Get Out writer and director Jordan Peele is back with a new nightmare that pits an endearing American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves… known as The Tethered.
Set in present-day Northern California, Us stars Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson, a woman returning to her beachside childhood home with her husband, Gabe (Black Panther’s Winston Duke), and their two children (Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex) for an idyllic summer getaway.
Here’s a breakdown of the plot:
Haunted by an unexplainable and unresolved trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide feels her paranoia elevate to high-alert as she grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family.
After spending a tense beach day with their friends, the Tylers (Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon), Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home. When darkness falls, the Wilsons discover the silhouette of four figures holding hands as they stand in the driveway. Us pits an endearing American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.
As part of EW’s exclusive first look into Us, Peele broke down the new trailer, which features Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It,” and he offered some insight into the monsters he calls The Tethered.
Why did you decide to use Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It?”
“That song, it came pretty simple. I’m making a movie in Northern California, that’s a Bay Area hip-hop classic and I wanted to explore this very relatable journey of being a parent [and] maybe some of the songs you listened to back in the day aren’t appropriate for your kids. So that was one level, and another part was, I love songs that have a great feeling but also have a haunting element to them and I feel like the beat in that song has this inherent cryptic energy, almost reminiscent of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” soundtrack. So those were the ideas that that song hit the bullseye on for me, and also, it’s just a dope track.”
Who are The Tethered?
I think the main idea that went into writing this film is that we’re our own worst enemy, and that idea created this monster, The Tethered. I wanted to forge this new mythology that explored our duality and the duality of the characters. To the actors, I knew this was the ultimate fun because who doesn’t want to play two roles in a movie; when you’re tired in one, you get to jump into the other. But I think what was a fun challenge for actors, was finding the connections between the characters and their counterparts.”
Read the rest of the interview here.
Watch the trailer for “Us” above.
“Us” will be released by Universal Pictures on March 15, 2019.
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