Nope (stylized in all caps) is a 2022 American science fiction neo-Western horror film written, directed, and produced by Jordan Peele. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, and Keith David. In the film, horse-wrangling siblings Otis "OJ" Jr. (Kaluuya) and Emerald (Palmer) attempt to capture evidence of an unidentified flying object in Agua Dulce, California.
Peele announced Nope, which is his third directorial film, in November 2020. He cited King Kong (1933), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Jurassic Park (1993) and Signs (2002) as his main inspirations. Palmer and Kaluuya joined in February 2021. Yeun was cast the next month, and Peele revealed the title in July 2021. Filming began in June 2021 in Los Angeles County, and wrapped that November. Nope was produced under Peele and Ian Cooper's Monkeypaw Productions banner.
Nope premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on July 18, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 22, 2022, by Universal Pictures. It grossed $172 million worldwide, and received positive reviews for its ambition, performances, cinematography, themes, visual style, score, and Peele's direction. It was also named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the American Film Institute. Since its release, Nope has been included in lists of the best science fiction films of the 21st century and is considered one of the best science fiction films of all time.
Plot In Agua Dulce, California, the Haywood family trains and handles horses for film productions. One day, at their ranch, small metallic objects begin rapidly falling from the sky. A nickel strikes Otis Haywood Sr. in the head, killing him.
Six months later, Otis's children, Otis Jr. ("OJ") and Emerald ("Em") are fired from a production after their horse, Lucky, reacts disruptively to his reflection in a chrome ball used for visual effects. To raise money, OJ has been selling some of their horses to Ricky "Jupe" Park, a former child actor who operates a Western-themed amusement park called Jupiter's Claim. Jupe previously starred on Gordy's Home, a family sitcom about a chimpanzee named Gordy. During filming in 1998, one of the chimps who portrayed Gordy reacted violently to the sound of popping balloons and mauled most of the cast and crew before being shot. Jupe has since settled down with his wife, Amber, and their three sons, but now exploits his trauma from the event in the hopes of revitalizing his career.
One night, the Haywoods notice their electricity fluctuating and their horses aggressively reacting to an unknown presence. They discover an unidentified flying object (UFO) that has been taking their horses. The siblings decide to document and sell evidence of the UFO's existence, recruiting electronics store employee Angel Torres to set up surveillance cameras. The UFO arrives and abducts a horse that has broken out of the ranch stable, as well as a metal horse statue Em has stolen from Jupiter's Claim to act as a decoy. The next day, Em attempts to recruit famed cinematographer Antlers Holst to help them record the UFO. Holst declines, not wanting to encourage Em in what he considers an unfulfilling pursuit of wealth and fame. Angel arrives, having noticed while watching footage from the cameras a cloud in the valley that never moves; OJ suspects this is the UFO's hiding place before concluding, based on its flight patterns, that it may be a living creature.
After months of secretly offering the Haywoods' horses to the UFO to gain its trust and attempt to domesticate it, Jupe introduces a live show in Jupiter's Claim, intending to use Lucky as bait to lure out the UFO. The UFO arrives earlier than expected and consumes everyone in attendance, ultimately leaving only Lucky alive. While retrieving Lucky, OJ confirms his theory that the UFO is actually a territorial, predatory animal. After the creature showers the Haywood household with the regurgitated remains of the Jupiter's Claim crowd, OJ realizes that it only attacks those who look directly at it and devises a plan to record it. Em and Angel are hesitant until Em receives a call from Holst, who now agrees to help. OJ names the creature "Jean Jacket" after an unruly horse the Haywoods once owned.
To circumvent Jean Jacket's effect of shutting down all electrical equipment in its vicinity, Holst brings a hand-cranked film camera. The group sets up a field of battery-powered tube men to track its location. However, a TMZ reporter trespasses onto the field and is thrown from his electric motorcycle when it shuts down near Jean Jacket, which devours him shortly after. While capturing footage, Holst climbs a hill for a "better view" but instead sacrifices himself to be consumed along with his camera, but capturing footage of the creature. Angel narrowly escapes being eaten by Jean Jacket by wrapping himself in barbed wire. Jean Jacket then unfurls into a much larger form resembling a jellyfish.
OJ intentionally looks directly at Jean Jacket to distract it, allowing Em to rush to Jupiter's Claim on the motorcycle. There, she untethers the park's large helium balloon mascot of Jupe, whose winking eye attracts Jean Jacket's attention. Jean Jacket attempts to feed on the balloon while Em uses a manual camera from the park's coin-operated wishing well attraction to photograph it. After Jean Jacket swallows the balloon, it bursts, violently rupturing the creature's body from within and killing it. With photographic evidence of the creature's existence and reporters arriving nearby, Em sees OJ and Lucky standing outside Jupiter's Claim, unharmed.
Cast
Daniel Kaluuya as Otis "OJ" Haywood Jr., the son of Otis Haywood Sr., and the older brother of Emerald. Keke Palmer as Emerald "Em" Haywood, the daughter of Otis Haywood Sr., and the charismatic younger sister of Otis Jr. Steven Yeun as Ricky "Jupe" Park, a former child actor and owner/creator of the theme park "Jupiter's Claim" Jacob Kim as young Ricky "Jupe" Park, who plays Mikey Houston on Gordy's Home Michael Wincott as Antlers Holst, a renowned cinematographer Brandon Perea as Angel Torres, a tech salesman at Fry's Electronics Wrenn Schmidt as Amber Park, Jupe's wife Barbie Ferreira as Nessie, Angel's co-worker at Fry's Terry Notary as Gordy, a chimpanzee and star of the sitcom Gordy's Home Devon Graye as Ryder Muybridge, a paparazzo who rides an electric bike Donna Mills as Bonnie Clayton, a commercial actress Osgood Perkins as Fynn Bachman, a commercial director Eddie Jemison as Buster, a crew member on the commercial Keith David as Otis Haywood Sr., the owner of Haywood's Hollywood Horses Ranch Sophia Coto as Mary Jo Elliott, who plays Haley Houston on Gordy's Home Haley Babula as Mary Jo Elliott (adult) Jennifer Lafleur as Phyllis Mayberry, who plays Margaret Houston on Gordy's Home Andrew Patrick Ralston as Tom Bogan, who plays Brett Houston on Gordy's Home
Themes and interpretations
The film has been described as containing themes related to spectacle and exploitation. GQ Gerrick D. Kennedy wrote that Nope "is a movie about spectacle. More specifically, our addiction to spectacle [...] Nope is about holding a mirror up to all of us and our inability to look away from drama or peril." Kennedy also states that "the erasure of black contributions" to the history of filmmaking plays a significant role in the film. Writer-director Jordan Peele was partly inspired to write Nope by the COVID-19 lockdowns and the "endless cycle of grim, inescapable tragedy" in 2020.
Richard Brody of The New Yorker considered Nope to be a film about exploitation and the cinematic history of exploitation in film; he wrote that he thought the premise of the film was "acknowledging and extending cinema's legacy while also redressing its omissions and misrepresentations of history." Brody also noted that the film's action "pivots on the power and the nature of movie technology," and felt that the film critiqued computer-generated imagery (CGI) in its TV commercial production scene, writing, "Peele presents [CGI] as a dubious temptation and a form of dangerous power." Brody interpreted the choice to have the space creatures target a black-owned horse farm as "a sardonic vision of the universality of racism."
Los Angeles Times writer Jen Yamato noted that Steven Yeun's Ricky "Jupe" Park attempts to profit off of Jean Jacket with his "Star Lasso Experience" show, falsely believing that, because he survived the Gordy incident, he shares a similar kinship with Jean Jacket. Zosha Millman of Polygon argues that Jupe's belief that Gordy and Jean Jacket are well-intentioned, despite their capacity to be unpredictable and dangerous, contrasts with the life experience of Daniel Kaluuya's OJ, "who grew up around unruly animals that it was his job to tame. As a horse trainer, he knows that animals are worthy of our respect. But it's not part of a grand design, or born from a special relationship with the horse. It's an animal, and it could kill you — but it can be tamed and worked with, if you know what you're doing." Discussing Jupe's fate, Michael Wincott's character, Antlers Holst, makes mention of Siegfried & Roy — a duo known for training white lions and white tigers — the latter of whom was attacked and severely injured by one of his tigers. GameRevolutions Jason Faulkner further noted "Peele quoting Neon Genesis Evangelions Angels as the principal inspiration for the film and the monster within", and of the true meaning of Jean Jacket's true form's resemblance to the biblical description of angels; he notes the verse from Nahum ("I will cast abominable filth at you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle." Nahum 3:6) prefacing the film as indicative of Peele's thoughts on the Bible, and how if one "think[s] about the way [Jean Jacket] feeds and the concept of people ascending to heaven, [one can] connect the dots [that] Jean Jacket['s species has] been with humanity for a long time, and an attack from one of the creatures could [be] misinterpreted as something from the divine."