Director Jordan Peele Answers The Question: 'What Is Nope About?'

It can sometimes be a loaded question: What exactly is this film about? The answer can, of course, be simple, but other times, it opens up a huge can of worms, and now you're on a tangent trying to get to the heart of the plot, but with so many twists and turns and important backstory, how can you? Believe it or not, "Get Out" director Jordan Peele was willing to answer the question about his latest project, "Nope."

In the upcoming issue of Empire magazine, Peele was asked if he could explain the premise of his upcoming horror epic. His response was surprisingly enlightening:

"Nope! [Laughs] No, no, I can answer this. If I can't, I'm in the wrong place, am I not? I started off wanting to make a film that would put an audience in the immersive experience of being in the presence of a UFO. And I wanted to make a spectacle, something that would promote my favorite art form and my favorite way of watching that art form: the theatrical experience. As I started writing the script, I started to dig into the nature of spectacle, our addiction to spectacle, and the insidious nature of attention. So that's what it's about. And it's about a brother and sister, and healing their relationship."

The film, which appears to follow a brother-and sister team who owns a tourist horse ranch in the desert on their quest to make contact with aliens, stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, and Barbie Ferreira. Director Oz Perkins — who is both the dorky guy from "Legally Blonde" and also legendary "Psycho" actor Anthony Perkins' son — will also appear in the film.

The "Us" director also noted that the usage of the word "nope" in the film's title will, in fact, play into the movie's script as well. I was certainly hoping they would lean into that concept full throttle. Peele continued to Empire:

"We took every opportunity to get a 'nope' in that we could, that made sense. And I think there's something cathartic about it for an audience that's seen a lot of movies in the horror genre, where people will walk down a scary corridor or something when they should be saying, 'Nope!' We got to make up for some lost 'nopes' out here!"

Considering all the visuals we've gotten for the film over the course of the publicity run, including several trailers and posters, I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of "nopes" happening both onscreen and off when this movie hits the big screen.

"Nope" is set to hit theaters on July 22, 2022, and the latest issue of Empire magazine will be available to purchase July 7.