Jordan Peele
Photo credit: Ga Fullner / Shutterstock.com

Last month, Jordan Peele became only the third person to ever receive Academy Award nominations for his first film, ‘Get Out’, in the directing, producing and writing categories, following Warren Beatty for ‘Heaven Can Wait’ in 1978 and James L. Brooks for ‘Terms of Endearment’ in 1983.  And obviously, Peele is the first African American filmmaker to accomplish this feat.  But even so, Peele made a name for himself as an actor first, mainly on his sketch comedy series ‘Key and Peele’, which costarred Keegan-Michael Key.  So even with his newfound acclaim, it was a shock when Peele announced that he was retiring from acting last month.

Now he has revealed why, after being honored at the Directors Guild of America Awards.

“The Emoji Movie actually helped me quit acting.  I was offered the role of Poop.  This is true. I would not make this up.”

‘The Emoji Movie’ was a hit last year but was absolutely loathed by critics.  It has an astoundingly awful 9% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.  Peele actually admits that he considered taking the part, but in the time it took him to make up his mind, the role went to Sir Patrick Stewart.

When he first announced his plan to retire, Peele stated, “Daniel Day-Lewis and I are both out. Acting is just nowhere near as fun for me as directing.”

In addition to Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing and Best Original Screenplay, ‘Get Out’ earned star Daniel Kaluuya a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.

Though Peele hasn’t announced a follow-up film to ‘Get Out’, he has several projects in the works as a producer including the TV series ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘Lovecraft Country’ and ‘The Last O.G.’ and the film ‘Black Klansman’.  He has at least one last acting role to look forward to, in the horror movie ‘Abruptio’.

Are you sad to see Peele leaving acting behind?

Source: Vanity Fair