Daniel Kaluuya will be honored for his breakthrough role in the 2017 Jordan Peele-helmed horror film Get Out with a statue in London's famed Leicester Square. The pedestrian square located in the city's West End is known for its life-size pop culture statues such as Laurel and Hardy, Mr. Bean, and Paddington, among others.
The character, Chris Washington, was chosen in a poll conducted of 5,000 British film fans to determine which would be the next addition to Leicester Square's "Scenes in the Square." The Academy Award winning actor's likeness received one-fifth of the vote. The statue will depict the trippy scene from the film in which he falls into the hypnosis-induced "Sunken Place" and will be officially unveiled sometime this month.
Kaluuya revealed the exciting news in an Instagram post this week. "Soooo wanted to tell you guys, I’m getting a statue in Leicester Square, Central London, the same place I used to eat my meal deal prawn cocktail crisps, in between auditions," he wrote.
"I’ll be real, this is beyond imagining. 'Chris' in Get Out will be memorialized on the trail alongside characters like Batman, Harry Potter and Mary Poppins and the most special thing about all of this is that it’s been chosen by the people," he continued, thanking those who voted for him.
"I really tell stories for you guys; whether you’re in a bouji cinema, snuck into a second screening or just wanna watch something Friday evening after work, I really make things with you in mind," Kaluuya added. "So to have this by you, means a lot to me."
Mark Williams, deputy chief executive for Heart of London Business Alliance, told Variety that Kaluuya’s statue will "represent modern cinematic success and homegrown talent."
"We are excited to welcome Daniel Kaluuya and Jordan Peele’s Get Out to our Scenes in the Square line-up as a celebration of a modern cinematic success and homegrown British talent," Williams said in a statement. "It points to a bright future for our trail, with Kaluuya as a chosen symbol of the future of entertainment, and it is a pleasure to be able to spotlight such a pioneering film."
