Filmmaker Jordan Peele earned a place in the Oscar history books last night becoming the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for his film “Get Out.”
“I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible. I thought it wasn’t going to work,” the 39-year-old Peele said Sunday. “I thought no one would ever make this movie. I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone let me make this movie, people would hear it and people would see it.
“Everybody who bought a ticket, told somebody to buy a ticket — thank you,” he continued. “I love you for shouting out at the theater, for shouting out at the screen. I love all, thank you so much goodnight.”
Only four black film writers have been nominated in the best original screenplay category in Oscars’ 90-year history: Suzanne de Passe (“Lady Sings the Blues,” 1972), Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing,” 1989) John Singleton (“Boyz n the Hood,” 1991) and Peele.
