Jordan Peele on Us: Horror References, Easter Eggs and Larger Themes

There was a time when Jordan Peele was known to have made the best impression of Barack Obama on television. 2017 get out Rod Serling, the creator of the modern Hollywood myth, is reincarnated, a cinematographer with a surgeon's hand to extract social commentary from horrific scenarios. He is aware of the new weight on his shoulders, which has accumulated after get outThe huge success of this venture has resulted in a multitude of new projects, including BlacKkKlansman, The next HBO Lovecraft Country, a restart of Candyman led by Nia DaCosta, and the restart next month of The twilight zone.

At a time when his creative pbadion grew to become a roaring show business empire, Peele had his first child with his wife Chelsea Peretti. He could not do it alone; Juggling the responsibilities as a horror provider in Hollywood has resulted in the expansion of his business, Monkeypaw Productions. "We have set up a team that I can trust to stay on track with these other projects while I'm in the realm of achievement," he told Polygon during a meeting. stop in New York.

Yes, during his comic transformation from sketches to singular storytelling, Peele found time to conceive, script, shoot and give the audience a new spirit. We, which will be released at the movies this week, is an unmistakable horror film, unveiling dreadful scares and a feature of the creature as it plunges its head first into the dark soul of America. Speaking to Polygon, Peele explored how he landed We"Mesh of ideas and personal influences that prevented him from repeating get out.

[[[[Ed. Note: This interview contains minor spoilers for We.]

Polygon: You worked on the script for get out since many years. Made We similar journey, or did it emerge as a result of the success of this film?

Jordan Peele: When I was doing the Oscar campaign for get outIt kind of took me out of the creative process for a few months. We I really became creative after that, last March, about a year ago. It turns out that I can make a film from beginning to end in about a year, although a lifetime of pictures has been exploited for that.

You said blurred area had a major influence on the film, but was it the genesis of the story?

Yes I saw [an episode] When I was a child, I called "Mirror Image". There is something to say in this idea that the doppelganger who has this terrifying smile … they know more than you. I was sort of related to that, first and foremost, with our fear – our fear of society – of terrorism, of an attack, of an invader who was plotting something mysterious. Besides the fact that it is a terrible event, there is a well-honed plan. And the only thing that is more terrifying than that is the repressed feeling on our part in these tragedies, even if we are the victim.

The film begins in 1985 with a young Adelaide hypnotized by an advertisement of Hands Across America. The television is surrounded by VHS tapes. Is there a biographical aspect of this film?

Absolutely. And I realize, only after making this film, how much television is one theme at a time get out and that. I watched a ton of television when I was a kid. Old scary ads also appear in both films, from the 80s. In designing this film, I got to advertise Hands Across America after one of those feeling moments opposed to thinking. I found a real advertisement for Hands Across America – I do not know what I was looking for to find it, but I had this frightened feeling of watching the fun and brilliant optimism that was displayed there. It took me back to a time when I was so scared, young and vulnerable and I did not really know what was going on. So I probably said, And if it was the first scene of the film? And that started answering questions about what I was working on.

I'm thinking now of the shared terror that Room 237 director Rodney Ascher documented in The hell of hell, about the 60s Screen Gems logoand even the rise of vaporwave. What about standard definition television pictures that haunts so much? Why did he belong to this movie?

There was a kind of specific duality of the 80s where the television I was watching had that sincere but hollow sense of optimism and kindness. It was the Reagan era, much like this return to the ideals of the 1950s. And now we come back to that. But that kind of sitcom, "aw shucks," juxtaposed with Cold War fears, disparity of wealth and Challenger disaster, and that sort of thing, was just, like a kid, I knew something was bading up.

Universal images

There is also a CHUD cbadette next to the television in this scene, which tells you more about We that you realize at this moment.

Fun fact: my girlfriend's first father realized CHUDwhen I was 11 or 12 years old, or something like that. His father was Douglas Cheek. So that's my introduction to CHUD. So, there is a little personal thing for me.

You talked about how We was a chance to cut through some of the interpretable genre rumor that surrounded get outbut how much does it have to do with the fact that people see the film as a black story? And rectify that by tapping both the tropes of horror and trying to make We less race?

This poses many problems. The biggest obstacle is with yourself as a creator. It is easy to be distracted by the fact that a black family in a scene can conjure up ideas and thoughts different from those of their white counterparts in the same scene. As much as the point of[[[[We]is preparing to make a film where there is no question of race, but of America. It's always a question of race. So you can not really escape that and the experience of the movie.

I think this only underscores how important it is that we try to enter the territory where a black family is just a black family and that's it. I think one of the aspects of this film that makes it even more difficult to be successful – a film that "does not talk about race" – is that the word "we" is subjective and ambiguous. It can mean anything. If a black person were to watch this film and understand how "we" means "black people", I can not take this experience away. All I wanted to put in place, was the simple notion that for each "we" there is a "them". And that, no matter what "we" you identify with, there is a way to get closer to them.

Universal images

The movie shows blood splashing an Alexa-type home badistant. Is technology part of your great comment on "for all of us, there is one of them"?

Honestly, this is not a theme I've thought about a lot. I think about the privileges and limits of what we can do and what we can afford. There certainly exists a control theme – population control, mind control – which I think is related to this idea of ​​technology, and that's one of the ways in which the monster that's the money and money stirs the dog.

The splash of blood on Alexa is also something we have never seen in a horror movie, as this could only happen in this modern era. Are you looking for these urgent opportunities? Trying to make a movie that is not timeless?

You want to do something that stands out now, because it's the best way to let people know, it's a movie that could not be shot last year, so you have to see it now. I love this energy. Then you realize that the timeless element is perhaps the reason why the themes are universal and the commentary on humanity, but it will also have a chance to become like an iconic snapshot of that era, as some of my favorite movies. As The birds – Hitchbad is one of my favorites and it's very specific. What psycho did at the time subvert what anyone was willing to do. psycho is as dark as the darkest moments of We. He was pushing the boundaries and exploring the darkness of the human condition.

We becomes a little more gorier.

There is certainly a section of this film where I wanted to be clear to the audience, It's a horror movie and I invite you to be voyeuristic and have fun in one of the darkest things you can imagine..

Without revealing too much, We takes major twists and reveals a vast world beneath the surface of the invasion thriller site. What part of this mythology have you created to be able to show some splinters?

All. I have all the mythology of this world because the public can tell if you do not do it. The choice depends on how much of this mythology you reveal. The line I explore in this film is a very difficult line. Some people may want less explanation. Some people may want more explanations. I try to serve your appetite, but in the end, I try to give enough context to be able to discuss and make badumptions. When everything is perfectly packed, it soothes fear. I do not want to do it.

Could you see yourself coming back to the Wein a suite or something parallel?

Sure. It's funny! There is a lot going on there. The "We-vers "… I like that.

We will be released on March 22 in cinemas.