Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Get Out: The Complete Annotated Screenplay

Rate this book
Jordan Peele’s celebrated screenplay combines horror and dark humor to reveal the terrifying realities of being Black in America

"Blending race-savvy satire with horror to especially potent effect, this bombshell social critique from first-time director Jordan Peele proves positively fearless."
–Peter Debruge, Variety

"An exhilaratingly smart and scary freak out about a black man in a white nightmare."
–Manohla Dargis, New York Times

"A major achievement, a work that deserves, in its own way, to be viewed alongside Barry Jenkins' Moonlight as a giant leap forward for the possibilities of black cinema; Get Out feels like it would have been impossible five minutes ago."
–Brandon Harris, New Yorker A New York Times 2019 holiday gift guide pick

Jordan Peele’s powerful thriller Get Out debuted in 2017 to enormous public and critical acclaim, a Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? for the age of Obama and Trump that scared audiences and skewered white liberal pieties at the same time. Rather than rely on popular archetypes, Peele weaves together the material realities and daily manifestations of horror with sociopolitical fears and elements of true suspense, and combines them with pitch-perfect satire and a timely cultural critique. This companion paperback to the film presents Peele’s Oscar-winning screenplay alongside supplementary material.

Featuring an essay by author and scholar Tananarive Due and in-depth annotations by the director, this publication is richly illustrated with more than 150 stills from the motion picture and presents alternate endings, deleted scenes and an inside look at the concepts and behind-the-scenes production of the film. Continuing in the legacy of 1960s paperbacks that documented the era’s most significant avant-garde films―such as Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon , Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin/Feminin and Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura ― Get Out is an indispensable guide to this pioneering and groundbreaking cinematic work.

Jordan Peele (born 1979) is an American writer, director and producer. Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out (2017), earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as well as nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. In 2012, Peele founded Monkeypaw Productions, which amplifies traditionally underrepresented voices and unpacks contemporary social issues, while cultivating artistic, thought-provoking projects across film, television and digital platforms, including Peele’s follow-up to Get Out , the critically acclaimed horror epic, Us (2019).

206 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 2019

Loading...
Loading...

About the author

Jordan Peele

6 books544 followers
Jordan Haworth Peele is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his film and television work in the comedy and horror genres. Peele started his career in sketch comedy before transitioning his career as a writer and director of psychological horror and satirical films.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
616 (80%)
4 stars
131 (17%)
3 stars
20 (2%)
2 stars
0 (0%)
1 star
2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
Profile Image for Olivia (Stories For Coffee).
751 reviews6,248 followers
February 11, 2023
Masterfully written with a stunning introduction dissecting the history of Black horror movies, this annotated screenplay solidifies Jordan as a masterclass artist whose attention to detail, use of symbolism, and simplistic yet intricate dialogue is one-of-a-kind. To step into the mind of his artistic process and reasonings behind his stylistic choices only strengthens my awe of his work.

Now, I need him to share annotated screenplays for Us and Nope.
Profile Image for Ashley Daviau.
2,414 reviews1,088 followers
April 16, 2021
It is absolutely SICKENING how good this movie is and so when I saw there was an annotated screenplay I jumped at that chance to get my hands on it. Everything about this movie is perfection and it is by far one of the best horror movies I’ve ever watched. I was instantly captivated and when I realized where the story was going I was SHOOK. And then the movie took it even further than I thought it would and I couldn’t believe what I was watching. To get to read the screenplay with all the deleted scenes and annotated by Peele himself on how he came up with certain ideas and brought them to life was so freaking excellent. I have even more love for the film now and a huge amount of respect for Peele. The essay about Black horror by Tananarive Due was an excellent added bonus as well and just the cherry on the sundae!
Profile Image for exorcismemily.
1,487 reviews360 followers
March 28, 2020
"This is some shit right here..."

I loved reading the annotated screenplay of Get Out! This is one of my favorite horror movies, and it was really cool to read about Jordan Peele's thought process. There were notes on things that I hadn't fully noticed before, and also some deleted dialogue, along with the alternate ending. Tananarive Due wrote the intro for this, and it was really good. If you're a Get Out and/or Jordan Peele fan, I highly recommend picking this up. I really enjoyed reading it, and I would love to read one for US, too, if it ever exists.
Profile Image for Realini Ionescu.
4,710 reviews43 followers
August 13, 2025
Get Out, written and directed by Jordan Peele


Get Out is acclaimed as one of the best films of 2017, nominated for Golden Globes and four Oscars…
In addition, some of the most important ones at that:

Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Best Achievement in Directing and
Best Original Screenplay.

In my opinion, there are small chances for the film to win in any of the categories, albeit Moonlight was an outsider last year.
For this viewer it was lucky that the information that this is a horror film was missing initially, for I would have a different, negative mindset, for I tend not to watch this genre of motion pictures…

- What am I saying, I never watch horror knowingly…
- Well, if it is appreciated as one of the best movies of the year, it must be noticed and watched, at least for some minutes

Get Out starts out reasonably and it continues like that, on the horrifying front anyway, where there is not much to terrify audiences.
We have a deer that dies, when the car of the protagonists hit it on the road and the poor animal makes a very upsetting, painful sound.

Moreover, this happens in the first few minutes, while white Rose Armitage aka Allison Williams drives Chris Washington aka the Oscar nominated Daniel Kaluuya to her parents’ home in the country.
Chris is African American and much of the story revolves around that, from the moment when he asks his girlfriend if her parents are aware that he is black.

After they hit the deer, they call the police and the white man of the law asks for the ID of the man in the car…

“Why are you asking for his ID? He wasn’t driving?” Is a reasonable attitude, although the policeman explains that this is standard procedure after an accident happens…only the fact that he is asking an African American raises a question, or more

Once they arrive at the estate, where there is a large, luxurious mansion and a sizeable property, a series of strange incidents start to happen, some of which made me smile, again, not knowing this is actually a horror film.
The parents are apparently friendly and accommodating, albeit in an outré manner and Missy Armitage, the mother, is soon somewhat harsh with the African American servant who spills some tea.

Missy is a psychiatrist and the father, Dean, is a surgeon who quickly asks if Chris is smoking and specifies that the analyst of the family had cured him, through hypnosis, making him sick at the thought of cigarettes.
During the night, the guest walks out to smoke a cigarette, observing the weird behavior of the maid and being almost run over by the gardener, who is also African American, at least in appearance, while he is jogging…in the middle of the night.

On the next day, a large group of guests arrives for the annual party and they all act like if this is a Vampire Ball, one of them measuring the muscles on Chris ‘arms, another saying that Black is in fashion.
The only other African American at this shindig acts in a way that suggests he is either hypnotized or…someone else is in control of his mind.

Chris is intrigued and more and more suspicious of all this “paranormal” activity until a nadir is reached.
The “brother” who seems to be “owned” by a rather corpulent, twice as old woman has a strange breakdown:

When Chris uses the flash of his phone, the only other African American guest attacks him viciously.
This is explained as an effect of the epilepsy that is plaguing the young man, but The hero knows about this disease and is convinced the clarification is actually a lie and in line with all the “shit” that has been going on at this weird place.

When he understands that something awful is taking place, after finding on the internet about the identity of the “epileptic” man, who has been missing for some years, after a career as a jazz musician in New York and is now transformed into a completely different, outlandish “sex slave”, Chris decides to leave right away.
Rose says she loves him and shows compassion, while deciding to find an excuse and leave the parents’ house earlier.

This is where it becomes terrifying and without going into details, I will just say that Things Fall Apart.

Get Out is a good motion picture, notwithstanding the fact that it is not really my cup of tea and some propositions are preposterous…
Posted 28th January 2018 by realini
Profile Image for Ify.
187 reviews196 followers
June 16, 2020
Wow! Yes the script is fantastic, but have you ever read this script with annotations from Jordan Peele about his story choices and influences, as well as deleted scenes?

Profile Image for Jessie Drew.
699 reviews27 followers
August 15, 2020
Read this! The introductory essay by Tananarive Due alone is worth the price of the book. Then, you get the added and very substantial bonus of annotations by Jordan Peele.
DEFINITELY RECOMMEND
157 reviews
October 27, 2021
Finally had the chance to sit down with the movie with the screenplay. Very cool, LOVED the notes at the end.
Profile Image for Esperance A Mulonda.
189 reviews1 follower
August 22, 2022
I don't really read a lot of screenplays but when I saw this one at the bookstore, I couldn't resist. Read it in one sitting and once again, it shows the genuis of Peele.

I am still mad that we lost the line " A mind is a terrible thing to waste" 🥺
Profile Image for LiteraryGamer.
437 reviews38 followers
October 16, 2026
I genuinely don’t think my usual long review is needed here because it would basically just be a movie review, but there is something about reading the words after seeing the movie twice now that has made me feel like I need to watch it again. Not only is the entire screenplay here, all of the deleted scenes are included, along with the alternate ending and a lot of notes from Peele about what he was thinking when he was writing a particular scene.

“Black history IS Black horror.” That’s a quote from the introduction by Tananarive Due, which was the impetus for buying this to begin with. In her forward, she explains that twice she’s tried to get her books adapted to movies, her books that are written about Black people, in situations unique to Black people, dealing with living a Black experience, and both times, high praise. The studios are on board, they love ideas, but…

“Do the characters ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 to be Black?”

One of the books is about an immortal Ethiopian who survives slavery. But yes, let’s try to make the cast white.

This is why 𝐺𝑒𝑡 𝑂𝑢𝑡 was revolutionary and still is (and for more than just being made). Peele is the first Black man to win an Oscar for best original screenplay thanks to this film. Black horror stories don’t necessarily need the addition of monsters, life has been and is horrific enough. What Peele achieved in this movie makes me proud and makes me feel seen, because y’all, one more microaggression and a white woman touching my hair is going to make me snap. If you’re looking for ‘real’ horror, check out this film, and if you’re an extra nerd like me, check this little book out, it’ll be well worth the time for both Due’s and Peele’s thoughts alone.

This quote is about deer, but it is NOT about deer, and it gives me goosebumps every time:

"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦? 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼'𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑟. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡; 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚. 𝐼 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘, "𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡."
Profile Image for Ross Jeffery.
Author 28 books371 followers
July 13, 2025
This illustrated screenplay, including an alternate ending, deleted scenes and annotations by Jordan Peele is absolutely brilliant. I got it originally just as a research tool, but it’s proven to be so much more than that - there are a few others of these available and I’m going to pick them up too.

A quick read but one that will linger. Learnt a lot and will at some point attempt my own screenplay - so it paid off and if you’ve thought about writing a screenplay before, get this book, learn from a modern master, it’s great!
Profile Image for Kelsee.
70 reviews76 followers
February 18, 2024
I read this as I watched the movie and it was amazing to see what was edited or improvised. Especially seeing what made such a huge impact and Peele's thoughts while making this movie. I recommend if you're going to pick this up, you should definitely read it as a read along for the biggest impact.

(ALSO I'M SO HAPPY THEY GOT RID OF THE ALTERNATE SCENE.)
Profile Image for Justin Jayne.
202 reviews
December 18, 2022
Wanted to knock out something quick and boy was this perfect. I love the movie and it was so insightful to read the prologue from Tananarive Due and the screenplay and annotations from Peele. Also reading the deleted scenes and alternate ending was super cool because that's not something the average viewer will ever get to look into.

Peele is a master at what he does. The fact that this is so loaded and precise and it's his first feature effort is nothing short of a miracle. A good miracle.
Profile Image for Matt Sautman.
2,092 reviews31 followers
January 12, 2025
Anyone who loves this film should read this book given the additional insight Jordan Peele provides into the choices he made in the film ranging from annotations, deleted scenes, and the original ending.
Profile Image for Sophia.
966 reviews
September 20, 2024
LOVED all the annotations. Such an interesting movie.
Profile Image for Greta Macionytė.
135 reviews42 followers
July 6, 2025
One of my favorite horror films just got even better.

Reading Jordan Peele’s annotations is like getting a masterclass in storytelling, symbolism, and social commentary

If Get Out blew your mind on screen, this annotated screenplay will make you appreciate just how meticulously that impact was crafted.
Profile Image for jordan.
113 reviews1 follower
February 19, 2021
Like the film itself, the annotated screenplay for Get Out is the easiest five stars I can give a piece of media.

Jordan Peele knows horror. He understands it deeply. Its roots, its future. (The future that, arguably, Peele is leading.) There’s no doubt that Peele is the best horror writer and director in present times - of all time, perhaps?

Having a physical copy of this screenplay would be enough. But to have the essays at the beginning, the annotations about what Peele’s thought process was, the deleted scenes, the alternate ending. This book is a ticket into the mind of a phenomenal writer; it’s practically priceless with the amount of information we get about writing processes, about Black lives, about horror in general.

For writers and filmmakers of any genre, this is a must. Just taking a look into Peele’s genius is such an honour.
Profile Image for BookChampions.
1,323 reviews124 followers
September 21, 2020
If you are a big fan of this film, there is really no reason to not read it. The annotations by Peele are so insightful and crisply illuminates the film, while the analysis essay by horror writer Tananarive Due, which opens the book, is enthusiastic and probing.

The pocket-book style packaging itself is first-class. I adore this film, and since it is a film I enjoy teaching in my Monsters class (and am currently teaching), I find this book a nearly essential read.
283 reviews10 followers
February 15, 2020
Peele's insight into his own decision-making was soooo fascinating.
Profile Image for Brian.
Author 3 books20 followers
January 1, 2021
Essential for all writers, in tandem with watching the film with director’s commentary.
Profile Image for Daniel Lane.
3 reviews
January 27, 2021
Damn, this was a riveting read. The buildup is perfectly executed and the finale is genuine nail biting material.
Profile Image for Audrey.
877 reviews68 followers
October 11, 2023
it is perhaps unsurprising that the screenplay of my favorite movie is also a favorite read . . . but this experience might be even better than the film.
The essay by Tananarive Due perfectly sets the tone for the film and why conversations about this film need to be happening. Get Out was an incredibly important addition to the horror genre, but the publication of this screenplay and its annotation also brings the conversation about representation to the book world—where the thriller and horror genres are disproportionately saturated by white authors and narratives.
Jordan Peele's annotations and explanations for certain decisions are also fascinating for any writers or storytellers. His insight into why the movie *works* is so valuable and, as someone who adores this movie, it was interesting to spot differences between the script and the actual movie, as well as hear thoughts like "I wasn't expecting this to get as much of a laugh as it does in theaters."
I loved the inclusion of the deleted scenes and alternative ending. Truly my only complaint is that I always want more of Jordan Peele's thoughts. I will definitely continue collecting these editions for his other/future films!
Profile Image for Nick Otte.
164 reviews3 followers
Read
September 5, 2024
This little edition was unexpectedly one of the most forthright and revealing books on creative process I’ve ever read.

Not only is this one of the best films of the new century, I believe its filmmaker and writer is one of our finest, most creative and conscientious storytellers in any medium, and this book proves it. Reading the script is an interesting experience, but the real star of the show here are Peele’s 90 or so illuminating annotations. He offers insight on his careful considerations of the most seemingly small decisions, talks at length about what the audience needs in order to buy into this world and feel compelled on both grounded and heightened genre levels, how happy accidents in the writing process became profoundly meaningful in the finished product, and shows an incredible awareness of set up and payoff, which is what made him such an effective comedian and also what makes him such an incredible filmmaker.

I need one of these for Nope.
Profile Image for Mackenzie Manley.
137 reviews1 follower
June 15, 2024
First read of vacation. Jordan Peele’s screenplay is so thoughtfully constructed (not that I’ve read many screenplays BUT it’s well done imho). His commentary notes are fascinating. Loved reading Peele’s insights and absorbing all the meticulous details he placed in Get Out, including other films/stories he referenced—The Shining, Misery, Silence of the Lambs, Halloween, etc.
Profile Image for JMRC.
13 reviews
July 6, 2025
De unos años para acá he hecho las paces con la parte del guion. Me mama esta película, pero no sé qué tanto podamos atribuirle al papel.

Definitivamente encuentro la parte bella de la guía para el momento de ponerse a filmar, pero encuentro más divertidas y enriquecedoras las notas sobre lo que está escrito. Quizá dar un paso pa’ atrás y leer el guion hace que identifiques por qués, pero los para qués están en las notas.

Vivan los para qués.
Profile Image for Brandon.
109 reviews3 followers
January 1, 2024
Fantastic, of course, I just sat down and read the whole thing in 2 hours.
The added annotations give some really interesting insight, and the essay at the front was really thought provoking. Love love love the script
Profile Image for nicole  mitchell.
44 reviews
September 6, 2024
jordan peele is truly one of the most thought provoking screenwriters and directors of our time. as a film enthusiast, i loved learning about the process behind each scene and decision
Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews