While speaking with students at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Us director Jordan Peele discussed why he doesn’t see himself casting a white male lead in his films.
Director Jordan Peele followed his acclaimed and Academy Award-winning film Get Out with a new horror tale titled Us and his latest feature has earned just as much praise. Both projects earned admiration for featuring black actors in lead roles and Jordan Peele commented on why he doesn’t see himself casting a white male actor as the lead character in a future film:
“I don’t see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie. Not that I don’t like white dudes, but I’ve seen that movie.”
Jordan Peele also commented on how he feels fortunate to be in a position where he can feature a diverse cast in his films:
“The way I look at it, I get to cast black people in my movies. I feel fortunate to be in this position where I can say to Universal, ‘I want to make a $20 million horror movie with a black family.’ And they say ‘yes’.”
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Set in present day along the iconic Northern California coastline, Us, from Monkeypaw Productions, stars Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson, a woman returning to her beachside childhood home with her husband, Gabe (Black Panther’s Winston Duke), and their two children (Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex) for an idyllic summer getaway.
Haunted by an unexplainable and unresolved trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide feels her paranoia elevate to high-alert as she grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family.
After spending a tense beach day with their friends, the Tylers (Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon), Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home. When darkness falls, the Wilsons discover the silhouette of four figures holding hands as they stand in the driveway. Us pits an endearing American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.
Directed and written by Jordan Peele, Us stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Evan Alex, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Madison Curry, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon.
Us is now playing in theaters!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
