'Us' Featurette: The Cast Praises The Unique Vision Of Director Jordan Peele

Comedian Jordan Peele has become a powerhouse filmmaker following his directorial debut with Get Out in 2017. Now Peele is back with his sophomore directing effort, a new nightmare simply called Us. The film finds a family in Northern California suddenly hunted by people they never imagined: themselves.

A new Us featurette goes behind the scenes of the new horror movie without giving much away about what's really going on with this story of dangerous doppelgängers. Instead, cast members Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Elisabeth Moss praise the unique vision that Jordan Peele has behind the camera.

Us premiered at South by Southwest over a week ago, and the buzz has been incredibly strong with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with 58 reviews counted at the time of this writing. Our review from Joi Childs called Jordan Peele's latest "a sharp, funny and terrifying film." Our managing editor Jacob Hall was considerably impressed as well, and it sounds like this is a movie we'll be talking about for a long time. He wrote:

"In the minutes and hours and days after attending the world premiere of Us at SXSW, I haven't been able to shake the film. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and I haven't been able to stop unpacking what it has to say. Like Get Out before it, this is a frightening movie, a thrill ride designed for gasps and screams and laughs. But also like that film, it embeds its razor-sharp social commentary into the fabric of its storytelling. Once you realize what Us is about, once you realize it's not just another high-concept home invasion movie, your jaw may drop as you attempt to take it all in and grapple with it."

This movie cracked the Top 5 in /Film's collective list of the most anticipated movies of 2019, and it's good to hear that our excitement was not misplaced. It can be difficult for a filmmaker who lands a hit directorial debut to craft a follow-up film that can go toe-to-toe with their first effort, but it sounds like the sophomore slump isn't a problem for Jordan Peele at all.

Us arrives in theaters this week on March 23, 2019. Here's the official synopsis:

Set in present day along the iconic Northern California coastline, Us stars Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o as Adelaide Wilson, a woman returning to her beachside childhood home with her husband, Gabe (Black Panther's Winston Duke), and their two children (Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex) for an idyllic summer getaway.

Haunted by an unexplainable and unresolved trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide feels her paranoia elevate to high-alert as she grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family.

After spending a tense beach day with their friends, the Tylers (Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon), Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home. When darkness falls, the Wilsons discover the silhouette of four figures holding hands as they stand in the driveway. Us pits an endearing American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.