Daniel Kaluuya Talks ‘Nope,’ IMAX Cameras, and How He Prepares for a Big Scene

 With writer-director Jordan Peele’s Nope now playing in theaters, I recently had the chance to talk with Daniel Kaluuya about making the film. During the interview, he talked about the difference between the way Peele worked on Get Out and Nope, what it was like filming with IMAX cameras and cinematographer Hoyt Van Hoytema, the way he prepares for a big scene, deleted scenes, and what people might be surprised to learn about the making of Nope.

While I know a lot of you love to learn everything you can about a movie before you see it, I’d recommend watching Nope knowing as little as you can. But for those that need to know something… Nope is about a few residents in California who bear witness to an uncanny and chilling discovery. The film also stars Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Brandon Perea, Barbie Ferreira, and Keith David.

Finally, I strongly recommend seeing Nope in an IMAX theater. Peele shot the movie using IMAX cameras and the best way to experience the film is in an IMAX theater.

You can either watch what Kaluuya had to say in the player above or read the conversation below.

COLLIDER: First, I want to say congratulations on this movie.

DANIEL KALUUYA: Thank you.

And I sincerely cannot wait to see it again, next time in IMAX. I cannot wait. But I want to go backwards actually, if you don't mind. When you guys were making Get Out, the movie's made for like four something million dollars, it was not expected to do what it did. I don't think. When did you realize, people love this and this is going to be pretty big?

KALUUYA: I didn't know because I was in it. I couldn't have that realization when everyone else had that realization. So I remember I had that realization when we did a Q and A in January, the year after it came out, and it was packed. And I was like, "This has been out for nearly a year. Why is this room packed?" And I was like, "Oh, it's a banger. Okay, cool." Then I understood that it had a life way beyond a normal film life. So it was just like, it goes and then you watch it. It's on TV and then you go, "Oh, I'll watch it." The Get Out is completely different, it's anomaly in that sense.

Jumping into Nope. When Jordan told you about it. Is it like a text message? Do you want to do another movie with me? How exactly does that work?

KALUUYA: No, he just goes, "Yo, I want to talk to you." I was like, "Oh, what do you want?" And then we sat down. No, we sat down about something else, and then he called me about it, and then we had a two hour conversation. He spoke the whole film. He just said the whole film to me over the phone in the pandemic. And then I was like, "Oh, that's a lot to take in. That's a lot take in." I was like, "Have you written that down? Did you write the script?" And then yeah, he wrote it down and then we read it. And then we just kept building and conversating like that. So that's how I came to it.

I'm just so curious about how he's changed as a filmmaker. Because he's three for three, he's a very gifted artist. Did he change at all when he was making this film in terms of, is he exactly the same on set with the way he directs you? Has anything changed through his experience?

KALUUYA: Yeah, I think he's way more assured. And he just believes in his instinct more. And he always has believed in it, which is, I think, why Get Out popped and why Us is still in the conversation. But with Nope, he just believed and then, so everyone then believed more with him. And I can see, and he's just on it. It's a completely different experience because Get Out was so contained. This is contained, but contained in an open, expansive way, as opposed to contained in a closed way. And so yeah, but a lot stayed the same in Jordan. A lot of that's what makes him a great filmmaker. He always had.

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I'm a big fan of Hoyt Van Hoytema and he was your cinematographer. And you guys got to film with IMAX cameras. I'm just curious, was this your first time working with the real IMAX cameras? And what was that experience like for you?

KALUUYA: It was quite tough. Because you couldn't hear, it was so loud. You couldn't really hear what the note, or sometimes Jordan would talk to you through the scene because a lot's happening CGI wise. And then you couldn't hear it or you couldn't hear the other person in it. But it does feel like, wow, we're doing this big. I still haven't really processed the IMAX of it all. I really want to see it on IMAX.