NOPE Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer face horse majeure in Jordan Peele’s new mind-scrambler

Only three films in, and already a new Jordan Peele-directed movie feels like a seismic event. Nope has been teased for months, first with the image of grey cloud rolling across an ominous sky with a long rope dangling from it, covered in colourful flags like a terrifying kite.

The trailer fed the hunger further, introducing the Hayward ranch, “the only Black-owned horse trainers in Hollywood,” run by Jill Haywood (Keke Palmer) and James Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya). Ever the master of suspense, every clip, image and line of dialogue we get from Peele’s latest only ramps up the anticipation ahead of release. Even in the single image above, exclusive to Teasers, there are clues to unpick: just what exactly are Jill and James so devastated by? Why are the stables empty of horses? Does that rope have something to do with what James calls “a bad miracle”? Who or what made those marks on the wall? Could it be the punching or clawing of the creature in the trailer, who reaches at a child with curled fingers dripping in blood?

Nope reunites Kaluuya and Peele half a decade after Get Out propelled them both into the cultural zeitgeist. But this is Palmer’s first time working with the director, who is both one of the most exciting directors of his generation, and one of this century’s greatest horror creators. Palmer assures Teasers that the experience of working with Peele was just as wonderful as his many fans would hope. “It’s hard to explain the best time of your life without sounding cliché or redundant,” Palmer says.

“But at the risk of sounding that way… shooting Nope was without a doubt the best time of my life.”

KEKE PALMER

Palmer has been working in the industry since she was a child, first appearing in Barbershop 2: Back In Business in 2004, aged nine. Since then she’s acted, presented, sung, and delighted the internet with many, many memes. Horror is nothing new for Palmer – she starred in the Ryan Murphy horror-comedy series Scream Queens and the slasher spin-off show Scream, but working on Nope proved something else entirely. “From the incredible cast, to the director, to the DoP… everyone inspired me and taught me something that I can take with me as I continue to grow as an artist,” she says.

As much as audiences cannot wait to find out what the mind of Jordan Peele has come up with next, Palmer is equally excited for us all to see it, and hopefully one day to have a reunion of her own. “I look forward to working with them all again and sharing this movie with the world.”

LEILA LATIF

NOPE OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 22 JULY.