The first thing I do when trying to come up with a movie is I listen to myself. I listen to my emotion, what makes me scared. You know this idea of the doppelgänger came up because I’ve been afraid of the idea of seeing myself, since I was younger. I would literally picture myself across the subway platform. As a kid growing up in New York City, and it was a fun almost titillating fear. But it was just primal, I didn’t, I haven’t intellectualized it or really thought about it, but its almost always been present. The idea of yourself giving you a knowing smile indicating you that I’m the version that was ready for this. There’s something chilling about that. So, I wanted to make a doppelgänger story and the idea of a family of doppelgängers. When I got that idea, when I got that spark, I knew it would kind of be a new direction of doppelganger lore. And then only in analyzing in this, and why this was coming up, do I sort of get at this idea of because collectively we have a dark side. I didn’t set out to make a movie about a post Trump America but its not an accident, that my fears were surrounding this sense of US as a collective, our demons. Currently I at a certain point decided to use United States imagery from whether its from the geocide of the Native Americans, or our xenophobia, and our privilege. But however, you define US, in order you to have US there needs to be a them. I think that’s kind of the in its core what this movie about. That we will value our own, however we see it more than we will value the other.
Jordan Peele on his ideation of his film US
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5U2XyQgcPM
These are great tips from the director of Us and Get Out on how he comes up with his ideas and imagery, perfect for film students who want to make the next best horror film
Sometimes newer directors create the best films, so don't forget to support your local indie film cinemas to find the best gems in the horror industry
