ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Nope star Brandon Perea about his breakout role in Jordan Peele’s latest thriller. Nope is now available digitally and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.
Tyler Treese: Jordan Peele’s clearly a visionary at this point. What was your biggest takeaway of just seeing how he directs and how he works with his craft?
Brandon Perea: Jordan’s a genius. It’s weird to see a genius in person and I think this is the first time I’ve properly seen one in like, this close capacity. But yeah, to see his mind operate and work under crazy circumstances and to have that pace. He has such a good pace, where he can do this for two years. Like this movie’s been a part of his life for two and a half years, and he’s still doing work for it, as we’re speaking. So it’s just, that was a big learning lesson for me.
As a visionary, he’s just very free. I would never really think that, since his films are so detailed, he’s very open-minded and free to other ideas and stuff. He’s not very strict of, like, “I need this and that. This connects.” He’s very open, so that was cool to see. And he’s constantly coming up with something new all of the time. It’s crazy having conversations with that dude. You’re just like, “Oh, no wonder,” and then you realize too, he’s like one of the funniest people alive right now as well and that’s our director, and funny as beep. He’s awesome. , I don’t know if I can swear [laughs].
Jordan, like you mentioned, he has that great comedy background and in the film, you’re delivering a lot of the comedy, lightening the mood between some really intense scenes. What was it like collaborating with Jordan for the comedic moments?
Yeah, man, it’s weird because I don’t think I’m really that funny in real life. So to get the kind of grace from him of like, “Oh man, you’re making me crack up, that’s why you got the job,” I’m like, “Really?” I’m like, “You’re like one of the funniest dudes ever.” So that’s a compliment I pat on my back. That’s a cool thing. But yeah, to collaborate with him, it was just cool because we did something different every take. That was one of his things was, “Yo, you give me options. I’m gonna tear it up in the editing room.” Like, his boy Nick [editor Nicholas Monsour], “We’re just gonna collaborate and make it crazy.”
So it’s like, be free, try something new every time. Give him more options, and [they’re] gonna vibe out. He’d come up with great ideas too because he’s one of the greatest impressionists alive as well. So he’d kind of like, give me a little bit of Angel Torres stuff of just doing all these different mannerisms. So that helped me out as well, where I’m like, “Oh, okay, I see what you’re saying. I can give you that.” So yeah, it was just very collaborative and he’s always asking, “What do you think too?” It’s not a dictator in that sense. It’s nice to have that collaboration.
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This was your big breakout role, people love it, and then you worked so closely with Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya, who are so experienced and incredible in their own right. So working with them so closely as scene partners, what were you really able to learn from them that you’ll apply going forward?
Oh man, so much. It’s hard to even explain. Like with Keke, Keke brings something different to every take as well and delivers the highest level of improv, which is insane. And Keke’s just funny all the time. But also, Keke has such a great pace, just very energetic all the time, very grateful all the time, and is funny all the time. It’s just weird, I’m like, “How do you have that much energy in your life?” You’re like one of the busiest people ever and you have all this great energy. So that taught me a lot.
Daniel, with his eyes, man, his eyes are always telling a crazy story and he doesn’t have to say anything. So just seeing that internal work and just seeing he makes sure that he gets what he needs, you know, in the sense of a performer. He makes sure that he’s comfortable too, so he can perform. That taught me a lot as well of yeah, make sure you get what you need because a film is forever.
It was just cool to see his process. What it also taught me is working with the best of the best makes my job easier. This is the easiest job I’ve ever done because they were just firing at the highest level. And so it didn’t cause nerves in me at all, it took all the nerves away, which is cool because Daniel’s like my favorite actor right now, and it was just cool to sit across from him in scenes. Then Keke, I grew up watching Keke as a kid, so it was cool to just meet them in person and to see how great of human beings they are too. I’ve always respected them as performers, but to respect them on a human level for their heart, man, that’s a different level.
