Jordan Peele is celebrating the release of his new sci-fi horror film Nope in a typically comedic style.
Peele made a Twitter post on Friday sharing a GIF of that famous scene in the Robert Redford film Jeremiah Johnson — the one where a slow zoom-in to Redford’s face as he is nodding has become a meme — only Peele’s face is transposed onto Redford’s via a deepfake.
“F around. Find out. #NopeMovie,” Peele wrote.
Earlier this week, Peele used that same meme to acknowledge one Twitter user’s assessment that he was the greatest horror movie director of all time while simultaneously disagreeing with that assessment and any comparisons to Halloween director John Carpenter that some reviewers have been throwing around.
With Nope making its debut outing to theaters this weekend, critics are already hailing the film as a welcome follow-up to Peele’s filmography so far.
The former Mad TV and Key and Peele actor, mostly known for starring in and writing sketch comedy, turned heads in 2017 with his debut film Get Out. The film starring Daniel Kaluuya, who is reuniting with Peele once again for Nope, became one of the most talked about horror films of the decade due to its social commentary, head-scratching mystery that pulled viewers in through to the last frame, great performances, and genuinely horrifying experience overall. The movie would later produce his first Oscar for Peele for best original screenplay — making him the first Black writer in the Academy’s history to pick up the award.
Peele’s follow-up, 2019’s Us, was similarly praised — although to a slightly less extent. While that film did have social commentary, as well, it arguably leaned more heavily than ever into a classic horror movie in its execution, essentially serving as a fresh take on the home invasion thriller by making the intruders the heroes’ own dopplegängers.
With Nope, critics are drawing comparisons to more action-oriented and epic-in-scope thrillers, like Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Signs.
Catch Nope at a theater near you.
