‘I checked out’: Daniel Kaluuya almost QUIT acting 'because of racism'
Daniel Kaluuya cemented his position as one of the most skilled actors with his roles in movies like the horror thriller ‘Get Out’, ‘Black Mirror’, ‘Widows’ and ‘Black Panther’ among a few others. However, it was not a cakewalk to achieve the position he is in today. The actor has had his own shares of struggles – something he revealed during his chat with ‘Get Out’ director and close friend Jordan Peele.
The 33-year-old actor, who was named among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2021, in an interview with Essence revealed that he almost quit acting over not getting roles because of racism. For the uninitiated, the Academy Award-winning actor’s breakthrough came in the form of the 2017 award-winning horror flick ‘Get Out’. The actor, who reunites with Peele in his latest film ‘Nope’, has been working since 2006 but after his role in 2015 ‘Sicario’, he went through a stretch of getting no work for almost a year and a half.
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Did Daniel Kaluuya almost quit acting over racism?
Shedding light on before making it big in movies, Daniel Kaluuya in a chat with Peele for Essence said he was on the verge of quitting acting. “I’ve never told you this, but when you reached out to me and we had that Skype, I was really disillusioned with acting”, said Kaluuya.
He further stated, “I had stopped acting for like a year and a half. I checked out, because I was just like, this isn’t working. I wasn’t getting roles, because racism and all this kind of stuff- so you reaching out was like, ‘OK, I’m not crazy. It’s proper. It’s going to be alright.’”
‘I want to go into places that I don’t know I can’
Daniel Kaluuya, who finally tasted success with ‘Get Out’, said that he was flooded with offers after the movie’s success. “I was just like, If it’s not a ‘f*** yeah,’ it’s a no. That kind of cleaned house. A ‘ F*** yeah’ to me is when you’re doing plays, you’re doing it for 400 pound a week.” He added, “That’s pre-agent, pre-tax, pre-everything. So I was like, ‘Would I do this for 400 pound a week?’ And if the answer was yes, then all right, cool, I’ll do it.”
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The renowned British star then went to share the kind of roles he is always on the lookout for. “I want to go into places that I don’t know I can. I want three-dimensional characters.” Kaluuya added, “I want to tell the story, no matter how big or how small."