Look above and despair: Universal Pictures just unveiled the first trailer for NOPE, Jordan Peele’s highly-anticipated horror movie that seems to be about an alien invasion. The trailer offers us the first look at NOPE, which was produced under absolute secrecy. And while we can finally take a look at the terror Peele’s mind is conjuring this time, we’ll only be able to understand the social message behind NOPE once it hits theaters later this year.
Just as NOPE’s first footage anticipated, death will come from above in the next horror movie from the Oscar-winner filmmaker.
In NOPE, we see something in the sky causing absolute panic and horror amongst people on the ground, including a shot of Keke Palmer's character being sucked into the sky. While we haven't had a great alien abduction movie in a while, NOPE’s trailer confirms Peele's stature as one of the most influential voices in contemporary horror, as the filmmaker can turn even the most ludicrous scenarios into something that scares us to the bones.
Peele won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Get Out, his debut feature. Get Out also earned Peele an Oscar nomination for Best Director, while the movie also received nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor for Daniel Kaluuya. Unfortunately, the Academy Awards snubbed Us, but that doesn’t make Peele's second movie any less impressive. Like Get Out, Us uses horror to dive into the worst aspects of American culture, turning people into the biggest monster you can find.
While both Get Out and Us are two of the most beautiful films of the last decade, Nope promises to amp up Peele’s game, as the movie was shot on KODAK film, including 65mm film in IMAX format. To help him conjure the beautiful (and terrifying) images of NOPE, Peele brought cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to shoot the film. Hoytema is Christopher Nolan's go-to cinematographer, having worked with the filmmaker on Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and the upcoming Oppenheimer.
Nope cast includes Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah), Palmer (Hustlers), Steven Yeun (Minari), Barbie Ferreira (Euphoria), Brandon Perea (The OA), and Michael Wincott (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). Peele also serves as producer on the project alongside Ian Cooper for Peele’s own production company Monkeypaw Productions.
Nope will hit theaters on July 22. Check out the new trailer below.