10 Films Jordan Peele Asked Lupita Nyong’o To Watch Before Filming “Us”

It's a scary homework assignment.

Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Nyong'o attends the screening Of Queen Of Katwe on September 25, 2016 in New York City. (Robin Marchant/Getty Images)
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On Christmas Day Jordan Peele released the trailer for his upcoming horror film Us. The all-star cast includes Lupita Nyong’o and Elisabeth Moss.

Prior to shooting the film, which has already racked up millions of trailer views, the Academy Award-winning Peele assigned a bit of homework to Nyong’o. She was to watch ten horror films: Dead Again, The Shining, The Babadook, It Follows, A Tale of Two Sisters, The Birds, Funny Games, Martyrs, Let the Right One In, and The Sixth Sense.

The Black Panther star was up for the challenge. “He was on my wish list of people to work with,” Nyong’o told Entertainment Weekly, adding that she was a huge fan of Get Out. “The very fact that I have not done anything like it was appealing, because it promised growth and excitement and new territory.”

“For my second feature, I wanted to create a monster mythology,” Peele told EW. “I wanted to do something that was more firmly in the horror genre but still held on to my love of movies that are twisted but fun.”

Us hits theaters March 15, 2019.

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