Jordan Peele reveals his thinking behind the ‘Nope’ Gordy scene
The release of Jordan Peele’s Nope has forced audiences and critics to sit up and appreciate the director as one of the greatest creatives currently working in the industry. Throughout the terrifying sci-fi metatext, Peele delves into the allure of the spectacle and the problems that can arise when a filmmaker or artist flies a little too close to the sun.
This comes out in one memorable scene where Gordy the monkey, who is employed as a character on the set of a cheesy American sitcom, breaks the artifice and begins to brutally kill his co-stars. A shocking scene that comes out of nowhere, many audience members were perplexed by the decision to include the key moment, particularly as it has little to do with the film’s conclusion.
Whilst violent and disturbing, Peele broke down the real meaning behind the moment in a recent interview with Empire Magazine. “It’s about exploitation,” the director states, adding, “It’s about feelings of rage. At the industry,” restraining the animal’s primal instincts, Peele explains that seeing the monkey erupt in anger isn’t exactly surprising.
Continuing, he adds: “We fear Gordy, but we don’t hate Gordy…I think there’s an interesting thing happening for the audience there”.
The filmmaker knew the perfect actor for the motion-capture role of Gordy, too, enlisting the help of Terry Notary, who has previously starred in Planet Of The Apes, Avengers: Infinity War and The Square. Speaking to Peele about the thinking behind the character, the director told him, “He said, ‘People take advantage of animals and people, and Gordy’s sequence is important, because it kind of represents my early career as a performer”.
Take a look at the trailer for Jordan Peele’s Nope below, a film which, for our money, is the best of the year so far.
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