Boop | Jordan Peele dissects our modern obsessions in his film

(Los Angeles) In his latest film Boopthe master of satirical horror films Jordan Peele cuts through our modern obsessions, from the desire for recognition to the permanent spectacle offered by social networks.

For the occasion, the Oscar-winning screenwriter-director, who brought this film genre up to date with get-out and Usreconnects with Daniel Kaluuya, himself the holder of two Oscars.

The British actor embodies in Boop OJ, a horse trainer seized with horror when mysterious phenomena appear in the sky above his California ranch.

OJ and his sister Emerald, played by Keke Palmer, are therefore torn between their fear of the incomprehensible and a terrible desire to access fame and wealth by capturing these unreal scenes to broadcast them on social networks.

In this story, “the real villain is our addiction to attention and spectacle, and the resulting inability to be able to react in real time,” Keke Palmer told AFP on the red carpet of Hollywood where the film premiered this week.

“It’s no different from people slowing down on the highway to see an accident. Nobody calls the emergency services, but everyone stops to watch,” said the actress. “That’s the real horror that is the subject of our film”.

Boopwhich is released Friday in the United States and Canada, develops themes dear to Jordan Peele that he had already explored in 2017 in his surprising denunciation of racism get-out. This success, shot for less than 5 million dollars, brought in 255 million in theaters, and incidentally an Oscar for best original screenplay to Jordan Peele.

The author had reissued with Usbecoming at the same time one of the most prominent directors in Hollywood.

Theme park

Universal Pictures studios were so confident in the director’s latest project that they decided to open a permanent attraction based on Boop in their Hollywood theme park, the same day the film was released in American theaters.

“It’s a first,” says Jon Corfino, head of Universal Creative who designed this attraction.

It was made thanks to the decor built in Boop for Jupiter’s Claim, a fictional western-themed amusement park featured heavily in the film. This set was carefully dismantled at the end of filming in the Californian desert and then transported to Los Angeles to be reassembled at Universal’s site.

“This decor is the one that was actually used during the filming” by Jordan Peele, “it’s exactly his vision”, insists Mr. Corfino.

In ironic echo to the themes of Boopvisitors to the park who offer themselves the “VIP tour” will have the right to stroll through the streets – dummy, but ultra-realistic – of Jupiter’s Claim to take selfies and other TikTok videos in front of the saloon, the sheriff’s office or the workshop of the gold diggers.

This set becomes the latest addition to the famous “studio tour” offered by Universal in its theme park, where tourists circulate among the film hangars and sets used for Jaws by Steven Spielberg or Psychosis by Alfred Hitchcock.

“Jordan Peele has his place within this dynasty” of filmmakers, notes Jon Corfino.

Boop Will it be as successful as get-out Where Us ? Early reviews are mixed, but the strength of the film is that everyone can see things from their personal experience, according to actor Brandon Perea.

“There are a million stories and metaphors that each audience member may perceive differently. You take it however you want, and I think that’s what’s great,” he says.