The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Lupita Nyong'o on the Duality of Human Nature in "Us"

Episode Date: October 28, 2019

Actor Lupita Nyong'o talks about the dark portrayal of humanity in "Us" and embracing her character's deadly doppelganger. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio, on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. Please welcome, Lupizan Yongo! Welcome back to the show. Thank you very much.

And welcome to the biggest movie in America. This is like a run that you are having. I mean, Black Panther and now Us, how does it feel? It feels really good. I won my life. As it should. I mean, Us has rarely done amazing numbers. You know, what's been particularly impressive about it as well is that it's not a reboot, it's

not a remake, it's not a re-anything. It's a completely original film that has blown people away. And I went, I went to watch it in the cinema with my friend, I was like, we're going to do this thing. Yeah. And I sat down with my friend Dave and we're like, we're going to watch this movie. And both of us are terrified of horror movies. And you are one of the scariest horror characters I have ever come across. Oh, thank you.

How sweet. What was that like for you, though? Because that's a character I've never seen I I I I I I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've seen I've never seen myself play. This film stretched me in such exciting ways. You know, doing both Adelaide and Red, who are so different from each other, and just accessing that really dark and, you know, ooh, damaged part of that character, and allowing myself to be freaky and creative, you know. That's what that role gave me. I was a cha. That's what that role gave and allowing myself to be Freaky and and Creative, you know, that's what that role gave me a chance to really be creative and go to places that I've just never been

Yeah, right, and I'm not giving away any of the plot that's not in like the trailer, but but but basically we see this family, you know, it's yourself and And you and you have your kids and you're on this vacation and then there's another version of you that shows up, which is one of the most terrifying things, is you looking at you, like the dark side of you. It was like a very powerful message just in that moment in the film. Yeah, it's about the duality of human nature. You know, we all have a darkness inside of us that we often suppress and when it goes unattended to, unacknowledged, it can sometimes, you know, rare its ugly head and actually be quite destructive to us and in the world. So Adelaide, she's convinced that something bad is about to happen and then she's proven right when these doppelgangers show up and in her life.

I don't know that my destructive side will thagag me though. I feel like, like, if there was like an evil Trevor, it'd come out and be like, I'm evil. Hey, Trev. I don't know. I feel like we'd get along. The movie has you showcasing so many different talents because you're playing a completely different character. When you're doing that, you're not acting opposite yourself, because you're doing that, you're not acting opposite yourself, because you're not there, you have to be there, and then you, do you ever forget which version you are? Well, no, because of the hair, you know? The hair is so different.

Oh, so you change, so you'd be like, this is evil hair, this, and thi's the evil Oh, that's interesting. Red hair is like this and Adelaide hair is like that. Let's talk about, no, no, no, but let's talk about this. Why don't you call her evil? Because most people, including myself, you watch the movie and you're like, oh, she's the evil version. Well, you know, because actually I find that for me, my process as an actor is to find in the most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most the most, the most, the most, the most, the most, the most, the most, the most, the most, the most, the most, thian, thian, thian, thian, thian, thian, thian, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, it means to frighten, you know, and I had to work on being frightening. And I was like, I don't even know what that means. So I had to like really research what would make someone do the things that this particular character does and then invest in that. Because labeling the character with those judgmental words like creepy or, or righteous or all that. I think it's, it's, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and to, and thi, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and, and to, and, and, and, and, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and to, and thi, thi, thi, thi, thri, thri, thri, thri, thri, thri, thri, thri, to to to to to to to to to to f frie, to to to character with those judgmental words like creepy or

righteous or all that. I think it's a projection of qualities that I don't think that person would feel. I don't think red would be like, you know, I'm really evil. She would never say that. So I try to avoid that kind of judgment when I'm creating a character. One of my favorite moments I had going to the movie was we're standing in the cinema and we're lining up to get our tickets and I overhear one of the people say, what's the line for? And then one of the people in the cinema says, oh that's for us.

And then the guy replied, is that like a black horror movie? It's like a, what do you mean black horror movie? But I understood, strangely enough, what he was saying. Like some people think the film is like, Black Scary or scary, or black, but it's not, it's just a story. Right. Right.

And it's scary. And we have black characters at the center. Yes. center and they represent human beings, they represent all American qualities and it's a novelty to have a black family at the center of a horror film but their blackness is not in question. It's actually just quite unremarkable. What's remarkable is the circumstances that they find themselves in. And you know there's the duality even in the title of this film, it's us. So when that person said it's for us, it seems it seems in, it seems in in the, in their, in, in their, in their, in their, in, in their, in, in, in their, in, in their, in their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, their, the, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, and, and, the, and, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, is, is, is, their, their's the duality even in the title of this film, it's us. So when that person said it's for us, it seems in that moment that that person who's asking

is not included, you know? And that's what this film is about. It's about if there's an us, there's a them, and what happens when we separate ourselves from each other. It's a powerful film. It's doing amazing numbers for a good reason. It has people freaked out. You have now done action and horror and drama, which means next up is going to be a musical. I'm excited for you. The Pizza N Young, everybody.

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