JORDAN PEELE
He’s one scary Bunny…
With Get Out, there was always the feeling that this will never actually get made,” says Jordan Peele. “I always said that the best thing that could come from Get Out was that I’d get to make another movie.” And a TV show. And a web series. And to star in the shiny new instalment of the most beloved animation franchise in history.
Yes, such was Get Out’s critical and commercial success (grossing $255m from a $4.5m budget) that Peele instantly went from being the funny man (Key And Peele, Keanu) who, oddly, wanted to direct a horror movie, to the Hollywood hottie who can make whatever he damn pleases.
Weird City has already dropped, on YouTube Premium last month. A comedy science-fiction anthology series, it consists of six episodes, each set in the near-future city of Weird, which is divided into two halves according to socio-economic status. It scored an 87 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Next up is Peele’s much-anticipated sophomore movie as writer/director, Us, in which Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and kids find their beach house invaded by a family of doppelgängers. “It’s very different making a movie that you know is going to happen, that has not only the studio behind it but the public behind it,” says Peele, who promises another “social-thriller” with plenty to say about modern America. “It’s an energising feeling. I’m going to take audiences to some really intense, claustrophobic places.”
Expect more of the same from Peele’s rebooting of The Twilight Zone, which he will not only executive produce but also narrate and host – duties famously performed by Rod Serling in the show’s original run (1959-64). The 10 episodes will air weekly from April, and star such luminaries as Taissa Farmiga, Greg Kinnear, Steven Yeun, Kumail Nanjiani and Jacob Tremblay.
Still want more layers to Peele? Well, he and old pal Keegan-Michael Key are joining Woody and co in Toy Story 4, voicing, respectively, Bunny and Ducky. They even got their own short, commenting on the movie’s trailer (“You can’t go to infinity, dummies!” mocks Bunny.)
“I am addicted to the approval of people,” laughs Peele. Looks like there will be plenty coming his way.
ETA | 22 MARCH / US OPENS LATER THIS MONTH. THE TWILIGHT ZONE AIRS IN APRIL. TOY STORY 4 OPENS IN JUNE.