After tweeting earlier on Thursday that Get Out was a documentary, Jordan Peele is coming out swinging after yesterday’s polarizing report on the movie’s Golden Globes classification.
Entertainment Weekly reported that sources close to Blumhouse (the film’s studio) were deciding to enter the film in the comedy/musical category instead of a drama.
As we noted when we told you that news, the film probably has a better chance of winning awards (particularly for Daniel Kaluuya as Lead Actor) in that category.
At an event, New York’s Lincoln Ristorante, he explained on his thoughts about it, per IndieWire. “The problem is, it’s not a movie that can really be put into a genre box. Originally, I set out to make a horror movie. I ended up showing it to people and hearing, you know, it doesn’t even feel like horror. It’s in this thriller world. So it was a social thriller.”
He continued: “What the movie is about is not funny. I’ve had many black people come up to me and say, ‘man, this is the movie we’ve been talking about for a while and you did it.’ That’s a very powerful thing. For that to be put in a smaller box than it deserves is where the controversy comes from.”
A part of the problem he feels, is the idea that it can be confined to one genre. “I think the issue here is that the movie subverts the idea of all genres. Call it what you want, but the movie is an expression of my truth, my experience, the experiences of a lot of black people, and minorities. Anyone who feels like the other. Any conversation that limits what it can be is putting it in a box.”
He also gave updates on upcoming projects: Black Klansman (directed by Spike Lee which is currently filming): “It’s such an amazing story, and the performances he’s getting, the shots he’s getting, are beautiful. this script maybe five times in a year, giving notes, and I got the script to Spike. He called me the next day and he knew it better than I did already. Since that moment I’ve been watching what a real professional looks like in terms of being able to see the big picture and know what needs to be fixed.”
And a recently-announced reboot of The Twilight Zone: “I was skeptical of the idea of rebooting it, but the reality of the situation struck me — how many times have you heard in the past year that it feels like you’ve woken up in the Twilight Zone? If ever there was a time to go back in and explore society with these allegories, these parables, it’s now. It’s (the series) still very early (in development).”
Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
