Jordan Peele became one of the horror genre’s most beloved filmmakers in no time with the double whammy of Get Out and Us. Horror movies aren’t usually known for their performances, because the blood and gore tend to distract from the work of actors. But in the age of “elevated horror,” some performances in scary movies have generated Oscar buzz, like Toni Collette in Hereditary and Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse.
Peele’s movies have contributed to this, featuring some of the most spectacular, nuanced film acting in recent years. Both Get Out and Us feature terrific performances from actors who are perfectly matched to their roles.
Get Out: Lil Rel Howery As Rod Williams
While Get Out was nowhere near the all-out comedy that fans of Key & Peele expected Jordan Peele’s directorial debut to be, it does feature one hilarious comic relief character in the form of Chris’ best friend Rod Williams, played by Lil Rel Howery.
Peele gave Howery the freedom to ad-lib lines during production, and he ended up improvising some of the funniest dialogue in recent memory with a virtually unparalleled comic energy.
Us: Winston Duke As Gabe Wilson / Abraham
The unique challenge faced by all the cast members in Us was that they had to play two roles: the surface-dwelling character they play from the beginning and their Tethered doppelgangers who show up in the middle of the night.
Winston Duke proved his comic abilities when he played M’Baku in Black Panther, then brought that wit to a more down-to-earth character one year later in Us, playing quintessential dad Gabe Wilson (complete with dad jokes and an embarrassing attempt at dabbing). Meanwhile, his Tethered character Abraham is terrifying as Red’s mute enforcer.
Get Out: Bradley Whitford As Dean Armitage
Apparently, when Bradley Whitford read the script for Get Out, he didn’t get that the line about voting for Obama for a third term was supposed to be a joke, then realized he was one of the targets of the movie.
By actually being one of the unintentionally insensitive white liberals satirized by the movie, Whitford was able to really bring Dean Armitage to life.
Us: Shahadi Wright Joseph As Zora Wilson / Umbrae
Shahadi Wright Joseph had one heck of a breakout year in 2019. In addition to playing one of the lead roles in Jordan Peele’s sophomore directorial effort, she also voiced young Nala in Disney’s mega-hit live-action remake of The Lion King.
In the role of the Wilsons’ athletic daughter Zora, Joseph played a socially conscious teenager that all millennials could relate to, and in the role of her Tethered double Umbrae, she perfected a super-creepy nightmare-fuel smile.
Get Out: Catherine Keener As Missy Armitage
The presence of Catherine Keener in Get Out, along with the concept of occupying somebody else’s body, spawned a fan theory that the movie is a secret sequel to Being John Malkovich. The theory was even endorsed by Jordan Peele himself. Either way, the poster girl for quirky indie cinema gives a chilling performance as the Armitage matriarch Missy in Get Out.
From the evil hiding beneath her seemingly friendly demeanor to her sinister hypnosis of Chris, Keener is responsible for some of the spookiest moments in the whole movie.
Us: Elisabeth Moss As Kitty Tyler / Dahlia
Thanks to roles in Mad Men, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Invisible Man, Elisabeth Moss has emerged as one of the most revered actors working today. Her supporting turn in Us certainly lived up to that reputation.
She brilliantly lampooned upper-class snobbishness with a delightfully dry comic charm in the role of Kitty Tyler, while the scene in which Dahlia puts on makeup is more than a little unsettling.
Get Out: Allison Williams As Rose Armitage
Jordan Peele cast Allison Williams as Rose because her past roles in Girls and Peter Pan Live! would make audiences trust her, so when she turns out to be the worst villain of them all, it would be more shocking.
Williams does a great job of portraying Rose’s facade of niceness in the early scenes, then does an even better job of portraying her unbridled evil as the movie reaches its climax.
Us: Evan Alex As Jason Wilson / Pluto
Evan Alex was required to do a lot of non-verbal acting in the softly spoken role of Jason in Us, which is difficult for some child actors to pull off, but he was more than up to the task.
In the final scene, the look that Jason gives his mom, telling her with his eyes that he knows her dark secret, sells the ending of the whole movie.
Get Out: Daniel Kaluuya As Chris Washington
Scoring a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor is tough enough as it is, but getting nominated for starring in a horror movie is even more of an uphill struggle. But Daniel Kaluuya’s nod for playing Chris Washington in Get Out was a no-brainer. He reportedly aced the audition by nailing the scene in which he’s hypnotized and a tear rolls down his cheek.
After landing the part, Kaluuya nailed every other scene, too. His nuanced everyman charm made Chris an easy protagonist to relate to — and even easier to root for.
Us: Lupita Nyong’o As Adelaide Wilson / Red
It was no surprise when Lupita Nyong’o, one of the finest actors of her generation, gave a performance for the ages in the lead roles of Adelaide Wilson and Red in Us. She played the characters’ duality so masterfully that she carried the movie on a fine tightrope walk from its intriguing setup to its shocking twist ending.
The fact that she emulated a disability to portray Red’s strained voice was the source of some controversy, but that shouldn’t detract from what is easily one of 2019’s greatest on-screen performances.