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Lupita Nyong'o Confirms Role In Jordan Peele's Us
Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong'o has confirmed that she will star in Jordan Peele's Us, the follow-up to his Oscar-winning social thriller Get Out. The movie landscape changed forever last year when Peele released his socially conscious horror movie Get Out. Not only did the film blow up at the box office, grossing $255 million worldwide on a reported budget of just $4.5 million, it also proved the new viability of genre movies at awards time, garnering four Oscar nominations and winning for Peele's screenplay.
As commercially and critically important as Get Out became, its main impact came in the social realm, for the dialog it opened up about race and the entertaining way it did so. Thus far in 2018, only one movie has matched Get Out for combining blockbuster success, critical acclaim and social significance, and that movie is Black Panther. To date, the superhero film set in the fabled African country of Wakanda has grossed $1.185 billion worldwide. And some folks are talking about it as a legitimate Oscar contender come next year.
Now, Oscar-winner Jordan Peele prepares to return with his Get Out follow-up, and in an act of seemingly perfect pop culture synergy (or maybe just shrewd casting), he will team with a pair of stars who helped bring Black Panther to life. According to prior reports, Peele's next film entitled Us will re-team Black Panther actors Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke, together with Elisabeth Moss. Nyong'o has now confirmed via Twitter that she will indeed take on a lead role in Us.
As for the plot of Us, few hints are available as of now. The movie will clearly be horror as indicated by the poster's tagline: "A new nightmare from the mind of Academy Award winner Jordan Peele." The only other vague clue comes from reports saying the movie will center on a pair of couples, one black and one white. Nyong'o and Duke would play the black couple, with the white couple played by Moss and an uncast actor.
When it comes to Peele's own statements about his future, he's indicated that he wishes to avoid standard genre filmmaking and continue down the road of producing what he calls "social thrillers," horror movies that tackle issues like race and gender. Indeed, Peele spent much of his post-Get Out time batting aside offers to develop potential Hollywood tentpole films.
Considering how huge Get Out became, one can understand the high level of excitement to see what Peele will do next. For her part, Nyong'o also has an exciting future lined up. In addition to Us, the actress will also appear in John Woo's remake of his own classic Hong Kong action movie The Killer. Nyong'o has also joined the all-star cast of Jessica Chastain's female-centered spy movie 355. And Nyong'o is rumored to be interested in appearing in a Charlie's Angels reboot. Of course, a return to the world of Black Panther also remains a strong possibility. And next time, she could be the villain.
