The movie makes me think about exploitation and the capturing of things on film...
Star of Get Out Daniel Kaluuya has reunited with its director Jordan Peele for new horror film Nope. RACHAEL DAVIS asked the actor and his co-star Keke Palmer what we can expect
IN just five short years of film directing, comedian turned Oscar-winning horror writer and director Jordan Peele has redefined the modern genre.
His 2017 directorial debut Get Out was universally acclaimed and led to Jordan becoming the first black winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, while 2019’s Us cemented his reputation.
Nope, so named for the incredulous reaction Jordan hopes to elicit from audiences when they’re presented with the film’s mindbending plot moments, is his eagerly-awaited third film: an uncanny science-fiction horror and social thriller examining humanity’s lust for spectacle and telling a tale of bizarre extra-terrestrial activity.
Written in 2020, Jordan has said that the film is “a reflection of all the horrors that happened that year, and are still happening”.
The details of the film have been kept carefully under wraps in trailers and advertisements, ensuring cinema-goers are in for more than a few surprises when they take their seats.
Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya returns to play protagonist OJ Haywood, the son of a legendary Hollywood horse wrangler. He and his sister Emerald, played by Primetime Emmy Awardwinner Keke Palmer, inherit their father’s ranch after a bizarre incident leads to his death.
“I really grew as a performer on Get Out,” says 33-year-old Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe winner Daniel, adding that he loves working with Jordan because “you’re going to do something new, but in a way that really challenges you, and he’s really gonna push you”.
“It was really exciting, I’m a big fan of his,” says 28-yearold Keke on working on her first Jordan Peele film.
“I just remember reading the script and really being excited about what that process would be like on set, and all the different major themes he added to it, watching how he was able to pull it all together.”
“I knew that working with these people would elevate me,” she adds on working with Jordan, Daniel and the rest of the film’s crew.
“That’s always what you want as an actor, just to continue to work with really incredible people that are gonna allow you to learn, and stretch you and challenge you.”
When OJ and Emerald begin to observe some unexplained, potentially alien phenomena on their ranch, they fall down an obsessive rabbit hole, attempting to capture it on camera by any means necessary.
Their new discovery, if successfully recorded on film, could see the big bucks coming their way. This cash windfall is much-needed as, despite their skill and heritage in the animal wrangling industry, the siblings are facing financial challenges after prematurely inheriting their father’s ranch.
OJ is the moral centre of the narrative, a man of few words whose personality is in direct contrast with Emerald’s extrovert charisma.
As they work together to try and get their bizarre experiences on film, what follows is a spectacle of horror with an emotionally-complex core, in Jordan Peele’s classic style of blending abject terror with cerebral social commentary.
“There’s a brother and sister narrative, there’s two people that annoy each other, but love each other. And they have each other’s back no matter what,” explains Daniel.
“I love when characters are written in that way, where they actually complement each other, but it still can encourage conflict.
“So then it was cool that when Emerald goes on one, OJ just supports that joke. Like from a technical standpoint, you lay it up, and then boom! Keke just smacks it down.” “They’re not the entire antithesis of each other,” Keke insists. “So though they are different – Emerald, she’s more outgoing, and he’s a little bit more reserved – over the course of the film, you start to see her change, and him become a little bit more... forceful. You start to actually see that they are quite similar at the same time.” In typical Peele style, the tempo of Nope’s narrative – and of audience’s heart rates – accelerates rapidly over the course of the film. Working with this changing pace and deft blend of dark comedy and whiteknuckle fear of an unknown enemy, was a challenge for Daniel and Keke – as was the fact that much of the film’s visuals were achieved in post-production. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, whose work includes Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and Tenet, was enlisted as director of photography,
Jordan’s work is like a painting: it means something different to everyone Keke Palmer
working alongside a fantastic visual effects team to turn Jordan’s vision into cinematic reality.
“It was challenging. But it was challenging in a sense that you didn’t have any outward trigger,” says Daniel.
“I mean, a lot of the moments are in post-production. So to conjure up that kind of fear, you had to use your imagination really deeply.”
“It’s so interesting, because as a kid, that stuff we would do as a pastime,” adds Keke of the imagination filming Nope demanded.
“But when it’s your job, it really can give you a headache.”
While Nope can be enjoyed as a quintessential science fiction horror, there is certainly a deeper societal message to be gleaned about the chokehold social media, spectacle and exhibitionism have on society.
It’s not uncommon for horrors to have an underlying message, but as with Get Out before it, Nope brings this metaphor closer to the surface, making sure audiences leave cinemas carrying the film’s sense of dread and ruminating on the questions it poses.
“For me, Jordan’s work is like a painting: it means something different to everyone,” says Keke.
“I think for myself, watching the movie makes me think so much about exploitation and the capturing of things on film, whether it be for play or whether it be for performance, and just what that means to the subject.
“Kind of like the violence of viewing, especially in this era that we’re in now, where everything is up for exploitation and for grabs, even if you’re just walking down the street, or ringing the doorbell.
“It makes me think a lot about that.”
Nope is in UK cinemas now
FANS of Game of Thrones will be more than familiar with Daenerys and the rest of House Targaryen, the dragon-riding noble family who once ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
House of the Dragon, the prequel series created by George RR Martin and Ryan Condal, dives deep into the history of Westeros some 200 years before the events of the original series, telling the Targaryens’ bloody tale of civil war, rivalry, betrayal and a thirst for power.
Here’s everything you need to know about the prequel.
THE CAST
Death of Stalin and Peaky Blinders’ Paddy Considine is King Viserys I Targaryen, the fifth king of the Seven Kingdoms.
Viserys worries over who will succeed him on the throne: he has no male heir, and his charismatic but unpredictable brother Prince Daemon – played by Doctor Who’s Matt Smith – is next in line.
“He was not somebody that abused his privilege in any way - he took his role as King very responsibly,” says Paddy, 48.
“It was my job to imbue him with as much humanity as I possibly could. I thought that was refreshing, from the world that we knew of Game of Thrones, that he wasn’t somebody who was driven by power. And he wasn’t a tyrant. He was a reasonable man.”
Prince Daemon, the heir presumptive to the Iron Throne, is almost the opposite to his brother Viserys. Charismatic but violently unpredictable, he’s a fearsome warrior and dragonrider who, Matt says, is “dark, compulsive, complex”.
“I found it allowed me to be quite instinctual on the day with Daemon, you’re sort of always on the precipice of something, so you never know what side he’s going to fall on,” Matt, 39, adds.
Emma D’Arcy, who has had roles in 2020’s Misbehaviour and 2021’s Mothering Sunday, plays King Viserys’ firstborn child, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, with the younger version of the princess played by 22-year-old Milly Alcock.
A dragonrider who the King says embodies all the best parts of her mother, Rhaenyra could become the Seven Kingdoms’ first Queen – but it’s not so simple in Westeros.
“Rhaenyra is the sort of wayward royal child, she doesn’t expect to inherit power,” says Emma, 30.
“She’s impulsive, she flouts convention with relish, she forms incredibly strong friendships. And all of her relationships tend to be explosive.
“She’s best friend to Alicent Hightower,” Emma adds, referring to the daughter of Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the Hand of the King, played by Vanity Fair and Ready Player One star Olivia Cooke.
“I think Alicent is able to kind of make sense of the court in a way that Rhaenyra struggles [to] and in that regard, becomes like a translator to Rhaenyra.
“I think, broadly, Rhaenyra is someone who’s looking to press at the boundaries, the restrictions that she finds herself in and seeks a way of living that feels authentic.”
POWER AND PATRIARCHY
When we meet the Targaryens, the house is at the height of its strength. Boasting a legion of dragons, the family is basically untouchable – in fact, the only thing that could take down the house would be itself.
This theme of power permeates the show: whether it’s a lust for power, a desire to use it for the good of the people, or a frustration at the lack of it.
Patriarchy and misogyny are integral to propping up the society of Westeros, where it’s generally
considered better to have any man on the Iron Throne, no matter how unpredictable or tyrannical, than a woman – as the female potential heirs know all too well.
“Fundamentally, men within this universe are able to create their own conditions for living, whereas women are forced to live within a structure that they did not create, and was not made for them,” says Emma.
“I think the structure of the show is really successful, because suddenly you have a woman who has a path to an ultimate position of power. And the same person has very little agency.
“I think it’s a really smart way of analysing the nuanced control that patriarchal structures look to exert over women, and the multiple ways in which patriarchy looks to consolidate male power.”
“It’s very, very relevant,” adds 19-year-old Emily Carey, who plays the young Alicent Hightower.
“People think that it’s so farfetched and extravagant, this show, and it’s not. It’s the same.”
DRAGON RIDERS
As the title of the show suggests, there are mythical creatures aplenty in House of the Dragon. In fact, at the height of the story there are 17 dragons, each with their own distinct look from size to colour to silhouette.
The dragons were created in post-production, so it took the actors a lot of imagination and physical work to create a convincing dragon-riding performance.
A huge motion base, which the production called ‘the buck’, was built at the studio at Leavesden to simulate the motions of a flying dragon, and while it worked fantastically for the final product, it was hard work for the actors.
“You are on this big plinth and they hurl rain and wind at you,” says Matt, whose character Daemon is a skilled dragonrider.
“It does give you a sense of riding an animal because there is something tangible that’s moving, and also having the elements, the wind and the rain, helps too.
“But, you know, after 10 hours the novelty can wear off!”
“It was my least favourite thing to do,” adds Milly.
“You’re by yourself on a soundstage for like, six to eight hours. I didn’t know what to do with my face. You’re harnessed up, there’s guys on the floor, with leaf blowers blowing in your face.
“You don’t want to look like you’re holding on for dear life. Rhaenrya, like all the Targaryens, has grown up with dragons, so she is completely at home riding one.”
CONTINUING A LEGACY
The stars of House of the Dragon had big shoes to fill after Game of Thrones, a series full of rich characters, beloved by fans around the world despite controversy over its final series in 2019.
Although they felt the pressure, the actors were also thrilled to be involved with such an impressive, entertaining and culturallyimportant series.
“It’s exciting, I’m excited for people to see it,” says Matt.
“There’s a huge legacy, we’re never going to recreate the gargantuan success of that show, it’s its own moment in time, it’s its own cultural phenomenon. But hopefully we can add something to the pot.”