Jordan Peele's record-breaking horror hit Get Out is a socially conscious thriller that
deals with the worst modern boogeyman of them all: racism.
With a number one debut at the box office and a record-breaking performance on multiple
fronts, Get Out is a film to be remembered — and we're here to tell you its untold
truth.
Fair warning: now's your chance to look away if you don't want spoilers.
It's not about the president
Get Out might seem like a response to our current, super-charged political climate,
but Jordan Peele was working on the idea even before Barack Obama was elected — and afterward,
he was intrigued by the country's so-called "post-racial ideal", in which people seemed
to believe that a black President represented the total defeat of racism in the United States.
Peele wrote Get Out as a response — to show that not all racists look like cross-burning
Klan members.
"The original idea with the movie was to point out this very real horror we haven't gotten
over."
It's a tribute to classic horror
Peele took inspiration for Get Out from other scary movies about seemingly well-meaning
people doing horrible things — like Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives.
But the classic slasher franchise Halloween also worked its way in — not that there's
a masked killer in Peele's film, but both movies make the white picket fences of suburbia
look awfully sinister.
Jordan Peele dreamed up the film's scariest scene
Grab a fresh pair of underpants, because we're about to relive one of this movie's freakiest
interludes.
This secret behind this creepy moment?
It's straight out of Jordan Peele's subconscious, based on a dream he had about walking through
a room of people who all fell silent as soon as he turned the corner — which makes this
scene literal nightmare material.
The original ending was much darker
If you thought that the siren and strobe light in this scene meant the cops were coming to
take Chris away, you're in good company — with the film's director.
"The first ending that I scripted was not as happy."
Originally, Peele ended Get Out with Chris taking the fall for murdering Rose's family
— but fortunately, he changed his mind, deciding that it made more sense for Chris
to come out on top.
"I was so excited when I was able to go get the money to go reshoot the ending that I
knew would really work.”
It's a record breaker
Get Out was an instant success at the box office, taking first place in its opening
weekend despite strong competition from both a beloved superhero and a film where Samuel
L. Jackson battles a giant gorilla.
But more importantly, Jordan Peele is the first African-American writer and director
to helm a debut film that made over $100 million — and Get Out hit that benchmark faster
than any Blumhouse picture in history.
It's in the zeitgeist
Rave reviews and box office records are all well and good, but the true measure of a movie's
importance is whether it spawns a meme — like the Get Out challenge.
Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds — but it is harder than it looks to recreate
Marcus Henderson's fancy footwork in this now-famous scene.
Casting controversies
Get Out has enjoyed nearly universal acclaim, but leading man Daniel Kaluuya faced some
criticism from fellow actor Samuel L. Jackson:
"I tend to wonder, what would that movie have been with an American brother who really feels
that.”
But Kaluuya responded by pushing back against the false notion that he hasn't experienced
prejudice.
In his words: "This is the frustrating thing, bro — in order to prove that I can play
this role, I have to open up about the trauma that I've experienced as a black person.
I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I'm black.
No matter that every single room I go to I'm usually the darkest person there.
You know what I'm saying?
I kind of resent that mentality.
I'm just an individual."
The hidden meaning of milk
Allison Williams is a vision of pure evil in this scene, scouting for new victims while
eating Froot Loops and sipping from a tall glass of milk.
But two weeks before the movie came out, a group of white supremacists did their part
to make this moment even creepier, when they hijacked a political livestream by actor Shia
LaBeouf and started chugging gallons of whole milk to demonstrate their white pride.
Jordan Peele wasn't aware when he wrote this scene that milk would become such a fraught
symbol of racial hatred, but it definitely upped the ante on the horror.
Jordan Peele has big plans for more horror
He might have started out in comedy, but Get Out's director reportedly has a lot of ideas
for more movies in the genre he calls "social thrillers":
"You know these movies that are creepy, but humanity is like the creepiest part at the
center of it."
Details of Peele's next project are still under wraps, but he says he's got a whole
series of horror films in mind that will tackle similar subject matter — and that's definitely
something for fans to scream about.
[Screaming]
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