- Is there anything that is
off-limits for you in a horror film?
Like when you read the script
and immediately you're like, nope, not doing that.
Can't do it.
- Yeah. Any nudity, love, I'm out.
[Laughing]
I'm not gonna be giving you that slasher moment running down
with me giving you the jumbo moment.
No, I cannot.
That spooks me.
That is scary to me.
- I thought you were going to say something about like,
for me, it's ghosts and spirits.
Right. Because I believe in a higher power.
So I don't play around with -
I thought you were gonna say something like -
- But you know, I don't play with the higher power also.
So this is also a great point.
I do not play with the higher power at all.
So I don't want nothing that, like, I don't want anything
that's like, oh my gosh, we going in the tongues moment
and it's like about to be, yeah, I don't want that either.
- No spirits, no nudity.
Got it.
So casting directors, y'all see what's going on.
I was looking on Instagram and I saw this post
that was so cute.
It was you and your mom gushing over the billboard.
And it's so dope because you've been
in this business 20 years, maybe even longer than that,
yet you still are able to remain present
and take these moments in.
How are you able to do that?
- I think my parents, they did a great job
of just keeping me grounded, I think, throughout
the industry, 'cause it is easy to come up off the ground
with all the different versions of success that I've had
that I'm very grateful for.
But I think each moment I'm always seeing that there's
always new doors to open and new experiences to happen.
So I'm always grateful for them and there's never
this expectation of what's gonna happen.
I'm just always going along for the ride
and surprised where God will lead me.
- Amen to that.
'Cause I'm looking like this ain't Keke's first billboard
but she still has that same energy and excitement.
Family's still proud as though it was the first.
Do you still get excited when you see this kind of stuff?
- Absolutely. Absolutely.
Because there's different scales of it.
I'm also an adult. A lot of the different
versions of success I've had, I was a kid.
So it's kind of also a different introduction
to what it means to be a part of something
like this as a grown woman, you know what I mean?
And then the different content that I'm dealing
with and the conversations that we're having
in the scale of this film.
Definitely my first time filming in IMAX
and being a part of a production so expansive.
So all those things, I definitely don't take lightly.
- What I love about your character in this film,
Emerald Haywood, is that even in these serious situations,
there are these moments of comic relief.
We've seen Jordan Peele do this before in 'Us,' and even in
'Get Out,' some of that dry humor,
but your character really brings in the levity
even in the most serious situations.
Are you like that at all in real life?
Like when you're going through some real issues,
you still find your sense of humor?
- I think so, because I think that's really how life is.
When you're going through scary situations
or difficult stuff, there is, like, levity
because the human mind cannot process some of
the crazy situations that we find ourselves in.
So the way that we, I think, process -
it's obviously, person to person,
but for me personally, I definitely choose humor.
Like that's like my defense mechanism, for sure.
- I do want to get into the film itself
without giving too much away.
I had a chance to see it, obviously. Amazing.
There were so many conversations that I wish I could talk
about without revealing too much.
One of them is there's this subversive commentary
on the culture of Hollywood,
like who gets to be on camera, how they're represented,
how they're received by the American public.
Is there a particular message that comes across
in the script that really resonated with you personally?
- Sure. I think the greatest part was just
like the exploitative nature of our industry
and how hard it is to toe the line
of being able to be an artist
and be creative and be a performer
but also not exploit yourself while doing so
or engaging in the exploitative nature of the industry.
Still having integrity with what you do share.
I think that's just hard.
It's difficult.
And Steven Yeun's character has a great,
he speaks to that commentary in a great way.
And then, like you said, obviously, Emerald and
and OJ and their piece also speaks to it.
But I think that's the biggest theme
that I related to personally.
- Yeah. When we first meet Emerald,
the first sentences out of your mouth.
Are you introducing us to this history of the Haywoods?
Can you talk a bit about the history of film,
how much of that is true and is a history
that I didn't know about, that probably a lot of folks
watching this movie will never have heard of?
- Yeah. As far as I know, it is true that the first
sequential clip, essentially a movie,
was a Black man on a horse.
The first stuntman and star rolled into one.
Yeah. I think, simply put, that is what it was.
And so yeah, Jordan introduced me to that
and I think it was an integral part that he wanted to put
into the Haywood storyline
because he wanted to share their richness
and also express the erasure of Blackness in filmmaking.
So I think there are a lot of different levels
to that as well as just also the erasure
of people that have something to do with filmmaking
that don't always get the shine and the attention
because they're doing so much work behind the camera.
I think there's a big piece to be said about that, too.
And personally, for me, the excitement of other people
being able to see that and hopefully want to do more work
behind the camera, because there's a lot to filmmaking
than just being in front of the camera.
The greatest power to me that comes into filmmaking
is being behind the camera.
And I think especially as Black people,
a lot of times it's just the performative aspect
that you think you're most necessary for.
But I love how Jordan showcased
that this family has a legacy of doing the work
behind the camera and that's how they were able to sustain.
- And you talk about this erasure of Blackness in film,
there's also this erasure of Blackness
in what we see as cowboy history, right?
Like when you think of a cowboy or people who
herd horses and take care of horses, you're not gonna think
of Black folks, yet there's this legacy of Black cowboys
all the way going back to times of Indigenous Americans
encountering new settlers and colonists here.
- Oh yeah, cowboys, farmers, all types of stuff.
Again, Black people are not a monolith.
And I think that Jordan does a great job
in all of his films, and we have some other great creators
that have been doing a great job at bringing
out the diversity of what that means.
You know what I'm saying?
Like Black isn't just, I listen to hip-hop music
and know how to do popping and locking.
It's not just that. It exists in so many different phases.
You think about rock and roll, like Jimi Hendrix,
so it's just the truth that Black people
don't exist one way.
And so the more diverse filmmakers we have specifically
behind the screen, the more opportunity we have
for a different perspective of what Black is.
- What were your early conversations like with Jordan
as this was coming together,
even before you guys started filming?
- It was a lot about the character, a lot about the themes:
spectacle, exploitation, and filmmaking.
We spoke a lot about all the different archetypes
that he put into the character Emerald,
how he really wanted to emerge her with a bunch
of different concepts, which I think was really exciting
for me to play because she starts out one way in the film.
And I remember reading it and being like,
this is not what I expected to happen.
You know what I mean?
Over the course of the journey of the film
with her character.
And I was really just shocked by it.
And so we talked a lot about that
and making sure that we could thread that journey seamlessly
and make sure that that change or that turn
really comes to the audience as a surprise.
That was something that I was really excited about
'cause I never got an opportunity to play a character
with so much range.
- Speaking of range, do you see yourself getting
behind the camera, as well,
and doing some more directing yourself?
- Oh my gosh, totally.
It's a dream of mine, just to do,
to be more behind the camera and to also be of assistance
to other people like myself, you know what I mean?
That wanna get opportunity to tell a story
or create something or be the face of something.
All the work that I've done
since I was a kid, it's been 20 years in the industry
and I just wanna be able to share it
and not just be the person in the forefront.
- What would a Keke Palmer-directed film,
what would the storyline of that first film be for you?
- It would be something, I mean, very character-driven.
I just like good character stories.
Like my favorite story growing up was, like, 'The Wood'
or like 'Goonies.'
What I loved about 'Goonies' was that it was about kids
just being kids and kids enjoying what it meant to be a kid.
I always remember the line that Mikey says.
He says, "Right now, down here, this is our time."
"Up there, it's their time."
"But down here, it's our time."
It's like, I love just the simplicity of what that means.
Taking simple character stories and making them big
in that way, encompassing what it means to be a child.
Or when you think about 'The Wood,'
what it is to have brotherhood,
just to be some brothers in the hood, and yeah they Black
but it's not attached to oppression,
but yet their culture is still alive.
It's got a love story to it.
It's humorous.
And it's also about growing up
and growing out of who you thought you were.
Or even when I think about 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off,'
how it's just about kids, teenagers
knowing that they're not gonna be teenage forever
and they're not gonna always be able to be reckless
but to enjoy the moment while they have it
and while it lasts and they'll know when it's time
for them to - and also showing the youth
in a way that doesn't feel like you're belittling them.
That's something that I always loved
about John Hughes's work was
that he talked about teenagers like regular people
and didn't speak down in the work towards them.
Their dialogue was very sophisticated
and they were aware, which I think is why
we all cling to his work.
So just good character-driven stories that give diversity
to young people and people of color.
- Listen, what is one thing about 'Nope'
that you could tell us
that won't make sense now but will make sense
once it comes out and when audiences see it?
- It's really going to make you look at yourself
and your relationship with exploitation,
how you exploit yourself, how you exploit others,
and our addiction to taking a moment
and not just being able to be present with it,
but to see what it can offer us.
- Gotta ask this because, as you said, you're a
powerhouse, you're about to add director to your slate.
You're an actress, a singer, you've hosted red carpets
for 'Vogue,' you've had interviews go viral.
And now you're about to add judge to that list
for your work on 'Legendary.'
- Yes! - I think decades from now,
when people look at
Keke "Keep a Job" Palmer and your career,
they're gonna look at you as one of Hollywood's
most multifaceted talents.
In the future, what do you want people to say
about your legacy?
- Man, what I want them to say about my legacy
is that it wasn't all for nothing.
That it set up something for others.
That's what I would hope.
I would hope that I could leave something behind that
didn't just do something for me or something
that only I receive accolades and achievements for
but something that people can say, yeah, Keke left
this behind or this is something that
we can now benefit from.
That's what I would hope.