Jordan Peele Says ‘Nope’ “Transcends the Horror Genre”

Jordan Peele has reunited with star Daniel Kaluuya for his latest horror flick, Nope, which releases on July 22 in theaters nationwide. Peele has positioned the film as “a great American UFO horror movie that I haven’t seen”.

“I think one of the things we have with this film is a movie that transcends the horror genre, in a way,” the 43-year-old director tells Essence magazine. “The first film clip (Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion) was essentially a black man on a horse who has been forgotten and erased. Part of this film, to me, is a celebration and response to that. We can be the leads not only of a horror movie but also action, adventure, comedy, etc.”

Peele has enjoyed success directing horror films such as Get Out and Us. But he wanted his latest effort to something more with Nope.

Jordan Peele Talks Black Horror

“It’s so tricky being considered in the vanguard of black horror, because obviously black horror is so very real, and it’s hard to do it in a way that’s not re-traumatizing and sad,” The filmmaker explains. “I was going into my third horror film starring black leads, and somewhere in the process I realized that the movie had to be about black joy as well, in order to fit what the world needs at this moment.”

“So that is part of why there’s sort of a spectrum of tonality of genre in here, because I wanted to give the horror, but I also wanted to give our characters agency and adventure and hope and joy and fun that they deserve.” Peele adds.

Nope follows two siblings (played by Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) and Kaluuya has praised Jordan Peele for “expanding” the horror genre once again with his latest project.

“I love pushing the envelope. We’re in a creative industry, but people will sometimes handle this like they’re working in a bank. It’s nuts to me. Let’s go – let’s create,” the Oscar-winning actor said. “I don’t like hearing, ‘Oh, I’ve never seen that before.’ That’s the point. That’s why people watch films. So it was amazing to be the centre of something that I used to love watching as a kid as well.”

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