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CINEMA FEATURE

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to movies to make this movie,’” he says. Nope is set in a lonely gulch in inland California, where the scattered residents bear witness to a chilling discovery. Kaluuya and Keke Palmer play siblings OJ and Emerald

Haywood, who have inherited a horse ranch from their industry legend father, carrying the torch of his craft as animal wranglers for film and television. Finding a sibling bond came naturally to the actors. “That was the easiest part,” says Palmer. “We have a natural chemistry together and, for whatever reason, I just think we vibe out. I love picking on Daniel; he's the funnest person to try and get out of being calm, because he is so relaxed. I always like to just mess with him and I think it's the same way with Emerald and OJ,” she laughs. “I hated every single moment… but it was good,” deadpans Kaluuya. “I was aware of Keke before we worked together, so when Jordan mentioned she had the part, I was just happy that Keke was going to have a moment – I saw that coming. And that makes me happy when I see people that have ‘the thing’ and get the opportunity to show what they have.” Adjacent to the Haywood ranch sits Jupiter’s Claim, a family theme park and petting zoo predicated on the whitewashed history of the California Gold Rush, owned by Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), a former child star saddled with a tabloid-tragic backstory that he has spent a lifetime trying to escape. “I think the scary part of it is, at some point, as you get deeper and deeper, the separation between yourself and the character becomes less and less because then you're hitting something so base and fundamental, that you're like, ‘Is this me?’” muses Yeun. “So it gets tricky that way, but it is really nice when a character can be so full that way,” he says of Peele’s complex social thriller that unpacks the seeds of violence, risk and opportunism that are inseparable

Yep. STACK chats with writer-director Jordan Peele and the cast of his new sci-fi/horror thriller, Nope . Words Gill Pringle CLOSE ENCOUNTER

N ope reunites writer-director Jordan Peele with Daniel Kaluuya, the star of his 2017 breakout horror hit Get Out . The British actor blew the filmmaker away by nailing an American accent for that film, and for Nope , he became an accomplished horse rider. Peele cracks a big smile when STACK asks how Kaluuya reacted when he learned he would be spending most of Nope on horseback. “Not great!” he laughs. “But I've never seen an actor work as hard as he did in getting the horse skills together, and it's just wonderful to watch his process, because from the first day I met him on Get Out , I said, ‘You know, I need that accent to be right’. And he goes, ‘I got you. I got you, man’, and I said, ‘I don't know if you’ve got me because you're not doing it yet!’ And he comes in, and ‘bam!’ like, flawless. “And so I had trust. He's like, ‘Yeah, I got you, I'm gonna be a horse rider next time you see me,’ and that's basically what happened,” says the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Peele doesn’t quite know where to begin when we ask where he found the inspiration

from the romanticised history of the American West… and from show business itself. Kaluuya may find himself starring in a UFO film, but he knows exactly how he would react if he had a close encounter in real life. “If it was aliens, I wouldn't

for Nope , which is equal parts horror, sci-fi, western, mystery, and social commentary. “So many things. As you can tell, it's quite full. I always look for something that doesn't exist; for a film that I wish I could see for the first time. And in this case it was a truly horrifying UFO film, in which we are really able to be immersed

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go to them – I would be coolly walking away. Yeah, I mean, coolly getting a

different Airbnb,” he laughs.

into the situation, like some of my favourite films. So that was the nugget. I was like, ‘I gotta make this, in fact, I have a responsibility

Nope is in cinemas on August 11

10 AUGUST 2022

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