Jordan Peele: Why Allison Williams is perfect for the 'very important character' in 'Get Out'
Jordan Peele's directorial debut, "Get Out," has enthralled audiences and critics with its examination of racism through a pulse-pounding thriller that follows a black man who's visiting his white girlfriend's parents for the first time.
Peele cast "Girls" star Allison Williams (also the daughter of news anchor Brian Williams) to play the girlfriend, Rose. It was a savvy move. Williams crafts a character who will not soon be forgotten by horror-movie fans.
At first, Rose looks to be learning, like Chris (played by Daniel Kaluuya), about the strange things going on in her parents' home. But when it's finally revealed that not only is she in on her folks' twisted brain-swapping of white elderly people into virile African-American men (and women), but she's the attractive bait used to lure the black victims in, it's one of the shocking twists of the movie.
Peele talked to Business Insider before the movie opened and explained why Williams was perfect for the role.
"With her work on 'Girls,' I think the wonderful risk she took with 'Peter Pan,' she just felt like the part," Peele said. "She felt cosmopolitan but also undeniably Caucasian."
That last part Peele and Williams execute to perfection when we see how Rose spends her time after Chris has been captured by her parents. She's sitting in her room, which is filled with framed photos on the wall of her past "relationships," eating Froot Loops, sipping a glass of milk through a straw, and listening to the 1980s classic "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," all while searching NCAA prospects on her laptop, presumably for her next catch.
"That scene is one of my favorites," Peele told the The Los Angeles Times. "It's one of those moments, like a good 'Key & Peele' sketch, when you know you've got it - this is going to work. There's no dialogue in it - just this beautiful, psychotic image that gives me glee when it happens in the film."
Taking a beautiful actress like Williams known for gracing the covers of glossy magazines and doing ads for Keds and making her a milk-sipping, "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack-listening racist psycho is just one of the reasons audiences can't get enough of this twisted, disturbing, hilarious, brilliant movie.
"It's a very important character," Peele told Business Insider of the Rose part. "Because the love story in this movie is what drives us through it."
After a pause, Peele couldn't help himself and let out a giggle.
"Get Out" is currently playing in theaters.