Jordan Peele can’t see himself "casting a white dude" as a lead in one of his movies.
The 40-year-old African-American director’s latest psychological horror ‘Us’ follows a black middle-class couple (Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke) and their children as they battle evil doppelgangers, whilst his critically acclaimed 2017 thriller ‘Get Out’ follows Daniel Kaluuya’s African-American alter ego Chris and his white American girlfriend (Allison Williams).
The comedian-turned-filmmaker has admitted he isn’t interested in casting a Caucasian man as a lead character because he’s "seen that movie" and insisted that he feels "fortunate" to be in a position where he can cast minority actors in leading roles.
Speaking at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in East Hollywood, he said: "I don’t see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie. Not that I don’t like white dudes but I’ve seen that movie.
"It really is one of the best greatest pieces of this story, feeling like we are in this time [where] a renaissance has happened and proven the myths about representation in the industry are false. The way I look at it. 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."
‘Us’ broke horror movie records as it topped the weekend American box office – it banked the huge sum of $70.3 million and now holds the title for the biggest opening weekend for an original horror movie.
The movie is now the third best horror opening of all time after 2018’s ‘Halloween’ sequel and 2017’s reboot of Stephen King’s ‘It’.
Jordan Peele isn’t interested in ‘casting a white dude’ as his lead
