Us
The Complete Annotated Screenplay Published by Inventory Press.
Text by hannah baer, Theaster Gates, Mary Ping, Shana Redmond, Jared Sexton, Leila Taylor, Jamieson Webster. “A colossal cinematic achievement” —Richard Brody, the New Yorker A masterpiece of identity horror and a dark reflection on America’s past and present, Us presents chilly atmospherics, psychological torment and old-world suspense-building plot twists. Whereas Get Out was considered more a mixture of drama and suspense, Peele leaned fully into the horror genre with his sophomore film, using urban legends such as doppelgangers to tease out the uniquely American perceptions of xenophobia and “othering.” Critic Monica Castillo wrote of the film: “Us is another thrilling exploration of the past and oppression this country is still too afraid to bring up. Peele wants us to talk, and he’s given audiences the material to think, to feel our way through some of the darker sides of the human condition.”
Published in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the release of the film, this companion paperback to the critically acclaimed film features Oscar®-winning director Jordan Peele’s screenplay—richly illustrated with over 150 stills from the motion picture, alternate endings and deleted scenes—features commissioned annotations by hannah baer, Theaster Gates, Jamieson Webster, Jared Sexton, Mary Ping, Shana Redmond and Leila Taylor, alongside a constellation of images, definitions and inspirations that extend the themes of the film. Continuing in the legacy of 1960s paperbacks that documented the era’s most significant avant-garde films—such as Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Godard’s Masculin/Feminin and Antonioni’s L’Avventura—Us is an indispensable guide to a deeper understanding of this important film.
Jordan Peele (born 1979) is a writer, actor and filmmaker who rose to fame as half of the comedy duo Key & Peele. He has written and directed three feature films: Get Out (2017), Us (2019) and Nope (2022). He was the first Black screenwriter to win an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
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