Highlights
- Get Out was partially inspired by real events in Jordan Peele’s life.
- Peele’s personal experiences and perspective influenced the plot of Get Out.
- Peele’s transition from acting to directing and producing horror content was motivated in part by being offered a role in The Emoji Movie.
Throughout Hollywood history, there have been many major actors who got their start in horror movies. The genre has also created a lot of iconic actors and if a movie like M3GAN can become a horror classic it will go down in history.
Despite all that, many people don’t seem to realize that horror movies can have profound things to say and reflect real life. A perfect example of that is the fact that the movie Get Out was partially inspired by something that really happened to Jordan Peele.
What Part Of Get Out Is Based On Real Life?
After Get Out was released in 2017, the movie became one of the most critically and commercially successful horror movies of all time. There are many reasons for that including the incredible performances, how exceptionally well directed the movie is, and the film’s sound design.
On top of all that, there is no doubt that one of the keys to Get Out’s success was the movie’s plot. After all, Get Out obviously is brilliantly written and Peele won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar and a slew of other awards.
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Get Out’s Academy Award History: |
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Best Picture |
Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, and Jordan Peele |
Nominated |
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Best Director |
Jordan Peele |
Nominated |
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Best Actor |
Daniel Kaluuya |
Nominated |
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Best Original Screenplay |
Jordan Peele |
Won |
Following the release of Get Out, Peele sat down with Jason Zinoman from The New York Times to speak about the movie. During the resulting conversation, the interviewer asked Peele if Get Out’s plot was loosely based on aspects of the writer/director’s real life.
“You grew up on the Upper West Side and then worked in improv comedy, both largely white worlds. “Get Out” is about being black in a white world. Coincidence?” Without missing a beat, Peele quickly agreed that his life generally influenced Get Out’s plot.
“Not at all. Black people who want to do comedy go into standup, where our heroes opened a lot of doors. Improv doesn’t have a ton of heroes that you can look to. Chris’s experience is very close to mine.”
The New York Times’ interviewer then went on to ask Peele if Get Out was inspired by a specific part of his life. “Did you draw on personal experience meeting a girlfriend’s parents?”
Looking at Get Out’s plot, it makes sense that Peele was generally inspired by some all-too-real aspects of society. However, considering the science fiction elements of Get Out, at first glance it seems like it would be impossible for specific elements to be based on reality.
As it turns out, however, a specific part of Get Out’s plot was directly inspired by a real event in Peele’s life. As Peele explained to The New York Times, he once learned his girlfriend’s parents had no idea she was dating a black man.
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Get Out’s Box Office Performance: |
2017 |
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Production Budget: $5,000,000 |
Domestic Box Office: $175,837,935 |
Worldwide Box Office: $252,297,405 |
“I had a Caucasian girlfriend a while ago. I remember specifically asking if the parents knew I was black. She said no. That scared me. It turned out to be totally fine, but I didn’t want to even see an adjustment on someone’s face when they realized it’s not what they thought.”
Why Does Jordan Peele Love Horror Movies?
After Jordan Peele spent years building up his career as a comedy actor, he suddenly stepped away from that part of his life. Since then, Peele has focused on directing, writing, and producing horror content.
Even though horror comedy certainly is a popular movie subgenre, those are two worlds many outsiders don’t associate. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense that some of Peele’s fans would wonder what inspired his career shift.
In 2018, Peele revealed that part of his career transition was inspired after he was offered a role in a much-mocked movie. After Peele won best first-time director at the DGA Awards, he revealed why he mostly gave up acting.
“The Emoji Movie actually helped me quit acting. I was offered the role of Poop. This is true. I would not make this up.”
After Peele decided that it was messed up that he got offered that role, he found out another actor took the part. Assuming Peele wasn’t joking, he says that is when he decided to no longer focus on acting. “[My manager said] they’ve already given it to Sir Patrick Stewart.’ I was like, ‘F**k this.’”
Putting aside Peele’s feelings about The Emoji Movie, he has also revealed what he loves about the horror genre. When Peele spoke to Forbes in 2016, he explained his passion for horror movies while comparing the genre to comedy.
Jordan Peele’s Notable Horror Projects To Date:
- Get Out
- Us
- Candyman
- Nope
- Wendell & Wild
- The Twilight Zone
- Lovecraft Country
“I’ve been a horror fan for so long. I’ve done so much comedy over the last 15 years, but you could recognize a lot of similarities between the genres. So much of it is pacing, so much of it reveals. So much of it is the ability to pinpoint what an audience is going through at that very moment.”
Peele continued, “A big part of it is I’ve been wanting to do horror for a long time, and luckily I’ve kind of gotten something of a training through comedy. I definitely felt confident in the fact that it’s a genre that all you need to work is the story and the scariness and the emotion. If you can get that you can make a decent movie in the genre.”
“As with comedy, I feel like horror and the thriller genre is a way, one of the few ways, that we can address real-life horrors and social injustices in an entertaining way.” Peele explained, “We go to the theater to be entertained, but if what is left after you watch the movie is a sort of eye-opening perspective on some social issues, then it can be a really powerful piece of art.
Source: NewsFinale
