Daniel Kaluuya taking a break from acting after ‘Nope’

Daniel Kaluuya, winner of the award for best actor in a supporting role for “Judas and the Black Messiah”, poses in the press room at the Oscars on April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. Picture: Chris Pizzello POOL AFP

Daniel Kaluuya, winner of the award for best actor in a supporting role for “Judas and the Black Messiah”, poses in the press room at the Oscars on April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. Picture: Chris Pizzello POOL AFP

Published Sep 5, 2022

Share

Daniel Kaluuya is “chilling” on acting after the release of “Nope”.

The 33-year-old actor recently starred in Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror film and is taking a brief break from acting as he has “nothing lined up”.

Kaluuya told Deadline: “I like the films to come out and have nothing lined up. You’re showing a new performance, a new way, a new space that you were in at that time, so you gotta let that get out there and spread.”

The Oscar winner has moved behind the camera as a producer on the comedy movie “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul”, which marks the first film from his production company 59%.

The film tells the story of Trinity Childs (Regina Hall) as she attempts to help her pastor husband Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K Brown) rebuild their congregation after their church is hit by a scandal.

The movie is shot in the style of a mockumentary and Daniel has revealed that it was an aesthetic choice.

He said: “You don't really see films about black people with this tone in this sort of narrative. Let’s discuss these relationships and issues in a digestible way.

“I’m a firm believer in accessible excellence. I think a lot of excellence is inaccessible. I’m a cinephile and I watch films with my friends that I grew up with and I test my taste in films on them to see if they translate to the common man and woman.

“And I feel like ‘Honk for Jesus’ does that. But doesn’t sacrifice craft for it.”

Kaluuya is set to make his screenwriting debut in the dystopian thriller “The Kitchen”, set in London in a distant future where the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits and desperate working-class people are forced to live in temporary accommodation on the outskirts of the city.

From left, Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Brandon Perea in “Nope”. Picture: Universal Pictures

The story centres on Izi, a resident trying to find his way out, and 12-year-old Benji, who is searching for a family after losing his mother.

Kaluuya said of the film: “The idea came to me when I was sitting in a barber shop and this guy was talking about the idea of multimillion-pound heists in a minute and I just thought that would be the coolest film I’d ever see.”