The director/actor collaboration of Jordan Peele and Daniel Kaluuya is undoubtedly one of the best duos in modern cinema. The two previously teamed up together on Get Out, and have recently worked together on Nope — Peele’s upcoming horror extravaganza that is set to release in theaters later this month.
While speaking with Empire, Peele expressed to Kaluuya several times that the 33-year-old actor was his “De Niro” while the two were filming Get Out. Unapologetically, the director insisted that he needed Kaluuya to be in Peele’s future projects due to Kaluuya’s incredible performance in the popular horror/thriller.
“It’s so funny, but by the point I was in the middle of [shooting] Get Out, that’s what I was telling him. I was like, ‘You’re my De Niro, man. You’re my De Niro. I was like, ‘I need you to be in the future ones too, man!’ You could just tell what we had in him as a performer, from the very beginning.”
Of course, Peele is referencing the frequent collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro, who have collaborated on many projects throughout both of their careers. And seeing as Peele and Kaluuya are continuing to collaborate more and more — especially when it comes to horror movies — we could see the duo continue to dominate the horror genre as the years pass.
Catch the collaboration of Peele and Kaluuya in Nope, which is in theaters July 22.