Jordan peele talks ‘get out’ and how “the power of story encourages empathy” — the contenders

Jordan Peele‘s smash hit _Get Out _pulled inspiration from _Rosemary’s Baby _and _The Stepford Wives _to serve up an allegory on the black identity. Introducing the world to “the sunken

place,” _Get Out_ not only earned over $250 million at the global box office to date but sculpted a different take on the issue of identity politics and the horror lurking beneath it. Peele

took the stage at the Contenders with Deadline co-editor and moderator Mike Fleming Jr. to talk about how its storytelling reflects the current social landscape. Known mostly for his comedy

sketch show _Key and Peele, _Peele says that he chose to stray away from the funny and go into horror because it is his favorite genre. However, he ties in the popular “Luther, Obama’s anger

translator” sketch into _Get Out. _He says the sketch was a response to a lack of discussion about race and the “racist s***” being said about Obama. In a way, his real feelings were being

suppressed  — hence the creation of Luther. “[Obama] wasn’t calling it out for fear of being categorized as the angry black man,” said Peele. For those who haven’t seen Get Out, the story

follows Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), who goes on what seems like an innocent — albeit nerve-racking visit to his girlfriend’s (Allison Williams) family’s uber-suburban house. At first, he’s

anxious about her parents’ (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) reaction to their daughter’s interracial relationship but his nervousness takes a turn for a worst when he discovers that

there is something more disturbing behind the overaccommodating behavior from her family and their creepy, white neighbors. WATCH ON DEADLINE With a race relation spin on _Invasion of the

Body Snatchers_, Peele said that, in many ways, illustrates some of his “greatest fears” on film. Peele did have apprehensions about making an ambitious film. “There are too many things in

it that you can’t do in film,” said Peele, specifically pointing out how in the finale a black man kills a white family — even though the white family is terrorizing him. He mentions how the

movie eliminates the “white savior” trope but above all, he points out how it puts you in the shoes of the film’s protagonist regardless of race. “You are Chris when you watch this movie,”

said Peele. “The power of story encourages empathy. It allows us to see through other people’s lives.” All the white characters in the movie may seem evil, but Peele invites to be proven

otherwise. At the end of the panel he joked, “If you haven’t seen the movie, maybe there’s a good white person in it.” The film also stars Caleb Landry Jones, Milton “Lil Rel” Howery, Betty

Gabriel, Marcus Henderson and Keith Stanfield. The Universal film was produced by Blumhouse’s Jason Blum as well as QC Entertainment’s Sean McKittrick, Peele and Edward H. Hamm Jr.