By Jake Cole, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The movie year seems destined to conclude the way it essentially began: With everybody talking about "Get Out."
Jordan Peele's horror sensation is again the subject of debate after it was reported that Universal Pictures submitted the film for Golden Globe Awards consideration as a comedy, rather than a drama. The film's classification will ultimately reside with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but whatever the outcome, the controversy shows how "Get Out" is already challenging the conventions of Hollywood's prestige movie season.
Peele, himself, has showed no desire to quell the backlash, only to slyly prod it.
"Get Out," he said simply on Twitter, is a documentary. Appearing on "The Late Show" on Wednesday night, Peele stuck with that label for his race-savvy social satire.
"The movie is truth. The thing that resonated with people is truth," said Peele, before seguing into a joke. "For me, it's more of a historical biopic. The original title was 'Get Out: The Kanye West Story' but I had to lop off the end."
Most experts believe "Get Out," which made $253.4 million worldwide on a $4.5 million budget, is a favorite for a best picture nomination at the Academy Awards. Universal has mailed for-your-consideration screeners, and an awards campaign has been mounted.
If "Get Out" were to be nominated, it would be unusual on many counts. Seldom are directorial debuts, February releases or horror films nominated for best picture. (Among the few horror films that have been are "The Exorcist, "The Silence of the Lambs" and "The Sixth Sense.") And then there's the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' poor record of nominating African-American-led movies and the "OscarsSoWhite" protests that have accompanied several recent Academy Awards.
The hard-to-define "Get Out" is poised to be an Oscar contender unlike any seen before, but not just for those traits. Peele's acclaimed film is an uncommonly sharp big-screen commentary on the real horrors of black existence and the hollowness of liberal progressiveness. It's a monster movie where society, as seen through African-American eyes, is terrifying.
"It doesn't fit into a genre," Peele told Colbert. "It sort of subverts the idea of genre. It is the kind of movie that black people can laugh at but white people not so much."
That's why many reacted strongly to simplifying "Get Out" as a comedy, even though Peele (half of the comedy duo of Key and Peele) is a comic veteran. Calling it a comedy in a way trivializes the racism it's depicting. "Was this a joke?" wondered Lakeith Stanfield, who co-stars in the film.
The Globes have previously confounded with their divisions between drama and comedy, most recently with the award-winning sci-fi adventure "The Martian." Judd Apatow and others objected to Ridley Scott's film being lumped in with the likes of Amy Schumer's "Trainwreck," and thereby finding an easier route to taking home hardware. When "Martian" star Matt Damon, who won best actor in a comedy for his performance in "The Martian" returned last year to present, he called his comedy win "funnier, literally, than anything in 'The Martian.'"
But "Get Out" is a unique case. And nothing on Mars is nearly so scary as what lies here on Earth in Peele's film.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More