Get Outwriter-director Jordan Peele’s second filmUshits a theater near you this Friday, March 22nd. The movie looks to be a truly scary new edition to the subgenre of doppelganger horror movies such asInvasion of the Body Snatchers,The Stepford Wives, and Darren Aronofsky’sBlack Swanstarring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. But where did Peele come up with the idea of using doppelgangers for the villains of his new movie? Well, it turns out that the concept of doppelgangers is a fear Peele has harbored since childhood, telling Seth Myers recently this.
“I’ve been terrified of theidea of doppelgangerssince I was a kid. I always had this vision of seeing myself across the subway platform. And just kind of thought, if that’s not creepy enough, what if the other you sort of smiled at you. The idea of a doppelganger family was like ‘okay,’ my imagination went crazy, and out came this film.”
This new inspiration forUscomes on top ofJordan Peelealready letting us know that he was inspired - ironically enough - by an episode ofThe Twilight Zonecalled “Mirror Image” starring Vera Miles from Alfred Hitchcock’sPsycho. The episode in questions features Miles as a woman waiting in a bus depot who glances in the mirror and sees, in addition to her reflection, an exact copy of herself. As you might imagine, things get super-freaky from there.
But back to Peele’s recent interview. On top of the inspiration ofusing doubles as the villainsin his new motion picture, Peele also goes on to talk about how terrifying lead Lupita Nyong’o’s performance(s) are on and off camera. And he also tells us what it was like working with the main cast as both the wholesome family at the center of this new nightmare and The Tethered versions that act as the movie’s central antagonists. Peele says this.
“It’s very difficult as it turns out. On the days where the actors are the family, it’s fun and light, and when they come in as the scary versions, you just feel the crew and everyone’s ass drops out from under them.”
I cannot wait to see what Peele and hiskiller casthave in store for us onceUshits this Friday. I don’t know about you, but I fully plan to be one of the first people in line for the movie at my local multiplex. But let’s hope I don’t look over and see a scary-ass version of myself smiling back at me from across the theater. Oh, great. Now I’ve just scared myself. All jokes aside, this is shaping up to be the year of Peele as he not only has this new doppelganger drama coming later this month but then his reboot ofThe Twilight Zonedebuts on CBS All-Access on April Fool’s Day. Or does it? Meanwhile, we do know thatUshits a theater near you this Friday, March 22nd. This story comes to us from Jordan Peele’s recent interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers.
