What do the poster and trailers reveal about Jordan Peele's "Nope"? Are aliens truly
involved? There are still a lot of questions to be answered, so watch this before you see "Nope".
Last year, on July 22, 2021, Jordan Peele took to
Twitter to release the new poster and title of his upcoming film,
revealing that "Nope" would be released exactly one year from the day of his announcement.
Now, that release date is fast approaching. Peele remained tight-lipped about the movie for most of
the year, including just a cloud emoji with the poster reveal. Production took place in
June of 2021, and star Keke Palmer revealed that filming took place in Santa Clarita, California.
"Nope" has quite the cast. To begin with, the three leads appear to be Daniel Kaluuya , Keke
Palmer, and Steven Yeun. Kaluuya's breakout role was none other than "Get Out," for which
his stunning performance earned an Oscar nomination for best actor. Since then,
he's been appearing in notable films left and right, such as "Black Panther" and
"Judas and the Black Messiah," the latter of which earned him his first Oscar win.
Meanwhile, Palmer made waves for her supporting role in 2019's "Hustlers,"
and also for her work in the lead role in 2022's "Alice." And finally,
Yeun also received an Oscar nomination for his starring turn in "Minari."
Kaluuya and Palmer play siblings OJ and Emerald Haywood, who own a ranch. In the first trailer,
Emerald describes them as "the only Black-owned horse trainers in Hollywood." Yeun plays Ricky
"Jupe" Park, who, from the two released trailers, seems to be some sort of rodeo announcer.
Additionally, the supporting cast includes "Euphoria" breakout Barbie Ferreira],
"The OA" cast member Brandon Perea, and Michael Wincott from "Westworld".
Up until recently, the plot of "Nope" has been kept under wraps. Even the first trailer,
which was released in February, didn't tell us much besides the fact that ranch owners OJ
and Emerald begin noticing alien-like objects in the sky. The eerie first
trailer promises a horror-filled moviegoing experience, but not much else specifically.
With the second trailer, we finally have a bit more insight into the plot of "Nope." It seems
as though OJ and Emerald begin experiencing weird, potentially alien-related encounters
after the mysterious death of their father. After OJ tells Emerald that he saw a very large object
above the clouds, Emerald asks if it might have something to do with the unexplained violence.
"You think whatever killed Pops, is out there?"
Then, after witnessing the ominous objects in the sky themselves, the siblings decide to try
to capture the moments on film to gain fame and fortune once they provide proof of aliens.
They even hire a tech-minded assistant, Angel Torres,
who works for Fry's Electronics to help them out, as well as a mysterious man named Antlers Holst,
whom Emerald claims is the only person who is capable of getting the strange invaders on film.
Even though the second trailer feels a bit more lighthearted than the first,
we can definitely expect horror to be at the center of the story.
The first official trailer for Jordan Peele's upcoming film "Nope" opens with
Eadweard Muybridge's "The Horse in Motion," followed by Emerald Haywood's narration
about its significance as the first film ever made. She follows up by claiming that she and
her brother are related to the rider in the short. We then find out that she is filming
an advertisement for her and her brother OJ's Hollywood horse training services.
Afterward, we see quick snippets of strange occurrences happening around the small,
rural California area where their horse training stable resides. This includes inflatable waving
tube men deflating, ominous shadows enveloping everything, and animals freaking out.
It also seems to confirm early rumors that the film will be about aliens, or at the very least
otherworldly creatures in some capacity. Midway through the trailer, there is what looks like an
alien hand outstretched towards a human child's fist, seemingly a direct reference to "E.T. The
Extra-Terrestrial." Right afterward, there's a strange-looking creature scurrying in the
darkness, obscured by shadows and fences, that appears to be chasing one of the main characters.
That's not to mention Kaluuya riding on horseback as a shadow engulfs the scenery like the saucers
in "Independence Day," and an abduction scene of Palmer at the very end of the trailer.
The second trailer further confirms the alien invasion storyline with several more shots of
UFOs flying through the sky. It even ends with OJ fleeing on horseback from a silver flying saucer.
All of Jordan Peele's titles are evocative in one way or another.
"Get Out" was very apt, evoking racist messages along the lines of "get out of
my neighborhood" that have been levied against Black people in the past.
Meanwhile, "Us" refers to both the connection between the characters and their antagonistic
doppelgangers, as well as "U-S" as an abbreviation for the United States.
"Nope," however, might be the most cryptic title so far.
Some fans have speculated that it might have to do with the acronym
"n.o.p.e." which would supposedly stand for "not of planet Earth."
"It's above us."
Writer-director Jordan Peele himself, however, has a different interpretation,
stating in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
"This film is definitely a ride. The title speaks to the idea of being in tune with
what the audience is thinking and feeling in the theater. I know a lot of people who say,
when it's a scary movie, they say, 'Nope!' Especially Black audiences,
right? We love horror but there's a skepticism."
Besides the poster and trailers, there's also a viral video for "Nope"
that surfaced a while ago on Jordan Peele's official Twitter account.
It was made to look like someone recording a local news broadcast, which reported on a flood
of yellow-headed blackbirds in Mexico falling out of the sky for some mysterious reason.
Since the film's trailer shows horses getting spooked by some unseen force, it makes sense that
this force could be affecting other animals — like birds — as well. There is a similar
scene in M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" in which birds are killed in midair by an unseen force.
In the case of "Signs," the birds crashed into cloaked spaceships.
The reporter in the video ends the broadcast by
hypothesizing about what the birds might be fleeing from.
"Experts say the blackbirds may have been trying to escape a predatory bird."
Or, perhaps they were attacked by a spacecraft? Only time will tell for sure.
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