-American writer-director to earn a $100 million debut. Additionally, Peele earned the highest grossing debut project for a writer-director with an original screenplay.
Peele also won an Oscar for Writing (Original Screenplay) at last year’s ceremony.
Us premieres in theaters on March 22 after its launch at SXSW on March 8.
Check out the trailer for the film below.
How excited are you to see Us? Sound off in the comments below!
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