Comedian Jordan Peele's decision to make his feature directorial debut with a horror film was an unexpected one, but it's a decision that has worked out quite well. His film GET OUT was a well-received box office hit that has been racking up awards from all sorts of sources, building up toward the Academy Awards next month, where it's nominated in four categories – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor (Daniel Kaluuya).
While we wait to see if GET OUT will be winning any Oscars, Peele is looking ahead to his second feature, which is expected to go into production by the end of the year. Speaking with Stephen Galloway of The Hollywood Reporter, Peele said the success of GET OUT had him feeling some extra pressure as he starts to put together the follow-up, but he's finding a way to get past that:
What do I do next? How do I top this? And you know, and I think it's important to focus on stories that are true to me. I go, when writing Get Out, my sort of mantra is or was, let's write my favorite film I haven't seen yet. So I think it's easy to get sort of bogged down in how does this compare to the first one, how does that compare. When all is said and done, my next film, I am currently writing it and I'll direct for Universal this year, I'm just trying to entertain myself again."
When asked if the new film will be in the same genre and if it will go deeper into the same issues GET OUT explored or if it will be completely different, Peele replied,
A little bit of both. One thing I know is that this is genre; and playing around with the thriller, horror, action, fun, genre of intrigue is my favorite. That's my sweet spot. So I think tonally it should resemble Get Out. That said, I want to make a completely different movie. I want to address something different than race in the next one. So yeah, every choice has really either pretty big ramifications because it is the second."
It will be interesting to see what Peele does next, but I'm not expecting to hear any major details any time soon. GET OUT was a very secretive project when it was being made, and I don't doubt the same secretive approach will be taken to Peele's second feature.
Whatever details do get shared, we will pass them along.