Warning: Spoilers for Nope contained inside.
What kind of devilish threat could make an entire city just say “No”? Thanks to a universal presentation at CinemaCo today, we may have some clues. Director Jordan Peele went on stage to shed some light on the premise about Nix.
The first trailer for Nope only hinted at a diabolical force threatening our protagonists. In the trailer, Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer play James and Jill Haywood, people who own and work on a black-powered horse farm. The farm in question trains horses for Hollywood productions, and it goes great until something mysterious appears in the sky above the farm. The trailer then cuts to other characters who also see something … above them. There are also images of people who do not seem completely human. Posters also hinted at a potential alien threat showing a horse and other objects hovering in the night sky.
Peele addressed the many fantasy theories surrounding Nope on the Internet. Peele confirmed today that yes, the movie is about aliens. No, it will involve some form of alien invasion affecting those in and around that horse farm.
“The discovery and surprise of it is part of the fun,” Peele added in the Q&A, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter. “Trailers will give you a taste, but we want to keep some of the mystery so you can be happy going to the damn movie.”
Nope is recorded at 65mm and IMAX, so you can expect some amazing views of rural California just before it all gets lifted up into the sky. The film’s cinema is Hoyte van Hoytema, who has previously recorded Dunkirk, Tenet, Interstellar and Her.
Like his previous film Get Out and Us, Nope was written and directed by Peele. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun alongside Barbie Ferreira, Brandon Perea and Michael Wincott. Peele co-produces with Ian Cooper, his longtime partner at Monkeypaw Productions. The Universal Pictures movie will premiere in theaters on July 22, 2022.
Mike Williams is a freelance writer at IGN