Small Details You Missed In Nope

Jordan Peele's "Nope" is a blend of many things — classic Hollywood westerns and science fiction stories, contemporary horror, meta-commentary on the nature of filmmaking, and parody, just to name a few. It's a dense and sprawling movie that consistently builds in both complexity and momentum, culminating in an epic climax of cosmic proportions.

In a film with so many twists, turns, and revelations, every shot is important. Peele is a master of setting the stage for what's to come, and "Nope" is packed to bursting with little details that either flesh out the world or directly foreshadow future events. Watching the film is like deciphering a puzzle box, with each seemingly unrelated corner playing into the greater whole in unexpected ways. It's understandable, then, how some of the film's smaller touches can easily go unnoticed your first time through.

From homages to classic sci-fi movies to smaller bits of world-building, there are a lot of Easter eggs and hidden meanings sprinkled throughout the film. Here are some small details you may have missed in "Nope" and what they mean in the greater context of the film. Be warned, there will be major spoilers ahead.

The whole cast of "Nope" does a stellar job, and while Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer certainly lead the charge with two powerhouse performances, two of the film's other actors have some greater significance beyond simply playing their parts.

First and most importantly, sci-fi and horror legend Keith David is the perfect choice to play Otis Haywood. Though he doesn't appear in much of the movie, Otis' shadow stretches from beginning to end, like his ghost haunts every frame of the film. Given David's extensive history in the genre, that makes a lot of sense. The actor famously collaborated with sci-fi horror director John Carpenter on both "The Thing" — a movie about an animal-esque alien hiding among humans — and "They Live" — a movie about a man discovering that there are aliens all around him. Simply by including David in such a pivotal role in "Nope," Peele both pays homage to the actor's contributions to the genre and invokes several classic films from which he clearly took inspiration.

Less symbolic, but still interesting, is that prolific performance capture actor and stuntman Terry Notary plays the terrifying chimpanzee Gordy in the film. It's far from Notary's first time playing an ape, as he previously portrayed Rocket in the "Planet of the Apes" reboot trilogy and King Kong himself in "Kong: Skull Island."

The first proper scene in "Nope" is a glimpse at the gruesome "Gordy's Home" disaster, which is shown in more detail later on. While the full scope of what happens isn't clear at first, the "Gordy's Home" scene features a bunch of little details that foreshadow the rest of the film.

For starters, the actual chain of events at the "Gordy's Home" taping parallels the alien encounter later in the film pretty directly. In both cases, a potentially dangerous creature is used to turn a profit by performing in front of a live audience. And in both cases, eventually, that creature becomes fed up and, as Ricky himself says in the film, "hits his limit." The irony is only strengthened by the fact that Ricky himself orchestrates the second catastrophe with the alien, as he experienced the horrors of Gordy's rampage firsthand.

There are a few other details in the "Gordy's Home" scene that tie into the rest of "Nope" as well. For example, the father character on the sitcom is referred to as "a man who can send a rocket into space," tying him into the film's greater extraterrestrial theme. Additionally, it's the release of balloons that ultimately seems to set the chimp off, mirroring how Emerald eventually destroys the alien by releasing a giant balloon into its maw.

Throughout "Nope," there are numerous lines and visual touches referring to the eyes. OJ quickly learns that the alien is less aggressive if you don't look up at it — a trick that he learns from working with the horses. And yet, at the same time, there's an obsession with seeing things in "Nope."

OJ, Emerald, and the rest of the crew repeatedly return to the ranch because they need to get the perfect shot of the alien. Things only become more intense after Holst, the famous director from the beginning of the movie, is convinced to join their cause. Holst is obsessed with landing the "impossible shot" of the alien, to the point that he seems to nearly lose all sense after doing so. In the scene where Emerald first reaches out to him about their mission, Holst is seen editing black and white footage of animals, with many of the shots simply being close-ups of the creatures' eyes. He then makes a reference to being famous — having all of the eyes of the world on you — being like a dream that you never wake up from.

Clearly, there's some meta-commentary going on here, with Peele discussing both the optics of fame and the "eye" of the film director that he himself is. And of course, Em finally gets the perfect picture of the alien via the well camera at Jupiter's claim, which itself could be perceived as a massive, gaping eye.

Emerald is first introduced on the set of one of Antlers Holst's commercial shoots, where she and her brother are hired as animal wranglers. They don't hold that position for long, as stupid behavior from the other folks on set results in the horse, Lucky, acting out, but they do hang out long enough for Emerald to deliver an extended sales pitch for herself and the Haywood ranch. Where OJ clearly lacks any love for performance or public speaking, Emerald is a natural, and she quickly rattles off the entire Haywood Hollywood history — a history that she claims goes all the way back to the first motion picture ever.

Despite Emerald's expert delivery, however, she does stumble at one point, referring to her esteemed ancestor as her great-great-grandfather, rather than as her great-great-great-grandfather — a slip that OJ immediately catches and corrects her on. Later on, we see why Emerald gets the number of "greats" wrong.

Toward the end of the film, Emerald is seen watching an old VHS tape featuring the recurring man-on-a-horse movie. In the background, her father can be heard delivering the exact same speech word for word that she delivers earlier in the film. The reason Emerald makes the mistake is that she learned the speech by memorizing this particular recitation from her father. And because her father is one generation older, he only says two "greats" where Emerald should say three.

The two main characters of "Nope" grew up on their father's ranch and were taught the trade of animal wrangling — a skill that probably doesn't get enough love or respect in pop culture. Perhaps that's why Jordan Peele spends so much time in the movie emphasizing the importance of the job.

Yes, OJ, Otis, and Emerald all work in the field of animal wrangling, but the film's endorsement of that work goes far beyond its protagonists simply being a part of it. For instance, the "Gordy's Home" tragedy might never have happened if the animal wranglers on set had been better prepared or more focused on safety. OJ's knowledge of animals also ends up being the key to defeating the alien, as he realizes the trick of keeping one's eyes averted by reflecting on his time with the horses.

By contrast, Ricky and Holst only seem to view animals as subjects of spectacle, with Ricky trying to use the alien's presence to turn a profit and Holst fixating more on his shots than on the animals themselves. In a way, you could say that "Nope" is one long cautionary tale about the importance of treating all creatures with respect.

Few shots in modern cinema are as iconic or as frequently referenced as the famous motorcycle slide shot from "Akira," the 1988 cyberpunk anime masterpiece. The shot has been parodied and outright mimicked numerous times over the decades since the film was first released, and it shows up once again during the climax of "Nope."

While racing away from the alien on the paparazzi journalist's bike, Emerald performs the iconic slide, racing outright from the camera and skidding to a stop. In addition to being a reference to "Akira," the shot is also the payoff to a line from the beginning of the film. When Emerald is giving her speech to the crew of Holst's film early on, she closes by pitching herself, mentioning that she does all manner of creative work around Hollywood and is always available. One of the random skills she mentions is that she rides motorcycles, which obviously comes in clutch during the final act.

From start to finish, "Nope" is littered with throwaway lines and visual touches that tie all the little things into the greater narrative. OJ mentions early on that the first film he ever worked on with his father was "The Scorpion King," and that they brought a horse called Jean Jacket for the shoot. Later on, OJ names the alien Jean Jacket and wears his Scorpion King crew hoodie into battle against it. In a way, he sort of even becomes the rider in the old horse movie who he claims as an ancestor, racing onto Holst's crank-powered camera just as the black-and-white film races through the opening credits.

No detail is left to chance. Angel wears a t-shirt that reads "Earth" over a graphic of a dragon and different phases of the moon. Emerald wears several different pieces of clothing evoking pop culture references, including a shirt with Tex Avery's Slick Joe McWolf. Even Holst's awkwardly hilarious recitation of Sheb Wooley's "The Purple People Eater" seems to hold a deeper meaning. "I saw him last night on a TV show," Wooley sings in a verse unheard in the film. "He was blowing it out, a-really knockin' em dead."

Could this unsung lyric be a reference to the horrific "Gordy's Home" scene? Maybe. Or maybe not every detail in a Jordan Peele movie needs to be dissected so extensively. But when a director packs so much into every scene, it's hard not to look for all the little details that might be hiding there.