Lupita Nyong’o has apologised to anyone she may have offended, after revealing she drew inspiration from the condition spasmodic dysphonia to help her voice character Red in horror movie Us.
The 36-year-old previously claimed the voice she used for Red was inspired by Robert F Kennedy Jr, who had spasmodic dysphonia – a neurological disorder that causes involuntary spasms of the larynx.
Although, Lupita has since been called out for referencing the condition and linking it to being ‘haunting’.
Insisting she hadn’t meant to cause offence, Lupita cleared up her comments during an appearance on The View on Thursday.
She insisted Red’s voice is a creation of her imagination based on a number of factors, including the condition, laryngeal fractures, vocal cord haemorrhages and her own experience with vocal injury.
Lupita Nyong’o addresses criticism for her inspiration behind one of her character’s voices in #UsMovie, saying she “crafted Red with love and care.”
“I really wanted to ground her in something that felt real. And so for all that, I say sorry to anyone that I may have offended.” pic.twitter.com/R6Kf3hW8na
— The View (@TheView) March 28, 2019
She said: ‘In my processes as an actor, one of the things I look to do is to find ways into the most human and most real parts of the camera, and to steer clear of a judgement of them as good or evil, pleasant or creepy.
‘I understand that it’s a very marginal group of people who suffer from this, and so the thought that I would in a way offend them was not my intention.’
Lupita 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 – a doppelgänger called Red.
‘In my mind, I wasn’t interested in vilifying or demonising the condition,’ she said. ‘I crafted Red with love and care. So as much as it is in a very genre-specific world, I really wanted to ground her in something that felt real.
‘I say sorry to anyone that I may have offended.’
Lupita’s apology comes after Complex reports the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association (NSDA) issued a statement that spoke out against her use of the condition for her character.
It read: ‘One of the toughest parts of having a disability is that people make assumptions based on the way you walk, talk or act sometimes with little understanding of what is causing it.
‘We understand that hearing the unique sound caused by symptoms of spasmodic dysphonia was the spark of inspiration for the voice of this character.
‘What is difficult for us, and for the thousands of people living with spasmodic dysphonia, is this association to their voice with what might be considered haunting.’
The actress plays dual roles in the horror movie – the sweet-natured mother Adelaide and doppelanger Red, who is intent on terrorising the Wilson family as they holiday in Santa Cruz.
Lupita’s co-star Winston Duke said that upon hearing Red’s voice for the first time, he had ‘definite chills’.
Us has received the biggest ever opening for an original horror movie, surpassing 2018’s A Quiet Place.
The movie, directed by Jordan Peele, also stars Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker and has raked in over $70 million (£53m) in its opening weekend.
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