Third feature film by Jordan Peele, “Nope” ventures into the field of science fiction and sometimes recalls the cinema of Spielberg or M. Night Shyamalan. But it also contains a big reference to a famous anime. Have you seen her?
WARNING – The article below contains spoilers, insofar as it returns to the outcome of “Nope”. So please move on if you haven’t seen it yet, to better keep the surprise intact.
In front of Nope, the new feature film by Jordan Peele after Get Out and Us, we sometimes think of Steven Spielberg’s science fiction films (War of the Worlds, ET, Encounters of the Third Kind). Or how M. Night Shyamalan manages the suspense by playing off-screen and suggestion. But who expected to see a reference to a cult anime, in this story of a flying saucer that threatens a small farm in the United States?
Yet this is what the American director and screenwriter offers us, with a shot that immediately recalls one of Akira’s most famous: that of Kaneda’s motorcycle skid. In Nope, we owe it to Emerald (Keke Palmer), at the end of the film, when she tries to lure the ship that turns out to be an alien creature to Ricky’s amusement park. ‘Skirt’ Park (Steven Yeun), in order to trap him with a gigantic inflatable cowboy while taking a picture of him.
As the tweet above shows, it’s hard not to see a tribute through this visible shot in one of the trailers. And that Jordan Peele fully assumes: “Anime, in general, has been a big influence”explains this fan of the genre to CinemaBlend. “But the choice to pay such an explicit tribute to him was difficult. Because you can never do it.”
“But it felt so good. It’s a moment that animation has paid homage to many times before, but I’ve never seen it like this. Thinking about the idea of a black woman on a white motorbike that destroyed a police line before doing the Akira skid, I was like, ‘You know what Jordan? Go for it!'” Was it a way for the director to recover from a disappointment with the work?
Akira is one of my favorite movies
Because Jordan Peele was one of its directors approached for a live action adaptation of Akira. A real Hollywood sea serpent entrusted to Taika Waititi at the latest news, but which could come up against the director’s desire to direct Asian actors and not American stars. The author of Get Out and Us had meanwhile preferred to decline the proposal.
“I think that [je pourrais le faire] if history justified it”he said to Blumhouse.com in 2017. “Akira is one of my favorite films, and I think the story requires the biggest budget you can dream of. But the real question, for me, is: do I want pre-existing material, or original content? At the end of the day, I want to do original things.”
Including this Nope, which confirms his talent when it comes to associating social commentary and gender elements. Even if it means slipping a huge nod to Akira in the middle.