Jordan Peele turns four actors into eight in a behind the scenes clip from Us. The followup to Peele's Oscar-winning directorial debut, Get Out, Us follows the Wilson family on a summer vacation that takes a turn for the nightmarish when the group comes face to face with their doppelgängers. Peele's horror film (which he also wrote) was a lucrative hit earlier this year, and earned $254 million at the global box office against a $20 million budget. More than that, it was widely celebrated by critics and regarded by many as being just as good, if not better, than Get Out.
Us' leads (Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex) were similarly praised for their dual performances as the Wilsons and their doubles, aka. the Tethered. Indeed, many felt the actors and film at large succeeded in making these characters feel like different people, complete with distinct personalities and mannerisms. And thanks to the movie's home video release this month, audiences will now get to take a behind the scenes look at how Peele and his team pulled off that particular bit of cinematic magic.
Screen Rant is exclusively debuting a clip from Us, in coordination with the film's premiere on digital today. The video, titled "8 Actors", comes from the featurette "Tethered Together: Making Us Twice", which will be included with the movie's bonus content. You can watch the clip in the space below.
In the video, Peele and the Us cast break down the scene where the Wilsons meet their doppelgängers for the first time. Part of the reason the sequence works so well is because, as Peele explains in the clip, he and the film's DP Mike Gioulakis shot it as though they were working with eight different actors (as opposed to four actors pretending to be in two places at once). This allows the moment to play out in a way that seems natural, without feeling like it's been over-edited to hide the fact that Us' actors are playing two characters at the same time. And of course, Peele also took steps to assist his cast directly with their dual performances. Here, for example, Peele is shown performing lines for Nyong'o's Tethered character, Red, so the the latter has something to react to while filming her part as Adelaide Wilson.
No doubt, the other special features included with Us' home release will offer additional details on Jordan's filmmaking approach, and how the rest of the cast went about bringing their own Tethered characters to life. Us' ambiguous storytelling and conclusion prompted lots of discussion when it premiered in theaters, so there's sure to be all the more interest in these behind the scenes clips and what they reveal about the movie's layered themes and concepts. If nothing else, it should give horror fans something to talk about, as they wait to learn what Peele's got in mind for his third time at bat.
Us is now available on digital and becomes available on Blu-ray starting in two weeks, on June 18.