‘Get Out’ Star Lil Rel Howery Reveals His Most Challenging Role To Date

Lil Rel Howery is likely best recognizable to moviegoers for his supporting role as life-saving TSA agent Rod in last year’s breakout film “Get Out.” Post-box office domination, the comedian turned actor is continuing to amp up his resume.

Howery’s success was recognized late last month at CinemaCon’s Big Screen Achievement Awards in Las Vegas where the 38-year-old was given the Breakout Performer of the Year award, an honor which Howery didn’t take lightly.

“I just think that’s dope. There are a lot of great performers,” Howery told members of the press, including International Business Times, ahead of the event on April 26. “This is a really big thing that I’m trying to act cool about but it’s surreal.”

Howery, 38, who can be seen next in the basketball comedy “Uncle Drew” and opposite Sandra Bullock in the thriller “Bird Box,” said he realizes “Get Out” had a big impact not just on his career, but also his personal life.

“You can do a hit movie and make a lot of money but that kind of impact to have all these conversations with people, I don’t know how many times you get a chance to do something like that,” Howery said. “I think this is a movie that’s going to be talked about for years to come. We did that movie, it came out a year ago and it’s still talked about...‘Get Out’ is still coming up for no reason.”

While the movie undoubtedly won over moviegoers and critics alike with screenwriter and director Jordan Peele walking away with the best original screenplay Oscar earlier this year, Howery said a sequel isn’t exactly a given. When asked to comment on Kanye West’s recent viral tweet asking if his home looks like the film’s “sunken place,” the actor said he had reached out to Peele with an idea.

“It’s funny. I try to call Jordan yesterday because, and it’s not necessarily because of Kanye, but a lightbulb did go off what I think a ‘Get Out 2’ should be,” he said. “I really didn’t think we should do one…but I have an idea.”

Whether “Get Out” will get a followup installment remains to be seen, however, Howery’s fans can count on the actor not playing the same role in every project. “When it comes to acting, I don’t want to be put in a box,” he explained. Howery really stepped out of his comfort zone for his upcoming film with Bullock, a role which he said was his most challenging to date.

“That guy is nothing like me,” Howery explained of his “Bird Box” character. “There’s something funny about comedians that become really good actors. I love what I do and we tend to black out in character. Until I saw ‘Jim & Andy,’ Jim Carrey’s documentary on Netflix that I thought was brilliant, that’s the first time that I understood ‘Oh this is kind of how you deal with it or get out of it.’ I really became that character. He’s nothing like me. He’s a different person. I couldn’t talk to my family for two weeks.”

Howery can be seen next in “Uncle Drew” when the comedy hits theaters on June 29. “Bird Box” will be released in December.