The actor’s role in Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror is her biggest billing to date, after a lifetime in the industry. She talks about the harm done to young actors, her response to colorism – and why she doesn’t mind being a meme
Keke Palmer was at home in New York, “hanging out on the couch, or whatever,” when she got the call. Jordan Peele, her management said, wanted a chat. Top-secret, obviously. “And I’m like, are y’all serious? He wants to talk to me about his new film?” She sounds incredulous, having worked with Peele only once before in 2013, on his sketch show with comedy collaborator Keegan-Michael Key (“Girl, it was the smallest little thing”).
The call led to a digital copy of a script, programmed to auto-delete if you screenshot it. And that became 28-year-old Palmer’s starring role in Nope, Peele’s grab at summer blockbuster status. The sci-fi horror follows his Oscar-winning directorial debut Get Out, and 2019’s Us. And in it, Palmer’s Emerald Haywood and her older brother OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) resolve to make history. Somewhere out there, in a white-hot sky above their family’s dusty horse ranch, they are pretty sure they can see a UFO. Their goal? Capturing it on film. The story is about spectacle, but it’s also about the sweaty-palmed hustle culture Hollywood attracts – and siblings who know precisely how to both support and annoy each other.
