Jordan Peele says 'Us' had five times the budget of 'Get Out'

Jordan Peele, winner of the award for best original screenplay for "Get Out," arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, March 4, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Picture: AP

Jordan Peele, winner of the award for best original screenplay for "Get Out," arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, March 4, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Picture: AP

Published Mar 13, 2019

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Jordan Peele revealed that although 'Get Out' was made with $5 million(R72 million), he thought it was "key" to have a bigger budget for 'Us' which was made with $20 million(R286 million).

The 40-year-old comedian turned filmmaker says that although his hit 2017 satirical horror 'Get Out' was made with $5 million, he thought it was "key" to have a bigger budget for his upcoming psychological fright fest 'Us' - which was made with $20 million(R286 million) - as it allowed him more "freedom". 

Speaking at the SXSW Conference and Festival, he said: "I had about five times the budget on this one, which by movie standards is still not that expensive of a film. That was the key for me. Otherwise, I may not have had my freedom."

Peele star went on to explain that although he requested more money for his forthcoming film, he was careful not to "overreach" as he "thrives with certain restrictions" and didn't want the film to be such a risk producers would "be f***ing with my story". 

He said: "As a filmmaker, I also thrive with a certain restriction. I didn't want to overreach with the budget and all of a sudden have a studio being responsible on me. There's never been a point where they've expressed anything but wanting to make this. I was like, look, I want to be able to take my filmmaking up a notch, so I want to be able to make a bigger budget movie. But I don't want to make such a big budget movie that all of a sudden we've crossed this line where the risk means you're going to be f***ing with my story." 

The horror flick stars Lupita Nyong'o (Adelaide Wilson) reunited alongside her 'Black Panther' co-star Winston Duke (Gabe Wilson) as they take their children on vacation to Adelaide's childhood home and are tormented by monsters which look exactly like them. 

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