In what seems like an April Fool’s Day prank spun wildly out of control, [Daniel Kaluuya](https://www.vice.com/en/article/53jbkn/daniel-kaluuya-early-works-interview) (star of _Get Out_, _Queen & Slim_ and, of course, _Skins)_ is co-producing a gritty reimagining of [Barney and Friends](https://www.vice.com/en/article/zmzgbw/the-guy-who-played-barney-the-dinosaur-now-runs-a-tantric-sex-business), the 1990s TV show about a purple T-Rex who teaches children life lessons about friendship –rather than attacking and eating them, as would be realistic. In a [recent interview ](https://ew.com/movies/daniel-kaluuya-judas-and-black-messiah/)with _Entertainment Weekly_, Kaluuya revealed more details about what we can expect.

<p><i>Get Out</i> is not the only film out this year to deal with the structural politics of race in America. But it's probably the only one to mould said politics into a taut, comic, terrifying, destabilising piece of classic horror.</p> <p>In the year that <i>Moonlight</i> scooped a Best Picture Oscar, <i>Get Out </i>is another cutting-edge, trope-skewering black narrative; the villains here aren't monsters from the Deep South or swastika-bearing Nazis, but liberal white folk from Middle America. Having made its writer-director Jordan Peele – best-known as half of US comedy duo Key and Peele – the first black person to head up a $100 million-grossing debut, it's set to also clean up on this side of the Atlantic.</p> <div data-iframely-id="S2PrX3" class="article__embed article__embed--iframely"><div style="left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;" data-iframely-smart-iframe="true"><iframe data-img="" data-iframely-url="//oembed.vice.com/S2PrX3?playerjs=true" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen style="top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" data-iframely-smart-iframe="true"></iframe></div></div><p>At its centre are a mixed-race couple, Rose (<i>Girls</i>' Allison Williams) and Chris (<i>Black Mirror</i> and <i>Skins</i> actor Daniel Kaluuya). A weekend away at her parents' house descends into something rather unsavoury, with Chris soon noticing the strange behaviour of the black people he encounters; housekeeper Georgina is seemingly sweet but speaks in cold non-sequiturs, groundskeeper Walter is oddly protective of Rose and visitor Logan flies into a rage, nose bleeding, when a camera flash goes off. And then there's Rose's mum, a psychiatrist who is a little too keen on wanting to hypnotise Chris, apparently so he can quit smoking.</p> <p>While the audience is led to believe it could all be in Chris' head ("I would've voted for Obama for a third term, if I could," Rose's dad offers during one particularly excruciating exchange) that proves too facile for this jumpy horror, with Peele using the twisty tropes of the genre to create heroes from villains and vice versa.</p> <p>Unlike Peele, Kaluuya himself isn't a horror buff ("some boys were babysitting me as a kid and they kept on showing me Freddie Krueger – it creeped me out. Whenever I used to go toilet at night I thought he was behind the door – it fucked me up"), but the script struck a chord with him as a young black man. "I was like '<i>12 Years a Slave: The Horror Movie'</i> – fucking yes! My friends would love this.' I felt like it was really fresh, and it made me feel some shit," he tells me over the phone from the US, where he's filming Marvel's <i>Black Panther</i> reboot. </p><p>Although its subject matter is timely, it's a project that Peele was working on long before the emergence of Black Lives Matter or the concept of being "woke". "A lot of people thought, because Obama was president, racism was fixed," says Kaluuya. "Jordan wanted to talk about a different type of racism in the liberal world, and what it's like to make people feel alienated. There's a bit when Chris is saying, 'Why us? Why black people?' Because, you know, why us? Everyone knows black people were subjected to racism, but no one can pinpoint why it's happened. It doesn't make any sense, but the media justifies and makes excuses for it daily."</p> <p>The 27-year-old is razor-sharp, and speaks in the same slang-heavy way many working class black guys do in London. It's a testament to his skills that he's entirely believable as an African American who instantly worries about what Rose's parents will think of his race.</p> <p>What was it like as a British actor to engage with the complex issue of race in the US? "I feel these themes are universal," he tells me. "I don't think it's documented, the racist shit that happens to black British people, but it's happening every day. I'm getting followed in Lidl, that's real. I'm just trying to get some fucking oranges and I'm getting followed. It's constantly around. We see the same shit because we're all from Africa. We're all from the same roots, trying to navigate a society that deems you as a minority. I've been to god knows how many Ugandan weddings and funerals as a kid, and there's that cousin that brings a white girlfriend. And it's a thing. So those themes really resonated with me, and I felt it. I feel like I know what it feels like to be other in the room on both sides of the Atlantic. Sometimes I'm other in the room in England because I'm black; now I'm the other in the room because I'm British. It's about not being seen as an individual."</p><div data-iframely-id="IsBCE6" class="article__embed article__embed--iframely"><div style="left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;" data-iframely-smart-iframe="true"><iframe data-img="" data-iframely-url="//oembed.vice.com/IsBCE6" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen style="top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" data-iframely-smart-iframe="true"></iframe></div></div> <p>A few days before I spoke to Daniel, Samuel L Jackson made his now-infamous comments about black British actors working in the US – with specific reference to Kaluuya – not being able to fully engage with the African American experience. "There are a lot of black British actors in these movies," Jackson told a US radio station. "I tend to wonder what that movie [<i>Get Out</i>] would have been with an American brother who really feels that." He also added that British actors were being cast as they were typically cheaper to hire. Jackson later claimed his comments were a critique of Hollywood rather than British actors, but the debate had been sparked, with David Harewood <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/13/david-harewood-says-black-british-actors-may-be-better-suited-to-american-roles" target="_blank">writing</a> an impassioned response for the <i>Guardian</i>, in which he described himself as "not exactly the budget option".</p> <p>I ask Kaluuya what he'd say if he could sit down with Jackson and address the issue. I expect him to be pretty annoyed (John Boyega, for example, called it "stupid ass conflict"). "Sam has done the work – him, Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle, Terrence Howard, Omar Epps, god knows how many people. They've done the work for me to have this opportunity," he says. </p><p>Kaluuya is keen to stress his respect for those who've done the groundwork for a new generation of black actors whose choice of roles aren't dictated by stereotype. Even so, there is a point Kaluuya is keen to stress when it comes to the idea that it's cheaper to hire Brits. "I'm not really comfortable with the words black and cheap being used in the same sentence," he says. "We have a huge problem with being devalued in the public consciousness already. So all I can say on the matter is black women, black men, we're not cheap – we're priceless. And that's African Americans, that's black Brits, that's black Africans. That's a billion black people worldwide. We are not cheap. We are human and we are individuals."</p> <p>Inadvertently, Kaluuya also sums up the brilliance of <i>Get Out</i>. It reminds us of the many ways black people are exploited, erased or appropriated, with no thought of their own value. <i>Get Out</i> is a film about challenging old, dangerous ideas – and even Kaluuya would likely agree that those are scarier than Krueger ever was.</p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/hannahjdavies" target="_blank"><i>@hannahjdavies</i></a></p>

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Talking to Daniel Kaluuya about 'Get Out', Race and Samuel L. Jackson

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Daniel Kaluuya

Kaluuya said: “Barney taught us, ‘I love you, you love me. Won’t you say you love me too?’ That’s one of the first songs I remember, and what happens when that isn’t true? I thought that was really heartbreaking. I have no idea why, but it feels like that makes sense. It feels like there’s something unexpected that can be poignant but optimistic. Especially at this time now, I think that’s really, really needed.”

The film, which will be a co-production between Kaluuya’s own company 59% and Mattel Films (the cinema division of the world’s second largest toy brand after Lego), was first announced last October. Back then, Kaluuya [told](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/barney-movie-works-mattel-daniel-kaluuya-1248599) _Hollywood Reporter_, "Barney was a ubiquitous figure in many of our childhoods, then he disappeared into the shadows, left misunderstood. We're excited to explore this compelling modern-day hero and see if his message of 'I love you, you love me' can stand the test of time."

As unusual as this idea might seem, it’s not an outlier. In good news for children – along with adults who want the cultural landscape to resemble a “Things You Only Remember If You’re A Nineties Kid” listicle – there are a whole host of toy-related films in the pipeline. Indie darlings Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig are collaborating on a film version of [Barbie](https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/3k3gn3/greta-gerwig-and-noah-baumbach-are-co-writing-margot-robbies-barbie-movie), with Margot Robbie playing the titular doll. I look forward to seeing Quirky-Ennui Barbie tackle an existential crisis at an elite liberal arts college. There are also going to be[ films ](https://filmdaily.co/news/hot-wheels-movie/)based on [Magic 8 Ball](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/25/mattel-partners-with-blumhouse-to-bring-magic-8-ball-movie-to-theaters.html#:~:text=Mattel's%20Magic%208%2DBall%20toy,has%20announced%20in%20recent%20years.), [Hot Wheels](https://filmdaily.co/news/hot-wheels-movie/) (which seems redundant when _The Fast and the Furious_ franchise already exists), Beyblade, Monopoly (would love to see Ken Loach take a stab at this one) and Furbie (which would only really work as as an A24-style psychological horror).

If you like Daniel Kaluuya but consider films about toys beneath you, another upcoming project of his might be more up your street: [Judas and The Black Messiah](https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/jgxa9k/daniel-kaluuya-black-panther-judas-and-the-black-messiah-movie-trailer) tells the story of Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton and his assassination at the hands of the police. It looks good.

Daniel Kaluuya Reveals More Details About His Live-Action 'Barney' Film

Talking to Daniel Kaluuya about 'Get Out', Race and Samuel L. Jackson

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