It was a genre film that most of us couldn’t wait for since it was first announced: Jordan Peele making his feature film debut as a writer-director with a horror film about race relations in America. For those who are fans of Peele onscreen as one half of the comedy duo Key & Peele, as well as offscreen knowing his affinity for the genre, we watched and waited to see if the movie horror fans were looking forward to would live up to our admittedly lofty expectations.

Now that Get Out is a bonafide hit with critics and audiences after grossing $30.5 million on a less than $5 million budget during its opening weekend, we share with you our conversation with Peele where we discussed the influences that came before Get Out. Described as both a “film nerd” and “horror nerd” by stars Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams, Peele sat down to talk with us about the films that came before and had a hand in creating the unique take on race and culture featured in his acclaimed first feature. Citing classics like Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby in the ’60s and Bryan Forbes’ The Stepford Wives in the ’70s that used gender as a way to unsettle audiences, Peele recognized a style of filmmaking that allowed him to have difficult conversations–in this case, race relations in America–with an audience while entertaining them at the same time.

As we mentioned earlier, Get Out has received rave reviews across the board, including an A- CinemaScore rating, and is smart, funny, scary, sad, and thought provoking all at the same time.

Get Out, starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, and Catherine Keener and written and directed by Jordan Peele, is in theaters now.

Feature Image: Universal Pictures