Jordan Peele Says Spike Lee “Shut Me Right Down” When They First Met

Jordan Peele’s becoming one of the most revered horror film directors of this generation. He’s been in the game for years, initially gaining fame alongside Keegan Michael-Key as Key & Peele before solidifying himself as a screenwriter and director. Since the release of 2017’s Get Out, he went on to executive produce Spike Lee’s for the Oscar-nominated BlacKkKlansman. However, his relationship with Spike Lee didn’t start in Hollywood. It started in Peele’s college classroom where Spike Lee came to deliver a lecture.

Lars Niki/Getty Images

During Peele’s time at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, an unenthusiastic Spike Lee showed up to deliver a lecture. Peele admitted that it likely wasn’t Spike Lee’s first choice to deliver a speech since it wasn’t entirely his main demographic, saying the school’s population was made up of 70% white women.

“He was kind of, like, you know, mercurial with us,” he told Jimmy Fallon. “At one point, I was like, ‘Alright, well, you know, the black guy’s got a question.’ And I asked a question and he was like, “Mnh-mnh, mnh-mnh, sit down,’ you know? He shut me right down and then that’s how we met.”

He also explained the difference between working on Us and Get Out.

“It was, first of all, I knew I could get it made,” he said. “That was a big difference. When I was writing Get Out, I’m like ‘They’re gonna shut me down any second’ and with this one, I knew I could get it made… I had a lot of love behind my back and the wind beneath my wings and I knew I could just make a movie that I wanted to see, my favorite movie that doesn’t exist, and that’s what I did.”