ABC/Randy Holmes(NEW YORK) — Jordan Peele has taken a step behind the camera in his directorial debut, Get Out. But sketch-comic-turned-director says he wasn’t sure that the racial horror movie, which has been years in the making, would see the light of day.
“This is a movie I thought would never get made,” Peele tells ABC Radio. “There’s a reason we haven’t seen a horror movie that tackles the real-life horror of race in a long time, since The-Night-of-the-Living-Dead long. Fifty years ago long,” he added, referring to the 1968 cult zombie classic. “That’s one of the reasons why I thought no one would ever make it. It’s too messed up, it’s too edgy.”
The movie, which hits theaters on Friday, centers around Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams as Chris and Rose, a young interracial couple who head to Rose’s parents’ estate so that Chris can meet the parents for the first time. While there, mysterious things begin to happen to Chris after Rose’s parents learn that he’s black.
Jordan says that despite the chance of the movie’s racial themes proving contentious, the effort was supported early on by “producers and Universal” who did not want Peele to, “shy away from the controversy.”
Peele also explains that he wanted to “cover an entire spectrum of conversation with this movie,” which according to the director was possible since the timing was right.
“The timing of it is kind of uncanny,” Peele says. “And it feels like we’re now at a time where you can’t get away from the discussion of race and racism anymore. And people are intrigued and willing to have this conversation.”
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