Jordan Peele’s Get Out is still killing it at the box office, bringing in over $113 million for a film whose budget was $5 million. Get Out is not only brilliant, it contains serious social commentary about the state of racism today.
We reported earlier this month that Get Out is only the first of a series of genre films Peele has planned with each addressing a different “social demon”.
During a recent interview with Digital Spy, Peele made an incredible offer to black filmmakers.
For young black horror filmmakers, if you have a script, reach out and I’ll try to help it get made. MonkeyPaw Productions is my production company and we’re really trying to promote untapped voices in genre.”
Films with African American writers, directors and protagonist are few and far between, but Peele is aiming to do something about that. It really is a shame we don’t have more diversity in the genre. There are many stories a white writer or director just can’t tackle like an African American writer/director can. No, that’s not an insult or a racist comment towards white filmmakers, it’s just a fact. A white filmmaker can’t properly tell a story from an African American point of view because they haven’t experienced it for themselves.
One is there’s this misconception in Hollywood – that is hopefully nearing its end – that black leads in films don’t do well, particularly overseas.” Peele continued. “But I think even more, the reason we don’t see more films about African Americans experience is because we haven’t nurtured black talent, we haven’t encouraged young black filmmakers to dream big. When you have that, that’s when you have the systemic problem where artists aren’t getting their platforms, aren’t given their platforms.” He went on. “Some stories it’s impossible for a white person to tell.”
He’s right. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed. More African American filmmakers can only improve the genre that we love so much. Different points of views bring fresh ideas and stories and that is something we desperately need.
If you are a African American filmmaker with a great script, reach out to Jordan Peele’s MonkeyPaw Productions and you just might see your project made.
If you haven’t seen Get Out, stop what you are doing and go to your local theater now! You have to see it, it’s the best horror film on 2017. If fact, we gave the film a glowing review (spoiler free).
The film centers on Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Williams) who have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford). At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined.
