After months of ambiguous posters, subtle marketing, and casting announcement, the new trailer for Jordan Peele‘s next film “Nope” has finally arrived. Like his previous outings, the trailer tells us very little about what the movie is actually about. Like “Get Out” and “Us” before it, the trailer gives us just enough to peak our interest without revealing much of anything, a testament to Peele’s incredible collaborative marketing team.
“Nope” stars Keke Palmer and Peele favorite Daniel Kaluuya and black Hollywood Ranch owners. Steven Yeun also stars, though his role is more unclear from the trailer. Something mysterious looms in the air, and seems to arrive with bad intentions which sends our titular characters fleeing for their lives from an unidentified entity.
Though light on the details, every frame seems packed with purposeful visuals and framing, something Peele has become a master at. Whoever cuts his trailers seems to have a deep understanding of targeted intrigue, and strings together a number of odd, out of context visuals and scenery that simultaneously make you go “WTF?!” and “Ok, I’m in.”
The “Nope” trailer once again takes a classic song meant to spark joy and transform it into a haunting overture. Here, it uses “Fingertips” by Stevie Wonder, a very early 1963 hit from very early on in his career that is a gospel-esque call and response song. Of course, Peele manages to take a Wonder Gospel banger and turn it into music from your nightmares, all while never revealing why it’s relevant or how it applies to strange things we’re watching rapidly unfold onscreen.
Is it an alien invasion? Is it a supernatural sky monster? What are those creepy faceless dolls? What the hell is with the giant cloud in the sky? Why a ranch? Why black Hollywood? Why Stevie Wonder? What the hell is “Nope?”
Peele’s new trailer does exactly what we’ve come to expect them to do: reveal nothing and everything at the same time, and spark an insurmountable amount of intrigue without every revealing his hand.
The last question left to answer from the new “Nope” trailer is, just what IS a bad miracle?
We’ll have to wait to find out. “Nope” is set to be released this summer, in theaters July 22nd, 2022.
