Jordan Peele Says The Genre Confusion Surrounding 'Get Out' "Broke My Heart" & Will Go Full Horror For 'Us'

Of all the films coming being released in 2019 (including “Avengers: Endgame” and “Star Wars: Episode IX,” each with their own rabid fanbase), there aren’t many that have the same level of anticipation as Jordan Peele’s “Us.” After the incredible critical and box office success of “Get Out,” the question of what Peele has for us next has continued to linger. And the answer comes in just over a month with “Us.” And according to the director, his latest film is sacrificing a bit of the social commentary in favor of going full-on horror.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Peele discussed his life and career, and everything that led to the creation of “Get Out” and, most recently, “Us.” And in going over the success of “Get Out,” he realized that there’s one aspect of his Oscar-winning debut film that he wishes were different.

Peele says, “I’m such a horror nut that the genre confusion of ‘Get Out’ broke my heart a little. I set out to make a horror movie, and it’s kind of not a horror movie. As a horror fan, I really wanted to contribute something to that world.”

Enter “Us.”

The upcoming film from Peele is still going to have a bit of that social commentary that made “Get Out” such a cultural phenomenon, but “Us” is much more a horror film, first and foremost.

“It’s important to me that we can tell black stories without it being about race,” Peele says. “I realized I had never seen a horror movie of this kind, where there’s an African-American family at the center that just is. After you get over the initial realization that you’re watching a black family in a horror film, you’re just watching a movie. You’re just watching people. I feel like it proves a very valid and different point than ‘Get Out,’ which is, not everything is about race. ‘Get Out’ proved the point that everything is about race. I’ve proved both points!”

For those that have avoided the first trailer for “Us” (which is incredibly scary on its own, by the way), the film follows a family that goes on vacation, and begins to be terrorized by their own doppelgangers, which Peele calls the Tethered.

The filmmaker says the inspiration for the horror film came from a ‘Twilight Zone’ episode called “Mirror Image.” However, after the initial inspiration, “Us” went into a much different, much darker direction.

We’ll have to see if “Us” deals with the same genre-confusion that saddled “Get Out” when the film premieres at the upcoming SXSW Film Festival before debuting in theaters on March 22.