[This post contains spoilers for Nope]
Jordan Peele’s Nope was inspired by Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, and his own dreams, apparently.
A 2014 tweet from the filmmaker has resurfaced following the release of his third feature, which made $44 million in its box office debut this weekend (it’s one of the biggest openings for a film not based on existing IP in years). “Dreamt that a baby chimp attacked some people then ran to me and hugged me all scared. I woke up with tears streaming down my face #bruh,” Peele tweeted. That dream is awfully similar to what happens to the younger version of Steven Yeun’s character on the set of Gordy’s Home.
Dreamt that a baby chimp attacked some people then ran to me and hugged me all scared. I woke up with tears streaming down my face. #bruh
— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) November 30, 2014
The next time you have a dream where an animal goes apesh*t (pun intended?) on some people, write it down. Maybe you’ll turn it into a hit summer movie, too.
“That is what happened,” Peele told us about Nope being the first big-budget sci-fi movie with a primarily Black cast. “And I think the result of that is something that even, I think, surprised me. You come up with this nightmare, or this vision, and then you bring this team together. And you launch into it full tilt with collaboration and the product ends up being even something surprising to me if it works out well. And it did this time.”