'Us' star Lupita Nyong'o reveals how she terrified her mom

"She watched it with her eyes closed," Nyong'o told "GMA" about her mother.

March 19, 2019, 10:17 AM

Fans know Lupita Nyong'o from "Black Panther" but the Oscar winner is taking on a new movie genre in the horror film, "Us."

Nyong'o stopped by "Good Morning America" Tuesday to discuss the terrifying film and admitted that she loves scaring people in real life -- including her own mother.

"My mom was terrified of seeing this film," Nyong'o told "GMA." "In fact, she watched it with her eyes closed and [covered] her ears so she hasn't really seen it."

In "Us," Nyong'o and her co-star Winston Duke are being terrorized by a family that looks just like them. Nyong'o therefore acts in two different roles at the same time.

"To play both roles took a lot out of me," Nyong'o said. "They're very different to each other and they're coming for each other so it took a lot of acting with a green dot on a pole, things like that. So I was very surprised to see the movie and to see how they so seamlessly made it work."

Lupita Nyong'o attends the world premiere of "US" during 2019 SXSW Conference and Festival on March 08, 2019, in Austin, Texas.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

The mastermind behind the movie is director Jordan Peele, who's also known for his work on "Get Out."

"He does it with such passion and he enjoys it so much and sometimes he would make fun of us," Nyong'o said. "He would do this Nakia impression on set. It definitely got us a little lighter."

Peele told her to watch some pretty intense horror films before she took on the role.

"The last one was 'Martyrs' and there was a little footnote, 'Enter at your own risk,'" she said. "I never did my homework alone. I always had a friend over that I bribed. At the end of it my friend was like 'OK I'm going home' and I started to cry because I was so scared of being alone. Do not watch it."

"Us" hits theaters this Friday.

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