Jordan Peele Is First Black Director To Win Oscar For Best Original Screenplay
Jordan Peele made history on Sunday by becoming the first black filmmaker to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The film, “Get Out,” is a social thriller about racism that is also Peele’s directorial debut. The horror/comedy movie breaks the mold as to which films traditionally exceed at the Academy Awards. The award is Peele’s first Oscar.
“This means so much to me. I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible,” he said during his acceptance speech.
“I thought it wasn’t gonna work, I thought no one was gonna make this movie but I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it,” he continued. “So I want to dedicate this to all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie.”
.@JordanPeele wins Best Original Screenplay and thanks fans of #GetOut: "I love you for shouting out at the theater, for shouting out at the screen. Let's keep going" https://t.co/ZF8wllV3ux #Oscars pic.twitter.com/RIbAqdFqA4
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 5, 2018
The screenplay beat out other nominees “The Big Sick,” “Lady Bird,” “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Peele continued to share his excitement on Twitter.
I just won an Oscar. WTF?!?
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) March 5, 2018
Peele was only the fourth black filmmaker to be nominated for the Best Original Screenplay category, following Suzanne de Passe (“Lady Sings The Blues”), Spike Lee (“Do The Right Thing”) and John Singleton (“Boyz N the Hood”).
“Get Out” was nominated in four categories on Sunday. The film, which had a $4.5 million budget, was 2017′s most profitable film, earning more than $176 million domestically.
This post has been updated with quotes from Peele.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misstated the amount “Get Out” earned domestically. It made more than $176 million.
Also on HuffPost
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
Nicole Kidman
Viola Davis
Jennifer Lawrence
Taraji P. Henson
Lupita Nyong'o
Sandra Bullock
Emma Stone
Allison Williams
Salma Hayek
Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer
Jennifer Garner
Chadwick Boseman
Gina Rodriguez
Daniel Kaluuya
Saoirse Ronan
Mirai Nagasu
Mary J. Blige
Betty Gabriel
Margot Robbie
Adam Rippon
Eiza González
Zendaya
Whoopi Goldberg
Taura Stinson
St. Vincent
Tom Holland
Mira Sorvino
Lindsey Vonn
Danai Gurira
Gal Gadot
Michael Strahan
Jordan Peele and Chelsea Peretti
Kelly Ripa
Laura Dern
Patrick Stewart and Sunny Ozell
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.