Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya has expanded on why he is making a live-action Peele likening Kaluuya to his own Robert De Niro, referring to how Martin Scorsese used the veteran actor as a creative muse for many movies. Kaluuya won the Academy Award for Best Actor just a few years later for his take on the Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.
Barney & Friends aired on PBS from 1992 to 2009 and was an ubiquitous part of many a childhood, focusing on positivity and unconditional love. For a performer like Kaluuya, known for his simmering intensity, pursuing a project about the singing purple dinosaur may seem like an odd fit. However, Kaluuya and his production company 59% have been attached to the Barney movie project as far back as 2019. The company is co-producing alongside Mattel Films, the movie-making branch of the famous toy company. The initial impetus for a new Barney movie was reportedly that a story centered around unconditional love was well-timed for our contemporary era.
As of now, the Barney project is still moving forward but remains in the writing stage. Speaking to Collider, Kaluuya opened up further about what drew him to produce it. The actor its that he's fully aware most people perceive him to be on the serious side, and with Barney, Kaluuya hopes to challenge those perceptions. Read his quote below:
"My last number of films have been so aligned to kind of what I stand for as a man. But there are a whole lot of things that I do as a man. I love kids’ films. How did everyone get into films? Watching kids’ films. I don’t want to restrict myself to the limitations of what I’m perceived as."
In taking on this surprising Barney project, Kaluuya is certainly challenging the industry's understanding of his career. Not only is Barney a beloved children's icon, but the character has also mostly disappeared from screens. After being cancelled in 2009 due to a changing landscape in children's TV and numerous copyright infringement lawsuits launched by its, Barney & Friends aired until 2016, when the PBS broadcasting rights expired. Since then, the purple T. Rex hasn't appeared in many projects, apart from being coded into some Resident Evil Village mods as a villain. Barney has had one big screen appearance before this, however, in 1998's Barney's Big Adventure, which earned two Razzie nominations.
Although many adults may find the perpetually "super-dee-duper" positive attitude of Barney somewhat grating, they are not his target audience. While Kaluuya's version isn't likely to be too tonally similar to Big Adventure, he certainly isn't bound to take it into "gritty reboot" territory, either. Kaluuya seems intent on redeeming the oft-villified character, and hopefully he'll be able to guide the project into finding more nuance in the dinosaur's cheery persona. With his first feature film as a writer also on the way, a sci-fi drama titled The Kitchen, and his highly anticipated re-team with Peele, Nope, the actor has no shortage of interesting projects in the pipeline. Kaluuya's prowess as a producer may be untested, but if the intellect he exudes with his characters translates to his real-life producing skills, then the new Barney movie should be a positive surprise for parents and children alike.
Source: Collider
