The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

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The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

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Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele discuss their first full-length film “Keanu”

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Actor Keegan-Michael Key and writer Jordan Peele sat down Sunday to talk about their new film, “Keanu,” an action-comedy to be released April 29. The film tells the story of friends that hatch a plot to retrieve a kitten by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.

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Photo credit: Tumblr

The duo established themselves as a working pair through their comedy TV show “Key and Peele,” which aired from 2012 to 2015. The show featured the two comedians in front of a live studio audience that had short sketches and skits in it. “Keanu” is the pair’s first full-length feature.

“You can’t go as crazy as fast,” Key and Peele said of making a full-length film in comparison to filming short sketches. “We have to think about what happened right before the scene and where it is going afterwards… it’s a difference piece and process.”

The two said in their interview that there isn’t a comedian out there that doesn’t wish to be an action star. It is this inspiration that led the two to come up with a comedy film that featured action.

“We just want to be badass,” they said. “Sometimes you want to walk into the movie theater and forget the rest of the world… see some fun violence and some cute kittens and some ridiculous comedy.”

“Something we have been passionate about our whole lives is action films,” the two continued, “especially the genre in the ’80s and ’90s with action but lots and lots of laughs in it.”

Both Key and Peele have worked as actors, writers and producers, but for this film, Key is acting in the film while Peele, along with Alex Reuben, wrote the script. The two have written numerous sketches for their show “Key and Peele” in the past.

“We are always writing towards the same end,” the pair said, “to create something that is in our voice.”

“A good amount of the writing process even happens on the day when we are improvising and messing around,” they said. “When we are making comedy, we are essentially trying to crack each other up.”

Ultimately, however, it is their shared passion that drives Key and Peele to write and produce their work.

“We write based on how we see the world,” they said. “That’s what is going to find its way into our stories.”

See more of Key and Peele in the show “Key and Peele,” as well as many of their other works, which can be found on the IMBD pages.

For more information on movie times and the film itself, visit the movie’s Twitter.

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