Jordan Peele: Could ‘Get Out’ Mastermind Be First Oscar-Winning Black Director?
Jordan Peele, the mastermind behind the uber-successful movie Get Out, has already shattered the glass ceiling by becoming the first black director to get movie-goers to shell out $100 million for his first big-screen film, but can he go further than even that?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, if Get Out continues its streak of success, and even if it doesn’t, there’s a very real possibility that it could be considered by Academy members for the 2018, ninetieth annual Oscars. If the film does become a contender, why not consider its director, Jordan Peele, for the Best Director award?
Peele has already received an award for his directing of Get Out, as it’s been reported that CinemaCon has named Jordan as “Director of the Year.” Can he snatch the ultimate movie award, though?
Ever since the Academy Awards began, there have been only four black directors nominated for Best Director. In 1991, John Singleton became the first black person to be nominated for the category for his work in Boyz n the Hood, a dramatic, violent gangster film.
The next black nominee for Best Director didn’t come until 18 years later when Lee Daniels was nominated for his movie Precious, which centers around a physically and sexually abused black teenage girl who finds a way to turn her life around with the help of a female teacher.
In 2013, Steve McQueen became the third black director to be nominated for his film 12 Years a Slave, which was also proclaimed to be the Best Picture of that year.
Barry Jenkins, the man who directed the 2016 Oscar winning film Moonlight, is the fourth black person to be nominated for Best Director. As his film won Best Picture, he also became the second African American to direct the winner of that category.
So what are the chances that Jordan Peele could become the fifth African-American director to be nominated for the Best Director category and the first to win an Oscar?
Get Out has received a rating of 99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes“Tomatometer” and numerous media critics have given the movie positive reviews. Though the movie’s popularity doesn’t necessarily make it Oscar-worthy, sources indicate that since Get Out has created such a buzz, its popularity has worked to garner the attention of the Academy.
Most movies that make it to the local cinema are viewed by members of the Academy, but there’s an exception. The Academy devotes January and February to watching certain kinds of Oscar contenders. Thus films that hit theaters during this time are seldom considered in the running for the following year. However, sources claim that the Academy have arranged for a special showing of Get Out to take place on Wednesday in Los Angeles, which is good news if your name is Jordan Peele. There’s also reportedly a chance that New York Academy members will also have a chance to view the film.
The symbology of Get Out may work in Peele’s favor, as race played a part in every other Oscar nominated black director’s film, and if Jordan becomes a nominee, his movie creation would be no different.
Self-proclaimed to have gotten the idea from a mixture of Rosemary’s Baby and Stepford Wives, Peele’s vision for the film was not to make any one person the villain, but have the actual prejudicial practice of racism play the part of the bad guy.
Peele and other cast members of Get Out have yet to respond to Hollywood Reporter about the newspaper’s prediction for the movie.
Jordan Peele could be nominated for Best Director. It’s not a certainty, but with the knowledge that the Academy is setting up a special time in which to view Get Out, it’s also not an impossibility. We shall see if movie business elites decide it’s worthy of their consideration.
[Featured Image by Rich Fury/Invision/AP Images]
