The arrival of a new Jordan Peele movie has become something of an event. But beyond just being that rare thing – a major summer movie not connected to any IP, from an original idea by its writer-director – his new film Nope is significant for the return of its leading man. After changing the game together with Get Out, Peele and Daniel Kaluuya have teamed up once more for the filmmaker’s UFO thriller, with Kaluuya this time playing ranch-owner OJ – a man who plans to make history by capturing an extraterrestrial visitor on camera. Considering the pair’s last collaboration was such a seismic cinematic landmark, the bar has been set pretty high.
In the new issue of Empire, Peele opened up about his creative bond with Kaluuya – and when we pointed out a potential partnership similar to Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, it was a thought that had previously crossed the director’s mind too. “It’s so funny,” he says, “but by the point I was in the middle of [shooting] Get Out, that’s what I was telling him. I was like [makes serious eye contact], ‘You’re my De Niro, man. You’re my De Niro.” Early on, it felt clear that they’d work together again. “I was like, ‘I need you to be in the future ones too, man!’ You could just tell what we had in him as a performer, from the very beginning.”
Extra significant for the forging of their partnership was the fact that Get Out was Peele’s directorial debut – and that he was an unknown quantity in the director’s chair; a guy who, at that point, was mostly known for being a comedian. The leap into cinematic horror was one they took together. “We do have a bond,” says Peele. “The first big movie he was a lead in, and my directorial debut, was Get Out. And we bonded because we went through that together. In the beginning of that, it feels like two people who have faith in each other, then by the end, it all works. So I just couldn’t wait to further that relationship and explore a completely new character with Daniel.” Will they really prove to be the new Scorsese-De Niro? Can their latest work together live up to the groundbreaking, Oscar-lauded Get Out? Here’s hoping Nope will be a big old ‘yep’.
Read Empire’s full Jordan Peele interview on Nope in the Avatar: The Way Of Water issue, on sale Thursday 7 July and available to order online here. Nope comes to UK cinemas from 12 August.