The Producers Guild of America (PGA), announced the 2018 Stanley Kramer Award will honor the acclaimed feature film “Get Out” produced by Sean McKittrick, p.g.a.; Jason Blum, p.g.a.; Edward H. Hamm, Jr., p.g.a.; and Jordan Peele, p.g.a. (McKittrick & Hamm are deemed a producing partnership.) The Universal Pictures release is the directorial debut of Jordan Peele, who also wrote the screenplay, and features a cast that includes Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Lakeith Stanfield, Lil Rel Howery, Erika Alexander, Marcus Henderson, Betty Gabriel, and Catherine Keener. The Stanley Kramer Award will be presented to “Get Out” at the 29th Annual Producers Guild Awards presented by Cadillac on Saturday, January 20, 2018 at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.
Equal parts gripping thriller and provocative commentary “Get Out” tells the story of Chris (Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Williams), who go on a weekend getaway upstate to meet Rose’s parents, Missy (Keener) and Dean (Whitford). At first, Chris reads the family’s overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he could have never imagined. The film has been praised for its insightful social commentary about race relations in the modern era. In addition to being named the best film of 2017 by numerous U.S. critics groups, “Get Out” has been recognized as one of the top 10 films of 2017 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute and earned a Golden Globe® nomination for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy.
The Stanley Kramer Award was established in 2002 to honor a production, producer or other individuals whose achievement or contribution illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues. Producer/director Stanley Kramer created some of the most powerful work in the history of American motion pictures, including such classics as “Inherit the Wind,” “On the Beach,” “The Defiant Ones,” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” The Stanley Kramer Award is determined by a seven-person committee appointed by the PGA’s Board of Directors, and operates independently of the Producers Guild Awards committee and the PGA staff.
Producers Guild Awards Chairs Donald De Line and Amy Pascal stated, “The electrifying response to ‘Get Out’ demonstrates that the power of motion pictures to crystallize and reflect our collective social anxieties remains stronger than ever. It’s hard to imagine two more different sensibilities approaching the problem of race in America than Stanley Kramer and Jordan Peele, but despite the different paths their stories take, their power springs from the same outrage, fearlessness and passion.”
Previous recipients of the Stanley Kramer Award include: “The Hunting Ground,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Hotel Rwanda,” “In America,” “Antwone Fisher,” “Precious,” “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” “Bully,” “Fruitvale Station,” “The Normal Heart,” and the 2017 honoree, “Loving.”
