Most of us know Jordan Peele from his brilliant sketch comedy series, Key & Peele, which ran for five seasons on Comedy Central. But now we’re going to experience him in a different light; as writer and director of Get Out, a new horror-thriller for Blumhouse Productions and QC Entertainment.
According to Deadline, the film is about “a young African American man who visits his Caucasian girlfriend’s family estate.”
“People know me for my work in comedy, but now I’ll get to focus on my passion for writing and directing horror films. Like comedy, horror has the ability to provoke thought and further the conversation on real social issues in a very powerful way. Get Out takes on the task of exploring race in America, something that hasn’t really been done in the genre since Night of the Living Dead, 47 years ago. It’s long overdue,” said Peele in a statement.
Peele also spilled a few beans on the project last year with Playboy, “It’s one of the very, very few horror movies that does jump off racial fears. Specifically, the fears of being a black man today. The fears of being any person who feels like they’re a stranger in any environment that is foreign to them. It deals with a protagonist that I don’t see in horror movies.”
Jason Blum and QC Entertainment principals Sean McKittrick and Edward H. Hamm are producing. Blumhouse’s most recent film to hit theaters was M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit, which enjoyed opening figures of $25 million (and is still playing in a theater near you).
What do you think of Jordan Peele’s switch to the directing hat? Hit us up with your thoughts down below.
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IMAGE: Vince Bucci/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images
