Jordan Peele is set to receive the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing, BAFTA Los Angeles announced Wednesday.
The “Us” director will join Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan as fellow honorees at the British Academy Britannia Awards, which take place on Oct. 25 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills as presented by American Airlines and Jaguar Land Rover.
“Jordan Peele has earned record-breaking success and critical acclaim through work that pushes boundaries and shines a light on stories of important social relevance,” BAFTA Los Angeles CEO Chantal Rickards said in a statement. “His imaginative storylines, inclusive casting, and bold style evokes John Schlesinger’s spirit of independence, integrity and commitment to excellence. We are honored to celebrate Jordan’s talents at this year’s ceremony.”
Previous recipients of the award have included Steve McQueen, Ava DuVernay, Ang Lee, Sam Mendes, Mike Newell, Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan, David Yates, Quentin Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow.
Peele is an Oscar and Emmy-winning writer, director, producer and actor. He won an Oscar and scored a Best Picture nomination for his debut film, “Get Out,” and his follow-up, the horror movie “Us,” is currently one of the 10 highest-grossing films domestically of 2019. He’s only the fifth African American to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars and was the first-ever to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Prior to “Get Out,” Peele was the co-star and co-creator of “Key & Peele” on Comedy Central along with his sketch partner Keegan-Michael Key. He now leads his company Monkeypaw Productions and produced Spike Lee’s latest feature “BlackKklansman” in 2018. Peele also a producer on the Tracy Morgan series “The Last O.G.” and the reboot of “The Twilight Zone” for CBS All-Access, which he also hosts. He produced “Us” and the Amazon documentary series “Lorena,” and he and Key reunited in the voice cast for “Toy Story 4.”
Waller-Bridge is receiving the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. Chan will receive the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment, and Coogan will receive the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy Presented by Jaguar Land Rover.
For the second year, BritBox will stream the ceremony live to U.S. and Canada as part of a multi-year partnership between BAFTA Los Angeles and the subscription service from BBC Studios and ITV. Done + Dusted will produce the ceremony.