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Jordan Peele's Get Out Script Reveals Original, Unused Opening Scene
A peek inside one of the best horror films of the last decade.
Jordan Peele’s debut feature not only made the multi-hyphenate into a household name, it earned the genre creator and first-time writer/director his first Oscar. Get Out began changing how industry bigwigs saw films that were angled for a non-white audience, and its Best Original Screenplay statue was the most prestigious accolade it earned as it began shifting the horror paradigm.
With the film streaming now on Peacock to take fans deeper into the Sunken Place — it's great to pair with a reading of the award-winning script. That’s especially true when it includes new insight into scenes that made it into the film and original pages describing scenes that either changed drastically or were scrapped before shooting. That’s what horror fans can find when reading Inventory Press’ Get Out: The Annotated Screenplay, which boasts an introduction by screenwriter and author Tananarive Due before Peele himself breaks down his iconic script.
SYFY WIRE exclusively debut a few pages from the book highlighting deleted and altered scenes, the most shocking of which depicts the original kidnapping of Andre (Lakeith Stanfield).
Annotated Script to Jordan Peele's Get Out
Check out the script pages in a gallery right here.
The dart gun, juxtaposed with Mickey Mouse and a visit to Disneyland, is a big bold change from the version in the film. Peele notes in the book that this — the original idea — was appealing to him because of the imagery: “It felt animalistic, like it was a low-key safari and these black men were being hunted.” However, it didn’t quite work to set up the rest of the movie. “Ultimately, it felt like the tone of that was just off for my brand of horror,” Peele wrote. “In tying the Jeremy character to this scene and making him the abductor, it felt more grounded for the abduction to be done with his jujitsu ability, which is discussed later at the Armitages.”
That change still rung true for Peele, who found another representative truth in the change. “I know this is not really true, but this choice plays off the stereotype of mixed martial arts as a reflection of pent up white anger,” he wrote. “I don’t know if this is a common fear or just one for me as a dude that doesn’t know that s***, but if somebody comes up to me on the streets and starts flashing jujitsu, I know I’m dead.”
Get Out: The Annotated Screenplay is in bookstores now. Stream Get Out now on Peacock.
Originally published Nov 14, 2019.
