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One of the most iconic movies made within the past decade is Jordan Peele’s Get Out, a socially-aware horror comedy that called out how terrifying the relationship can be between Black and white Americans. Aside from allowing Peele to transition from comedy to being one of the most exciting new voices in filmmaking, the 2017 Best Picture nominee gave Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield roles that have become synonymous with pop culture.
For Daniel Kaluuya, he’ll never be seen next to a cup of tea the same way again. And regarding LaKeith Stanfield, we’ll never quite wipe away the look on his face when Kaluuya’s character takes a picture of him and he yells the movie’s title. It’s the moment in Jordan Peele’s movie when things started getting really odd. And as a result, Stanfield remembers that his Get Out role specifically made him incredibly recognizable. In his words:
I became a meme. Everyone noticed who I was if I walked outside. I got a little annoyed, actually, after a while. Not with the lovely people—just the ones who interrupt you when you're trying to eat pizza and stuff.
If you remember, LaKeith Stanfield did not have a large role in Get Out. His role was pretty much for that scene, yet after the movie came out, he was getting noticed everywhere. He attributes it to that segment of the movie becoming a meme and popular reaction gif people use in all types of contexts, whether it's to show sudden sadness and or a sense of being troubled, or telling other people online to seriously just like… get out; get out of the conversation, get out of their opinions, etc. It’s seriously a universal and functional reaction that LaKeith Stanfield unknowingly became a part of thanks to this movie.
LaKeith Stanfield reflected on his Get Out role to W Magazine just in time for the film recently passing its fourth anniversary. He continued to reflect on the movie by remembering how he got to be the only one to say the movie’s title:
Yeah, I’m like, I’m not saying that. When I said, “Get out!” the first time, I remember thinking, I hope this ends up in the trailer, and it did. At the Oscars, I had a little bit where I had to run onstage and tell everyone in the audience to get out. And I remember seeing the outfit in the green room and thinking it’s crazy how iconic it became. People had started dressing up as me on Halloween. My mom had people coming to her door dressed as me!
LaKeith Stanfield’s Get Out character really did transcend his status in the public eye. That led to his reunion with Daniel Kaluuya for Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah, where he plays William O’Neal to Kaluuya’s Fred Hampton, who was the chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther party in the ‘60s.
Judas and the Black Messiah is currently available to stream on HBO Max (along with select theaters). You can subscribe to the streaming service using this link. The movie is being recognized during awards season – CinemaBlend will keep you updated on how the movie shakes out amidst its wide critical acclaim.
