There are a number of reasons why Jordan Peele's Get Out remains one of the most tantalizing storylines to follow in 2017. For starters, as a debut filmmaker, few could have predicted Peele to have the breakout success that he has enjoyed with his socio-political horror comedy -- itself a mesh of styles and genres that made it difficult to pigeonhole into one tight compartment. On top of that, though, Peele admits that the content of Get Out made it so that he thought it never COULD get made, let alone find its audience. The talented comedian explains:
Honestly, I thought, there's too many things that you just can't do in film -- the finale where a black man kills a white family in cold blood, and the audience is supposed to be like, 'Yeah!' it's like, you can't do that. The elimination of the white savior trope. ... I think that's the power of story. It's one of the few things that encourages empathy, because it allows us to see through others' eyes. And there are few other ways to get an experience of being someone else.
Jordan Peele is getting numerous opportunities to discuss the reception of and reaction to Get Out, as the film is making a strong push through the ongoing Oscar season. And it's not lip service. Get Out looks to be a contender in several major categories, from Screenplay to Picture and Director. So when Peele sat down with Deadline for its The Contenders series, he opened up about the numerous obstacles that he saw in his own story's path the completion... which included the crucial finale of his movie. Peele says that the violence that he wrote into the script could be seen as unconventional, and he probably assumed this would mean that his movie would get turned down by every possible backer.
But he couldn't compromise. Mainly because Jordan Peele knew that making the movie would be his way to talk through the racial and political commentary that he saw as being integral to the point of his story. Peele went on to explain:
If I could whittle the point of the movie -- what I was trying to say -- into one sentence, I wouldn't be able to. That's why I had to make the movie. It was more complex than that. What I wanted from this movie is what you are saying. I wanted conversation about something that is so uncomfortable, so awkward that we don't talk about it enough.
You can watch a full clip of Jordan Peele talking about Get Out right here:
The good news about Get Out is that the movie DID get made, and then it went on to gross a whopping $254 million in international ticket sales. It established Jordan Peele as an exciting filmmaker with a clear voice, and not just a brilliant sketch comedian. And it hopefully got the industry pumped for whatever story Peele wanted to tell next. We're waiting.
