Sophomore director, Jordan Peele, is already making quite a name for himself in Hollywood. The funnyman-turned-horror auteur may be new to the scene, but the dude is on a major roll. Last year, Peele took home an Academy Award for his breakthrough picture Get Out, and rather than remaining idle, he released a second flick this spring that defied expectations.
Entitled Us, the new and terrifying adventure quickly became a box office success when it opened in theatres at the end of March. While much grander in scale than Peele’s predecessor, Us played to the same dark fears that many of us hold deep down inside. Despite a satisfying ending, many questions surrounding the film’s narrative remain. For instance, the world Peele has built in his latest flick is quite volatile and the lore becomes dense upon reflection.
Thankfully, the writer-director sat down with the folks over at Empire Podcast to break down some of the meaning behind Us‘ intense ending. You can read some selected quotes below. It goes without saying here, there are some major spoilers below, so don’t say we didn’t warn you. For the entire listen, be sure to check out the full episode here.
“This movie’s about maybe the monster is you. It’s about us, looking at ourselves as individuals and as a group. The protagonist in the movie is the surrogate for the audience, so it felt like at the end of the day, I wasn’t doing my core theme any justice if I wasn’t revealing that we have been the bad guy in this movie. We’ve been following the villain. I say villain lightly because I think there are many experiences of the film, and I think a lot of people go through a question of what is good and evil? Does that even exist? Both characters are lovable and terrifying, based on the lives they’ve led they’ve just sort of inverted the paths.”
“Adelaide and Jason sharing that moment at the end, I’m purposefully leaving it a bit vague as to what exactly he knows or how far he’s come in figuring out what, if anything, he’s figured out. I think the little smile she gives him is a lot of things. I think it’s a connection to the evil smile she once had as a little girl, but also a sort of understanding that her family unit was stronger from this experience.”
