Jordan Peele has directed two box-office hits— 2017’s Get Out and 2019’s Us. Both films featured Black leads, and according to Peele, people of color will continue to be No. 1 on the call sheet for many of his future projects.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Peele acknowledged that he doesn’t see himself “casting a white dude as the lead” in any of his upcoming films because he’s “seen that movie before.”
“The way I look at it,” Peele said of horror flick Us, “I get to cast black people in my movies. I feel fortunate to be in this position where I can say to Universal, ‘I want to make a $20 million horror movie with a black family.’ And they say yes.”
This Is Us actor Sterling K. Brown quickly showed his support for the move, volunteering himself via Twitter to be featured in Peele’s next hit.
Ooh ooh ooh…I’m Black! 🙋🏿♂️ IJS https://t.co/Ndy5O2HlIY
— Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) March 27, 2019
Us debuted with an impressive $70 million in ticket sales, surpassing 2018’s A Quiet Place to become the highest-grossing opening weekend for an original horror film, Variety reports.
The film, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke, also broke the record for highest-grossing opening weekend for an original R-rated film, beating out 2012 comedy Ted.
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