Key Takeaways
- Daniel Kaluuya told Jimmy Fallon he suspected a prank, expecting Ashton Kutcher to jump out, when he learned London was unveiling a bronze statue of him in Leicester Square.
- The statue depicts Kaluuya as Chris Washington from "Get Out" in the Sunken Place pose, making him the first Black actor honored on the Scenes in the Square trail through public vote.
- Kaluuya said Spider-Punk character Hobie Brown, whom he voices and who hails from his own Camden Town neighborhood, is defined by caring for others rather than just his rebellious aesthetic.
- Kaluuya is set to direct and co-write a Spider-Punk feature for Sony Pictures Animation while also promoting "Misty Green," the Chris Rock film releasing in theaters October 9 and expanding October 16.
Daniel Kaluuya thought the bronze statue dedicated to him in Leicester Square was a segmen out of Punk’d.
The actor, who stars in new comedy-drama Misty Green, recounted the moment on the Tuesday (Sept. 29) episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, explaining that he thought the 2024 unveiling of the bronze statue was a prank. Located on the “Scenes in the Square” location in Central London, the statue depicts Kaluuya as Chris in the 2017 horror sensation Get Out.
"Because the hotel where when we like did the kind of unveiling, because I thought I was gonna get punked,” Kaluuya said, referencing the hit 2000s MTV show. "And so I thought, am I getting punked. I thought Ashton Kutcher was going to come out or something."
"I was staying in a hotel like above the statue. And then in the morning I woke up, I looked down and someone was just having a sandwich, like on it sitting down," he said. "And I was like, ‘Whoa, that's crazy. That's part of their day.’"
When asked by host Jimmy Fallon whether he would take a date to the statue, Kaluuya coyly said, “you know how it goes.” The Academy Award winner went on to credit the honor to the people who wanted the statue erected. "It was the public vote. It was a public vote. The public voted for who they wanted to, like, have it so I owe a lot to the London people," he said. "That's my hometown."
The conversation also turned to Spider-Punk, the Across the Spider-Verse character that Kaluuya voiced and will star as in his own 2028 spinoff. The actor is also executive producing a planned film based around Barney.
