Jordan Peele says Nope explores race through the lens of 'Black people in a flying saucer film'

Jordan Peele has revealed new details about his mysterious film Nope and what it might mean for audiences to see a predominantly Black cast navigate a "flying saucer movie" that "honors horror" in new ways.

Speaking to Today, the Oscar-winning Get Out and Us helmer said he considers the upcoming movie — starring Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun in a tale that seemingly revolves around UFOs terrorizing the population of a rural mountain town — to be part of the horror genre, but nothing is standard when it comes to the filmmaker's oeuvre.

"It's about a lot of things," Peele said. "The first notion that I latched onto when I was writing this movie was the idea of making a spectacle. I wanted to make a flying saucer movie because I just felt like if we can feel like we're in the presence of something 'other,' if we feel like that's real, then that's an immersive experience worthy of going to the movies."

He later responded to a question about how Nope incorporates commentary about race into its plot.

"I think it's impossible to make any movie without it being about race, because race is all around us," Peele said. "You can't have Black people in a flying saucer film and just have it be the same experience. It's not. There's a different relationship."

He added, "My race, I think, has informed my entire artistic journey, and part of it has been trying to reconcile the box, and the box is that this country puts people of color in and trying to break out of that box."

Universal Pictures Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Jordan Peele's 'Nope'

He also spoke about his apprehensions about becoming a director in the current social climate, noting that he questioned whether a major Hollywood studio would fund an original vision from a Black filmmaker on such a grand scale.

"I think this idea of letting a Black director put his vision into a film and commit to it... let's put it this way, five years ago, I didn't think they'd ever let me do that," he said. "So much of my career before I became a director was marred with this internalized sense that I could never be allowed to do that, that no one would ever trust me with money — enough money to do my vision the way they'd trust other people. I felt that that was true."

But audiences have responded to his creativity with their wallets. Get Out grossed $255 million globally and also garnered Peele an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, while his follow-up, 2019's Us, grossed the same amount at the worldwide box office, with Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o in the lead role.

Universal Pictures/Youtube Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya in 'Nope'

Universal also unveiled new plot details for Nope last week, upon announcing that a portion of its set would permanently join Universal Studios Hollywood's famed Studio Tour ride. The reveal laid the groundwork for the Jupiter's Claim locale that we see briefly in the film's trailer.

According to a release from the theme park, Jupiter's Claim — reconstructed by Peele and Emmy-nominated production designer Ruth De Jong — is a Santa Clarita Valley family theme park "predicated on the white-washed history and aesthetics of the California Gold Rush." It is owned and operated with "evangelical pride" by Yeun's Ricky "Jupe" Park, and "becomes a pivotal location as the characters seek to investigate mysterious, unexplained phenomena, leading them toward increasing danger and terrifying consequences."

Nope hits theaters July 22. Watch a portion of Peele's Today segment above.

Hear more on all of today's must-see picks on EW's What to Watch podcast, hosted by Gerrad Hall.

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