Inside The Wacky, Wondrous World Of Netflix's 'Wendell & Wild,' The Reteaming Of Jordan Peele And Keegan-Michael Key

As technology has expanded, the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and other special effects to bring narratives to life has become commonplace in cinema. Stop-motion animation, which requires a film crew to work in absolute harmony and for a movie to be captured frame by frame, is, in some ways, a lost art. However, for The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick, it is still the most delectable way to tell a story. A master at his craft, the Academy Award nominee has teamed up with Academy Award winner Jordan Peele for his latest wickedly delightful project, Netflix‘s Wendell & Wild.

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'The Twilight Zone': Sanaa Lathan And Damson Idris On Their Time-Bending Episode, "Replay"

More than sixty years after the classic sci-fi series aired on television, horror mastermind Jordan Peele has reimagined The Twilight Zone for the 21st-century. As the series narrator and host, Peele takes his audience through ten episodes that explore the intricacies of the modern world through the Us director’s haunting lens. The third episode of the series, “Replay,” starring Sanaa Lathan and Damson Idris, is one of the most superb of the electric first season.

In the episode, Lathan stars as Nina, an acclaimed attorney who is driving her son Dorian (Idris) to get him settled into his first day at a fictional Historically Black University. Eager to capture the memories, Nina records their road trip on an old camcorder. When the mother/son duo find themselves in the crosshairs of a racist state trooper (Glenn Fleshler), Nina discovers that the camcorder can rewind time.

Ahead of the “Replay” premiere, Shadow And Act sat down to chat with Damson Idris and Sanaa Lathan about stepping into The Twilight Zone and why this particular episode will stick with the audience for a good long while.

"I used to watch the re-runs of the original, and I was always just so fascinated with them," Lathan explained. "To this day I remember images from some of the episodes. When I read the script I was like, 'Sign me up!' It's a whammy what this woman, Nina Harrison, goes through. She goes on this real emotional journey, and I just was super excited to play her."

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Shrouded In Darkness: The Trailer For Jordan Peele's 'Us' Redefines Horror Mythology

"It’s important to note that Us — unlike Get Out is not about race," director Jordan Peele explained to Shadow and Act at an Us trailer-viewing presentation in New York City last week. "It is a horror film. I dedicated a lot of myself to creating new horror mythology and new monsters. I think that monsters and stories about monsters are one of our best ways of getting at deeper truths and facing our fears in society. It was very important to me to have a Black family at the center of a horror film." 

The Us trailer opens warmly enough. A Black family — a mother, father, son and daughter travel along a country road with Luniz's 1995 hip-hop classic “I Got 5 On It” blasting from the radio. The father, Gabe (Winston Duke) sits in the driver's seat rapping along to the music as the mother, Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), turns toward the backseat eagerly trying to get her young children (Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex) to engage with the classic song. The kids, of course, are less than impressed. 

The Wilson family soon arrives at Adelaide’s old childhood beachside home in Northern California where they are spending the summer. They take in the day lounging at the beach with some old friends —the Tyler family (Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker). Their blissful day quickly turns sinister when Adelaide —who is haunted by a past trauma -- notices that her son Jason (Alex) is no longer on the beach. Adelaide spirals into a panic running along the sand shouting for her son before finally finding Jason who —seems OK, though perhaps a little thrown off by an eerie figure he sees on the beach. Done with the beach for the day, the Wilsons head back to their summer home for the evening. As night swoops in, the family's lives descends into complete chaos. First, a figure clutching a large pair of shears appears in their driveway along with four silent figures clutching hands. From Peele and the cast's exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly we've learned that these monsters are called "the Tethered." 

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