After Get Out scooped four nominations at the Oscars, it was clear that then-first-time horror movie director Jordan Peele had something special.
But that didn’t stop people from being shocked when Peele, who shot to fame through the sketch comedy TV series Key and Peele, announced his intentions to give up acting for good. At the time, he explained to CBS that “acting is nowhere near as fun for [him] as directing”.
But it wasn’t just the success of Get Out that caused Peele to turn his back on acting for good. As revealed in his Directors Guild Awards acceptance speech back in 2018, the poop emoji also played a role. Or, I guess you could say it helped move things along (Get it? Like bowel movements). “The Emoji Movie actually helped me quit acting,” he explained to a stunned audience at the time. “I was offered the role of Poop. This is true. I would not make this up.”
Being cast in the role of literal faecal matter would demoralize anyone, but what’s the one thing worse than being offered the role of a poop? Seriously considering, and then actually being rejected from the role. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to Peele, as he recalled how, after his manager told him about the offer, he said, “That’s fucked up,” before later adding, “I’m going to sleep on it.”
But the next day, when he got back in touch with his manager about how much they were paying for the role, it transpired that the offer was now off the table. They offered the part of Poop to Patrick Stewart instead. As Peele recalls, this led to him saying “fuck this” when it comes to acting.
So, in a way, I guess we have the Poop emoji to thank for turning Jordan Peele off acting for good. Without the Poop emoji, we might never have gotten Jordan Peele movies like Get Out, Us, or his most recent film Nope which, ironically, satirizes the state of the film industry. When it comes to butterfly effects, you can’t get much better than literal shit.
You can catch Peele’s latest thriller movie, Nope, in theatres now. If you’ve already seen the movie and have been left scratching your head, check out our ‘Nope ending explained’ guide.