‘It’s like Get Out on steroids’
Us producer discusses Peele’s new film and hiring diverse talent during awards
Jordan Peele terrified audiences with his cultural phenomenon Get Out nearly two years ago. But producer Jason Blum says the spooks built into Peele’s directorial debut don’t compare to what Us will unleash on theatres next month.
“It’s like Get Out on steroids,” the Blumhouse CEO told Variety at Wednesday ’s African-American Film Critics Association Awards in Los Angeles.
The trailer for Us, which stars Lupita Nyong ’o and Winston Duke as a mother and father protecting their family from their sinister doubles, also occupied a spot during the ceremony.
Blum, who partnered with Peele on both of his feature efforts, praised the writer-director for his commitment to the horror genre — the genre on which Blum has founded his entire career, with hits like the Paranormal Activity and Insidious franchises.
“He’s incredibly generous and just wildly gifted, and what’s really special about Jordan is he didn’t have a big success in Get Out and jump out of horror,” Blum said. “He doubled down on scary with Us, which obviously made me very happy.”
Later in the evening, Blum teared up while accepting the cinema vanguard award, which he called the “most important” honour he has ever received.
The distinction celebrated his dedication to uplifting black voices in films including Get Out and BlacKkKlansman.
“I would like to make something incredibly clear,” Blum said in his speech. “We do not and we have not hired diverse directors to win awards or be recognized in moments like this ... We don’t hire women because it’s the right thing to do. We hire diversely because we hire the best.”
Also among the night’s top honorees was music industry veteran Quincy Jones, who brought the crowd to its feet before and after his speech while dancing along to Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, which he produced. He stressed the importance of representation for black creatives while accepting the Stanley Kramer Award.
“Ours is the culture that the world embraces and emulates,” Jones said. “I learned the power of our culture to bring forth change as a young man, and I, to this day, I try to push my work to this perspective. That’s why I stay engaged, because together, we can do things for the betterment of mankind that we could never do alone.”
The remainder of the ceremony was a mix of passionate speeches, exorbitant thanks and various pop-culture references, including a quip from director Ava DuVernay about the upcoming hostless Oscars, several “Wakanda Forevers” and a message to U.S. President Donald Trump from director Barry Jenkins.
“I always end up talking about the president when I get on these stages, so I apologize for talking about the damn president, but I’m going to talk about his a--,” Jenkins joked while presenting the breakthrough film award to Searching director Aneesh Chaganty. “And I’m going to talk about him because the director of this film, Aneesh Chaganty, is Indian-American and the star of this film is Korean-American, and yet, here we are at the African-American Film Critics Association, celebrating this young man. You want to talk about making America great again? It’s great as hell in this room right now.”