Lupita Nyong’o apologises for doppelgänger voice in new movie 'Us'

Award winning actor, Lupita Nyong’o has issued an apology after revealing that she drew inspiration of her character in Us from a disability condition.

In the new horror film, Nyong’o plays two characters, Adelaide Wilson and Red, that latter of whom is an evil doppelgänger hell-bent on bloody revenge.

In several interviews while promoting the movie, the actor said she used a condition called spasmodic dysphonia to help her voice the character Red in horror movie.

Spasmodic dysphonia is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary spasms of the larynx.

Last week, the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association were appalled after Nyong’o told the New York Times she based the voice of Red, on Robert F Kennedy Jr, who suffers from the condition.

Her comments sparked backlash from disability advocates for linking her terrifying character to the condition and disability.

During an appearance on The View on Friday, the 36-year-old Oscar winner responded to the criticism.

'WANTED TO SHED LIGHT'

“I met with people as part of my exploration with the condition, and I learned how difficult it is to have the disorder. So I am very aware of the frustrations and misconceptions and the misdiagnosis… I thought in speaking about it and mentioning it, it might shed light on the condition.”

She added that the thought that she would offend anyone was not her intention.

“In my mind, I wasn’t interested in vilifying or demonising the condition. I crafted Red with love and care. As much as it was in a genre-specific world, I really wanted to ground her in something that felt real. For all that, I say sorry to anyone that I may have offended.”

She also explained she had met with people who have spasmodic dysphonia and was hoping to raise awareness of it by ‘speaking up about it’ while addressing her character.

Last week, the film raked in an estimated Sh7 billion in ticket sales in the United States to become the largest opening weekend for an original horror movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is now the third-best horror opening of all time.

Us, which also stars Winston Duke, is about a couple fighting off doppelgangers while vacationing with their children at a Northern California beach house.

Us centres on the Wilsons, a seemingly normal middle-class family of four, on vacation at their summer home near the California coast.

Accompanied by her husband, son and daughter, Adelaide Wilson (Lupita) returns to the beachfront home where she grew up as a child.

Haunted by a traumatic experience from the past, Adelaide grows increasingly concerned that something bad is going to happen.

Her worst fears soon become a reality when four masked strangers descend upon the house, forcing the Wilsons into a fight for survival.

When the masks come off, the family is horrified to learn that each attacker takes the appearance of one of them.

Us is Jordan Peele’s latest politically resonant horror movie and is his the second smash-hit directorial debut, after Get Out.