A Lot Of Hilarious Improv Went Into The Horror Of Get Out

Jordan Peele does not miss. After years of delighting audiences everywhere with subversive and hilarious sketches on "Key and Peele," Peele went on to become an Academy Award winning filmmaker with one of the best debut features in decades. "Get Out" remains a masterpiece of horror, a fantastic calling card for a new director and a hell of a debut that was followed by more phenomenal thrillers, each unique and still hugely entertaining.

Part of the magic of "Get Out" lies in the marriage of Peele's influences. You can clearly see this being the work of a filmmaker with a deep knowledge and passion for the horror genre, but also excellent comedic timing and sensibilities — both of which were present in "Key and Peele." For the comedy, Peele allowed a great deal of improvisation, which made the horror even more poignant. 

Speaking with Vulture, Lil Rel Howery talked about the scene where he figures out that Allison Williams is a psychopath, which actually had room for him to improvise a bit. "I figure out that she's lying, and then I say, 'The TSA tingles.' That was just me riffin,'" Howery said. "I'd go on a rant, then they yell cut. I just keep going because I might have forgotten the exact line."

The scene Howery is referring to then leads to the best scene in the movie, where Williams' Rose reveals her true colors and takes Daniel Kaluuya's character Chris' keys, fully revealing herself to be evil. Thankfully, things work out, with Howery's Rod arriving to rescue his friend — though we almost got an ending that was much bleaker.

Speaking with /Film ahead of the film's release, Daniel Kaluuya talked about the shared background in improvisation between Allison Williams, Jordan Peele and himself. "[Jordan] trusts that instincts are very important, and he doesn't try and micromanage you. Kinda lets you go and trusts you," Kaluuya said. "I think a majority of the film was improvised, a lot of stuff made up in a day, if it wasn't working, like you get in the moment, it doesn't feel right, we have to be loose, and flexible enough to allow for whatever ideas need to happen." Kaluuya added:

"I think everyone knew where their character arcs was going, so people were kind of managers of their characters and mapping that. And Jordan allowed us, gave us the license to do that. So a lot of it was improv, a lot of it was right and he wanted it to feel natural and off cast, which is like life, you know?"

Though some audiences may consider improvisation more of a comedy thing, horror has a long history of improvisation — after all, comedy and horror are closely intertwined. From the most famous line in "Jaws," to the reactions in the chestburster scene in "Alien," there is a long history of unscripted moments making horror movies better.

After playing with different subgenres, Jordan Peele is back with a new film this year, to be released on Christmas. Will it once again combine horror and comedy? More importantly, what role will improvisation play in the new film? Stay tuned.