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Daniel Kaluuya is honored with a statue in central London

Daniel Kaluuya is honored with a statue in central London

Daniel Kaluuya will be honored with a statue in his hometown of London to celebrate the actor's breakthrough role in the 2017 hit Get Out.

The Oscar-winning star, now considered one of Britain's best screen talents, has been chosen from a poll of 5,000 British film fans as the actor people would most like to see as part of the Scenes in the Square tour in Leicester Square , who received a fifth of the votes. His statue – depicting the famous “Sunken Place” scene in “Get Out,” in which Kaluuya's character falls into a metaphysical abyss suppressed by hypnosis – will be unveiled in October.

Kaluuya joins an eclectic array of statues following the footsteps of the last century of cinema, including Harry Potter, Batman, Wonder Woman, Mary Poppins and Gene Kelly. These figures were unveiled four years ago and since then, temporary additions such as the Game of Thrones Iron Throne, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Indiana Jones have been displayed at the plaza. Kaluuya's statue is intended to represent modern box office success and homegrown talent.

“We’re delighted to welcome Daniel Kaluuya and Jordan Peele’s Get Out to our Scenes in the Square program to celebrate a modern box office success and homegrown British talent,” said Mark Williams, deputy managing director of Heart of London Business Alliance, which runs Scenes in the Square with the support of Westminster City Council. “It portends a bright future for our journey, with Kaluuya as the chosen symbol of the future of entertainment, and it’s a pleasure to be able to shine a spotlight on such a groundbreaking film.”

Not only did “Get Out” provide a breakthrough for Kaluuya, who went on to star in “Black Panther,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” (for which he won a supporting actor Oscar) and “Nope,” but it also catapulted him as a writer /Director Jordan Peele into the realms of top-class filmmakers. Despite a budget of under $5 million, the film broke numerous box office records, grossed more than $250 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing debut film based on an original screenplay in Hollywood history. The film received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Kaluuya) and Best Director (Peele) – and won Peele the Oscar for Original Screenplay.

According to organizers, the unveiling of Kaluuya's “Get Out” statue coincides with Halloween and Black History Month in the UK, in keeping with both the film's horror genre and its themes that highlight the culture of black Americans and their lived experiences .

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