‘Get Out’s Jordan Peele makes history as the first Black person to win Best Original Screenplay Oscar
Writer, director and producer Jordan Peele can now add Oscar winner to his resume after he took home a golden trophy Sunday night for Best Original Screenplay, beating out Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor (The Shape of Water), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) and Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri)
The runaway success of Get Out propelled it to four Oscar nominations and the social thriller/horror hybrid dominated conversations for close to an entire calendar year. Not only did the film critically examine the function of whiteness in relation to Blackness in America, but it became one of the most profitable films of the year, making 255 million dollars on a 4.5 million dollar budget. This is just more proof that quality films are not relegated to the near inaccessible tastes of the Oscar voters, and that films with Black leads can sell.
In Peele’s speech, he says he quit writing the film 20 times but persevered because he knew that if he made this film people would see it. You can watch Peele’s acceptance speech below.