Two years after announcing he was retiring from acting, Jordan Peele is revealing the reason behind the decision.
The Academy Award winner — who made his bones in uproarious sketch comedy series “MADtv” and “Key & Peele” — says he stepped away from the camera because he’s no longer interested in being seen on screen.
The screenwriter and director of hit horror films “Get Out” and “Us” says it’s always been uncomfortable to watch himself perform in front of the camera.
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“I like watching my movies. I can watch the films I direct [but] watching me perform just feels like…a bad kind of masturbatory,” Peele said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s masturbation you don’t enjoy. I feel like I got to do so much and it is a great feeling. When I think about those great moments when you’re basking in something you said that feels funny. When I think about all that, I think I got enough.”
With his 2017 directorial debut in “Get Out,” Peele — who currently hosts CBS All Access’ revival of “The Twilight Zone” and produces TBS’ “The Last O.G.” — won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which positioned him to become a major Hollywood heavyweight.
Peele went on to produce Spike Lee’s Academy Award-winning “BlacKkKlansman” and the forthcoming “Candyman” reboot, directed by Brooklyn’s very own Nia DaCosta.
Peele is currently developing a new project for Universal Pictures with Jesse Plemons and Daniel Kaluuya rumored to star. The yet-untitled project already has a theatrical release date set for July 2022.