Jordan Peele Reveals The Opening Credits For The Retro Fictional Sitcom From Nope
In the tradition of "Too Many Cooks" — the viral Adult Swim video where the parody of an old sitcom opening takes a sinister turn — Jordan Peele has released the full intro to "Gordy's Home," the fictional sitcom seen in his new film "Nope."
In "Nope," Steven Yeun's carnival owner, Ricky "Jupe" Park, has a background as a child actor on a network show named after an astronaut chimpanzee, who is part of a human family like Alf. The younger version of Yeun's character is played by Jacob Kim, and it's him you'll see in the video below — which even has rolling lines and static as if it were recorded on VHS circa the 1980s.
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) July 24, 2022
Taken out of context, the opening credits for "Gordy's Home" might not seem as dark and demented as "Too Many Cooks," which pulls part of its humor from the fact that it goes on for entirely too long. However, there's a similar feeling of maddening repetition as the members of Gordy's family — appropriately named the Houstons, as in, "Houston, we have a problem" — all stop at the front door of their house and strike a similar pose (Margaret Houston wears a full-on spacesuit).
You can also spot some funny little details like how the swimsuit edition of Brett Houston's sports magazine falls away to reveal another hidden astronomy magazine as he dozes on the couch. Things like this, Jupe's nickname (which evokes the planet Jupiter), and the launch pad we see at the beginning of the clip hint at the UFO plot of "Nope." But if you've seen the movie, you'll know that "Gordy's Home" is also part of a disturbing backstory for Jupe and his child costars.
Spoilers for "Nope" follow.
'No animals were harmed'
The "Gordy's Home" credits sequence ends with the chimpanzee and Jupe's sitcom character, Mikey Houston, doing an exploding fist bump in front of a telescope that's aimed up at the stars. The adult Jupe reveals to Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer's sibling protagonists, OJ and Emerald Haywood, in "Nope" that Gordy went wild on the set, attacking his costars after a popped balloon set him off. (One of them had her face ripped off; she shows up later at the Jupiter's Claim carnival, as seen in the image from the trailer above.)
Not knowing any better, the trained animal then tried to do a fist bump with Jupe, only to be shot down right in front of the kid, leaving blood all over Jupe — and his sitcom kaput. It's a traumatic incident that goes toward the theme of showbiz spectacle and its collateral damage, which can take the form of both human and animal lives, leaving them ruined if not outright lost in the name of entertainment. To its credit, "Nope" went the mo-cap route with Gordy, employing "Planet of the Apes" veteran Terry Notary to bring the chimp to life so that a live animal didn't have to be used. That's a good way of earning the usual end credit disclaimer, "No animals were harmed in the making of this film."
Maybe they should have one of those disclaimers for humans, too? "Nope" is in theaters now.