Steven Yeun reveals details about his character in the upcoming science fiction horror film Nope, the latest project from filmmaker Jordan Peele. Yeun, known for his roles in The Walking Dead, Burning, Okja, and his Oscar-nominated turn in Minari, will star in the film alongside Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer. The film will see wide release on July 22, with distribution by Universal Pictures.
Nope follows OJ (Kaluuya) and Emerald (Palmer) Haywood, two siblings who live on a movie ranch and investigate a series of random falling objects from the sky in hopes of capturing footage of a UFO. Along the way, they cross paths with former child star Jupe Park (Yeun) and documentarian Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott.) Peele has kept a lot of details about Nope under wraps, similar to the secrecy surrounding his previous films Get Out and Us in order to preserve as many surprises as possible for audiences.
In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Yeun reveals what details he can about his character, choosing his words carefully to keep the film's secrecy in place. Yeun explains that his character Jupe Park is a former child star, and currently runs a theme park centered around the film that made him famous as a child. He doesn't explain how the character plays into the story or themes, but his role potentially will play into the surreal dark humor that runs under Peele's movies. Read Yeun's quote below:
I can say I play a character named Ricky "Jupe" Park, who is a former child star, and he owns his own theme park that is closely associated to the movie he was a part of that blew him up as a child. That's really all I can say.
With Nope's bizarre marketing techniques and eerie trailers, it's anyone's guess how Yeun's character will play into the story. However, he's sure to play a large role, since he's billed third in the credits behind Kaluuya and Palmer. With Peele's knack for symbolism and underlying themes, it's likely Yeun's character will in some way represent the sinister side of show business as someone who continually fights for relevance.
Peele's imagination and masterful control of tone and story brought him to the front of the conversation in modern horror with Get Out and Us. Now that he's proven himself as a talented filmmaker, he's in a position where he can really push the envelope in terms of ambition and spectacle, something Nope might be able to pull off with a commitment to genre and strong performances. With so many questions about Nope still to be answered, it's good that fans will have a bit more information about Yeun's character when going into it, even if the marketing continues to confound and intrigue.
Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live